Pokémon Journey: Hoenn
by Talarc
Summary: To the south-west of Kanto and Johto lies the Hoenn region. For pokémon trainer James Burton, it's a place that offers fresh challenges and opportunities. Alongside him are his old friend, Richard Winter, his younger brother, Will, and a new resident of Hoenn, Nicola Hewitt, all with their own goals in mind. Ahead of them lies the long and difficult path to the Hoenn League.
1. Sunrise on the Hoenn Region

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pok** **émon.**

 **Welcome to the first chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **If this is your first time reading one of my stories, this chapter is an adequate point for you to get into the series and I've tried to make things as accommodating for new readers as possible. This is actually the third story in the series and, while you'd undoubtedly gain from reading the previous stories beforehand, it isn't a requirement.** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **'s theme is that of the life of ordinary pokémon trainers, focusing on what it would actually be like to live in the Pokémon world as the average person, rather than as a world-saving hero. It makes for a more interesting story than you'd think.**

 **If you are a returning** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **reader, congratulations on making it this far and thank you for your continued support! You may notice a few subtle changes in style compared to previous stories, both in this chapter and in** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **as a whole.**

 **Anyway, I've held you up long enough. I present to you the first chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Upload Date: 17** **th** **February 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Sunrise on the Hoenn Region**

 _8:49am, 31_ _st_ _March 2006_

A strong, cold breeze blew across the deck of the white ferry as it cruised through the waves. Despite the cold, there was scarcely a cloud in the sky and the sun shone down gently. The sea sparkled in the sunshine, the only sounds being the cries of wild pokémon flying overhead and those from the ship itself – the distant rumbling of the engines, the splash as it moved through the water. The salty scent of the sea hung in the air, not oppressively, but enough to be clearly noticeable.

For most people, today was a pleasant spring day like any other. After a long, cold winter, it was starting to warm up once again. However, the return of spring also meant something more exciting for the countless pokémon trainers living across the world: after the autumn and winter off (for most of them) it was finally time for them to set off on their new adventures.

This was the case for James Burton, an eleven-year-old boy from Pallet Town in the Kanto region. Having spent his first year as a trainer travelling around both his home region and the nearby Sevii Islands, competing in the Kanto League along the way, he'd now set his sights on the distant Hoenn region.

The wind ruffled his short, slightly scruffy, brown hair as he lent on the railings at the side of the deck. He'd been on board since the ship left Vermilion City the previous morning and, after a restless night of trying to get some sleep, he'd woken up early and decided to head up on deck to wait for Hoenn to come into view. However, just his light blue jeans and mid-green T-shirt hadn't been enough to keep him warm in the chilly early morning air and he'd had to briefly return to his cabin to pull on his regal blue zip-up hoodie. Of course, it was still pretty cold. He tugged the zip on his hoodie all the way up to the top and buried his chin in it.

"Ah!" He leaned forwards, straining his blue eyes as he caught sight of something on the horizon. Slowly but surely, the green of distant trees became clearer. As he watched the land get closer, James noticed a flock of small birds covered with white feathers soaring above the sea, calling out to one another and occasionally diving down towards the water's surface in search of food. He instinctively pulled out his Pokédex and attempted to scan the pokémon, but they were well out of range. Still, the mere fact that he was looking at pokémon which he'd never seen before was enough to excite him. They'd finally reached the Hoenn region!

Pulling back from the railings, James turned and started walking back towards the interior of the ship. They might be passing by Hoenn right now, but they were still quite a way from their destination. He reckoned that it would be another couple of hours before they arrived. Before then, he had to have breakfast and make sure all of his things were packed up. And, of course…

"…You still haven't gotten up?" James let out a sigh as he opened the door to his cabin and caught sight of his distinctly not-active companion.

"Just five more minutes…" his companion mumbled in reply. He'd bundled himself up in his duvet so effectively that only the top of his blondish brown hair could be seen peeking out.

"It's nine o'clock now!" James insisted. "They're going to start serving breakfast!"

"We can eat later…"

"We've already reached Hoenn! We only have a couple of hours before we land!"

"Uggh!"

"Come on, don't just lie there!" James walked over and started prodding him.

"…Alright! I get it!" There was a rustling sound as his companion pulled back the duvet and forced himself to sit up. He stared blearily into space for a couple of seconds before letting out a big yawn.

"I don't know how you were able to get to sleep so easily, Richard," James sighed. "It's like you're not excited at all!"

"I am excited," Richard Winter replied. "Just not this early in the morning."

A couple of months older than his companion and already twelve years old, Richard had met James when the latter had arrived in Pewter City the previous year and had subsequently joined him on his journey.

"You're probably not as bothered since it hasn't been as long since you took the gym challenge," James said.

"Not true. I'm definitely looking forward to it." Richard pulled himself up and stretched his arms above his head. "I may have taken part in the Sevii League last summer, but I didn't get to participate in the Kanto League."

"I guess the Kanto League _is_ a bigger event…" James conceded that he had a point.

Richard looked around the room and sighed. "It already feels really weird," he said. "You know, travelling without Livvi."

"Yeah," James replied quietly.

A sombre mood descended on the cabin. Their friend, Livvi Weston, had been travelling with them in Kanto and the Sevii Islands and was James' classmate at school in Viridian City. She'd initially planned to come with them to Hoenn, but had ended up deciding to travel to the Johto region in pursuit of her rival and older sister, Tessa, instead.

"Well, I remember her saying that she didn't want to end up depending on us," James said. "And beating Tessa is kind of her main goal at the moment anyway…"

"You don't need to remind me," Richard sighed. "I'm just a little worried that we'll constantly be getting lost without her and her town map."

"We'll think of something." James grinned reassuringly. "Anyway, the three of us were never going to travel together forever. We'll get to see her again when we get home again!"

"That's why I'm going to try my hardest to win the league here in Hoenn!" Richard replied. "We've got to show her that we're not dependent on her either!"

"Yeah." James nodded. He glanced at his watch. "Anyway, you should get dressed – we need to head to the restaurant as soon as possible!"

"Got it!"

* * *

 _Littleroot Town, Hoenn_

 _11:12am, 31_ _st_ _March 2006_

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have now successfully finished docking here in Littleroot Town. If you'd like to make your way to the exits, we'll be beginning disembarkation shortly. I'd like to thank you for travelling with…"

"Come on, let's go!" James called. He and Richard, having had breakfast and finished gathering their things, were already on their way to the nearest exit. It had been a long boat trip and both of them were eager to get their feet back onto dry land.

"I'm right behind you!" Richard grinned as he ran after his friend.

They quickly reached the closest exit, arriving just as it was being opened. The bright sunlight flooding into the darker interior of the ship momentarily blinded them. Following the people in front of them, they made their way down the gangplank before finally setting foot on the solid concrete of the quay. They really had arrived now.

"We're actually in Hoenn!" James grinned, looking at Richard.

"Yeah!" Richard nodded. "Our new adventure is finally starting!"

Walking along the quay, they reached the road leading from the docks towards the centre of town. A public park was on their left, while a car park for the ferry terminal was on their right. Littleroot Town itself was built on the shore of a small bay on the west coast of Hoenn, with tall hills and mountains enclosing its northern side. Despite the name, it was actually quite a large place and seemed much more lively compared to what James had been expecting. Still, he supposed that it needed to be since it was able to attract ferry traffic which would have otherwise gone to the much-closer eastern coast of Hoenn.

"So, pokémon centre first?" Richard asked, turning to him.

"That's what I was thinking," James replied. A pokémon centre was the best place to go first. They needed to get their bearings and work out a plan. Though he'd spent plenty of time studying maps and pictures of Hoenn, James had to admit that he hadn't paid much attention to actually planning where they were going to go and how they were going to get there. It wasn't that he and Richard had no navigational skills, it was just that they'd never really needed to use them before now.

Of course, Richard had a different idea in mind – pokémon centres were the easiest places to register for the local Pokémon League competitions. The sooner they registered for the Hoenn League, the sooner they could start collecting the badges that would allow them to compete. They didn't necessarily have to register today, nor did they specifically have to do it in Littleroot Town, but it meant that they wouldn't have to worry about it later.

Reaching the main road running along the coast, the two of them looked around, hoping to find a sign pointing them to their destination. Unable to see any indication of where they needed to go next, they were able to grab a passer-by to ask for help.

"Ah! The pokémon centre?" The smartly-dressed man pondered for a second. "The nearest one is actually very close to here." He pointed to the road leading further inland. "Follow that road there until you reach a T-junction. Then turn right and follow that road down. The pokémon centre will be on your right – you can't miss it!"

After thanking the man, James and Richard set off again, following his directions. It didn't take them long to spot their destination.

"I feel a little stupid for asking," Richard sighed. "I mean, it was so close all of this time!"

"It can't be helped." James shrugged. "We're not from around here and I'm fairly confident that there weren't any signs."

They approached the pokémon centre, a small, two-storey building nestled between two apartment blocks. It wasn't the largest they'd ever seen, but that made sense given Littleroot Town wasn't a major city. From what the man who'd helped them had been saying, James got the feeling that there was more than one pokémon centre here anyway.

Inside, James was surprised by how few people there were. He and Richard had deliberately set off before 1st April, the day when new trainers received their first pokémon, but he'd thought that most other experienced trainers would have had the same idea. A couple of trainers were sat in the trainers' lounge on the left of the entrance, while another was using one of the videophones on the right. At the opposite end of the lobby was the reception desk, beyond which were the medical facilities that served the centre's principal function. A corridor to the left of the desk led to the indoor practise arena, while another on the right led to the staircase up to the accommodation for trainers staying overnight. Directly to their right was the centre's canteen. Not exactly a gourmet restaurant, but good enough that a trainer rarely left unsatisfied.

"That's interesting," Richard remarked, looking through the door into the canteen. "In Kanto, they had the canteen at the back, behind the trainers' lounge."

"Yeah." James nodded. "I suppose it's so that we get a better view while eating." He imagined that he was looking at the fairly typical set-up for a pokémon centre in Hoenn, though the specifics and size would vary from place to place. Snapping out of his thoughts, he followed Richard over to the desk.

"How can I help?" the receptionist asked, smiling up at them.

"We'd like to register for the Hoenn League," Richard replied. He looked over at James. "Are we booking a room as well?"

"That's what I was going to suggest." James nodded. "We need time to prepare before we can set off."

"A room as well, then." Richard turned back to the receptionist, holding up his index finger.

"Certainly." The receptionist took his trainer card and scanned it quickly. She then handed a card key to him. "Room 5. Head upstairs and it's straight across the corridor."

"Thanks," Richard replied as he took the card key.

"As for your registration…" The receptionist returned to tapping keys on her computer. She picked up Richard's trainer card and swiped it again. Another couple of taps. "You're all registered." She placed his trainer card on the counter. "Do you have a badge case?"

"No, I don't." Richard shook his head.

"I'll give you this as well then." She placed a crimson-coloured case with the words 'Hoenn Pokémon League 2006' on the front on the counter as well.

"Thanks!" Richard grinned as he scooped both up.

"I'm registering as well." James handed over his trainer card.

"I'm getting excited just looking at this badge case!" Richard said enthusiastically while the receptionist repeated the process for James.

"This is the first time that we'll both be competing in the same league, isn't it?" James sighed. "It'd really suck if we ended up having to battle each other at the league."

"I won't hold back if it comes to it!" Richard grinned. "I'm going for total victory!"

"Don't think that I'll just roll over and let you win!" James grinned back. As the receptionist put his trainer card and a badge case on the counter. He thanked her as he picked them up.

"Right! Let's go up and check out our room first!" Richard declared. "Then we can decide what we're going to do next!"

"Just what I was going to suggest." James nodded.

* * *

 _12:06pm, 31_ _st_ _March 2006_

Despite their talk of 'deciding' what to do next, both of them had already known what they needed to do. They'd just arrived in a new region, with little idea about where they were going and without any substantial supplies. James' insistence that they buy food and other necessities once they arrived had probably been well-placed since it meant that they hadn't needed to worry about taking it on the ferry, but it meant that they needed to handle it all now. Aside from that, the two of them also had other pressing concerns.

"What are we going to do about lunch?" Richard asked as the two of them left the pokémon centre and started walking along the street in search of a supermarket.

"Oh, yeah. It's about time we had something to eat, isn't it?" James checked his watch. "Well, I think we should get our shopping done first. Then we can get something to eat afterwards."

"You sure?" Richard asked with a grin. "You know how bad it is to go food shopping on an empty stomach."

"Are you suggesting that there's a chance we'll buy more than several months' worth of food this afternoon?" James raised an eyebrow. "You just want to eat as soon as possible."

"And is there anything wrong with that?" Richard continued grinning.

"Well, I guess not." James shrugged. "Ah! I forgot!"

"Hmm? What?" Richard asked curiously.

"Now that we're here in Hoenn, I wanted to give my team a pep talk."

"Ah, fair enough. I should probably do the same."

The two of them ducked into a small side street so that they wouldn't be in the way and pulled out the poké balls they had at hand. There was a burst of light as the three pokémon emerged from the balls and materialised opposite their trainers.

"Sorry for keeping you guys cooped up for so long!" James grinned guiltily. "How are you feeling?"

Charka, a charmeleon covered in deep red scales and sporting a pair of sharp claws, gave his head a shake and snorted. The sudden emergence into the cool air had caught him off-guard. The flame on the tip of his tail was burning brightly though – he didn't seem upset at all.

Kacha, a pikachu with yellow fur, red cheek pouches and a lightning-bolt-shaped tail, grinned up at James reassuringly. Curious about his new surroundings, he started sniffing around.

"How about you, Naro?" Richard asked.

The nidoking let out a low growl in response. Though it would have sounded intimidating to a stranger (especially given the poison-ground type's large frame, tough body and fearsome poisonous barbs), Richard could tell that he was in a good mood. He too seemed curious about his surroundings, but was unable to explore as effectively as Kacha, given his large size.

"Alright, Charka, Kacha, listen up!" James called. The two pokémon immediately stood to attention. "It's been a long time, but we're finally going to be competing in a pokémon league again!" He held out his new badge case.

The two pokémon cheered enthusiastically in response.

"As you know, I decided to limit the team members I'd bring here to so that I'd have the opportunity to catch and train new pokémon. I hope you're both looking forward to making new friends as well!"

As James' pokémon let out another cheer in agreement, Richard turned to Naro. "Pretty much the same goes for you and me. You did a great job at the Sevii League, so I'm hoping you'll do your best to help me train the new pokémon we're going to catch."

Naro nodded, giving Richard a grin. They'd known each other for a long time now. Richard knew that he could trust Naro when the going got tough. He was feeling pretty optimistic about his chances in the Hoenn League.

"Anyway, we need to get back to shopping for supplies." James held up his two poké balls. "Charka, Kacha, return!"

"Naro, return." Richard recalled Naro to his poké ball as James did the same with Charka and Kacha.

The two trainers left the side street and resumed their walk along the main road. Now that it was lunchtime, there were far more people walking around, heading out for something to eat or going back to work after their meals. James and Richard quickly found a street lined with shops that they were looking for. Countless other trainers were milling about as well, making sure that they were prepared for the starts of their own journeys.

"So, what do we need to get?" Richard asked, turning to James.

"Food is the biggest thing," James replied. "But we also need to buy some poké balls if we want to catch more pokémon. Then we need to get more medicine, possibly some repel…"

"Sounds like we're going to be at it for a while," Richard sighed. "So, where do we start?"

"I was going to deal with smaller things like poké balls and medicine first." James looked around as they walked down the street, attempting to identify the shops they needed. "Ah! I wanted to try and find a map or guidebook or something, so that we can actually find our way across Hoenn."

"That's kind of important." Richard nodded.

"Anyway, can I leave you to get medicine and poké balls?" James asked. "I'll try and find a guidebook, repel and batteries for our Pokédexes… Actually, I'll give you this." He pulled out a list, gently ripped it into two halves and gave one to Richard. "Once you've everything on there that isn't food, meet me in the supermarket." He pointed to the large supermarket built into the base of an apartment block further up the street.

"Got it! See you in a bit!" Richard grinned as he wandered off.

James turned back to face up the street. "Right! I guess I'd better get to work as well!" Shopping may not have been the most thrilling activity, but he was excited nonetheless. It meant that their new journey was finally about to begin!

* * *

 **So, this chapter was predominantly about laying the groundwork for the story and breaking the bad news to returning readers: No, Livvi isn't travelling with James and Richard on this particular adventure. However, I'm pleased to announce a short(ish) side-story entitled** _ **Pok**_ _ **émon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **for those of you who are interested in following her travels in the Johto region. The first chapter of this side story will be uploaded on 20** **th** **February.**

 **One thing that I should probably point out at this point is that, unlike previous** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **stories,** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **'s setting and locations have all been largely based off of the Hoenn region's real-world counterpart (hence extensive use of Google Maps to plot exactly where the protagonists are going to be walking). You probably noticed that Littleroot seemed a lot bigger in this chapter than it does in the games, which is because its real-world counterpart is the fairly large port of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, rather than a small village in the middle of nowhere. The other main effect this has is that compass direction will be using the real-world rather than the in-game Hoenn map (Rustboro City is on the northern end of the island, Ever Grande City to the south, Fallarbor Town in the east and Littleroot Town in the west).**

 **For the avoidance of doubt, _Pokémon Journey: Hoenn_** **is based on Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, rather than Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. The main effect of this is that I use the Gen III Pokédex for movesets rather than the Gen VI one. It also means I'll have looked at the old games for inspiration regarding characters, locations and events.**

 **If you've read this far, thank you for taking the time to read this chapter. I'm very welcoming of any feedback that will help me improve the story, so I'd love to hear your thoughts. Chapter 2 will be uploaded on 19** **th** **February.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.


	2. A New Start

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 2 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **The first chapter saw James and Richard arrive Littleroot Town in the Hoenn region after a long trip by boat. After arriving, they both registered for the Hoenn League and started gathering supplies for their new adventure.**

 **Upload Date: 19** **th** **February 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: A New Start**

 _Littleroot Town, Hoenn_

 _9:38am, 1_ _st_ _April 2006_

With the sun shining gently down from the sky, providing the perfect counter to the crisp morning air, you might say that this was the perfect morning to set off on a new adventure. And, despite the fact it was still early, Littleroot Town was already alive with activity.

Today was 1st April, the day on which the league season officially began across most regions and the day when most new trainers received their first pokémon. There was a buzz of anticipation hanging over the town for that very reason. Already, a small number of starting trainers had gathered outside the lab of Professor Birch, a pokémon expert native to Littleroot. They still had twenty minutes before the lab opened. To kill time, they talked excitedly amongst themselves about which starter they were going to choose, which gym they were going to challenge first, and their dreams of winning the Hoenn League.

They were so ensconced in their conversations that they scarcely noticed the arrival of another ten-year-old girl, but that suited her. She leant back on the wall, close enough to the others that she didn't stand out, yet far enough away to avoid catching their attention. She awkwardly fiddled with the end of her side-ponytail before absentmindedly running her hand through the rest of her long, brown hair. Her green eyes flicked between the other beginner trainers and the road, already waiting impatiently for the professor's arrival. She shivered slightly as she waited. It wasn't a particularly cold day, but it _was_ still only spring.

"Oh? You're all here early!"

The beginning trainers all looked around to see a middle-aged man with short, messy brown hair and a noticeable stubble walking up the road towards them. His white lab coat made him instantly recognisable, even if the black T-shirt, dark green shorts and sandals he wore beneath it seemed out of place. He carried a brown bag slung over his shoulder.

"Professor Birch!" one of the others called, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "We've been waiting for ages!"

"Impatient as ever, aren't we, Corey?" The professor grinned cheerfully at them as he reached the gate and walked up the path to the front door. "The lab doesn't open until ten."

"It was _supposed_ to open at nine," Corey sighed, shaking his head. "I can't believe you'd go off and do field work on a day as important as this."

"Sorry!" Birch grinned guiltily. He unlocked the door and opened it. "Since almost everyone is here, why don't you come inside?"

The beginning trainers trooped inside after him, Corey leading the way. The interior of the lab was dark and quiet at this time in the morning. Though the professor had some assistants, they wouldn't arrive until later in the day. The countless, impressive-looking machines in the rooms they passed lay silent and inactive. Almost everywhere, books and sheets of paper lay strewn across desks and, occasionally, the floor. Professor Birch's lab in Littleroot Town wasn't the tidiest place in the world.

Reaching an open room with a number of old, worn-out sofas and a low table which was, miraculously, clear of books and papers, Birch gestured for them to sit. He offered to make them drinks, which they politely declined. Then he set about organising something in the next room. The trainers were hoping that it involved preparing their pokémon and Pokédexes, but it seemed more like he was trying to drag things out until ten.

"Professor! It's time!" Corey called the instant the clock struck ten.  
"Right you are!" Birch reappeared carrying a tattered cardboard box containing a pile of poké balls. Putting it down next to the table, he laid out three picture for them to look at: their three choices for their first partner.

The first one was a green, gecko-like creature with yellow eyes and nimble limbs. 'Treecko' announced the caption beneath the picture, before listing more specific information. The picture in the middle was of a small chick with orange feathers and small, down-covered wings beneath its large head. 'Torchic', a fire type. The final picture was of a blue, quadrupedal pokémon with a large fin on its head and a sturdy-looking tail. This one was 'Mudkip'.

"Right, who wants to choose first?" Birch asked, having brought another two boxes into the room while they were reading.

"Me!" Corey immediately raised his hand. "I decided a long time ago!" He pointed to the picture of a treecko. "I want a treecko as my partner!"

"A fine choice." Birch nodded with approval. He reached into one of the boxes and pulled out a poké ball.

"I'm finally a pokémon trainer!" Corey grinned as he took the poké ball. "With this treecko at my side and everything I learned from the professor's classes, nothing will stop me from conquering the Hoenn League and becoming the greatest trainer in the Hoenn region!"

"Show-off," the girl in yellow mumbled under her breath. Her heart jolted uncomfortably as Corey appeared to briefly look at her. She hadn't said it that loud, had she?

Fortunately, Corey was quickly distracted by the professor, who gave him five poké balls and a Pokédex, as well as his trainer card. Thanking the professor, he didn't stick around. After all, he had a lot of work ahead of him if he was going to conquer the Hoenn League. The girl in yellow shook her head as he left.

"Who wants to go next?" Birch asked, looking around cheerfully. "Ah, Hannah!" he said as one of the other girls stood up. "You've decided?"

"I was torn between a torchic or a mudkip, but I think I'll go with a torchic."

"An excellent choice! I can see that you've put a lot of thought into it!" Birch nodded with approval. "Now, as for your Pokédex…"

…And so, it continued. The most enthusiastic of the other trainers quickly disappeared as they got their pokémon and left. The rest of the group steadily grew smaller and the remaining trainers reached their decisions and chose their starters. Until, finally, only one beginning trainer remained in the room.

"Well, sorry for the long wait," the professor said apologetically. "Have you decided which pokémon you want as your partner, Nicola?"

"…I have." If Nicola Hewitt didn't seem all that enthusiastic about becoming a trainer, it was because she wasn't. She liked pokémon, sure, and she liked the idea of travelling as well, but it wasn't resonating with her right now. Still, she'd long since decided on what type of starter she'd get. That much hadn't changed.

She pointed to the picture on the right. Mudkip.

"Ah, I remember." Birch nodded. "You said something about deciding to pick a water type starter not long after you moved here."

"It was a promise I made with my friend back in Johto," Nicola replied. "That we'd both start with the same type of pokémon and travel together."

"That was it!" Birch handed her a poké ball containing a mudkip. "Your parents were telling me that you weren't particularly happy about the move. Do you feel like you've settled in more now?"

It had been two months since Nicola's family had moved to Littleroot Town. Of course, that wasn't long enough to get settled, especially when the thing she'd been looking forward to the most had been ripped away from her.

"A little, yes." She nodded in response to the professor's question. There was no point making a fuss of it.

"Glad to hear it." Birch smiled at her. He handed her five poké balls and her Pokédex, a small, red electronic device which contained information on the pokémon of the Hoenn region. He wished her luck as she left the room and walked back to the front of the lab. Once there, she released her new pokémon from his poké ball.

As the small, blue pokémon materialised, he looked around and gave himself a shake. He looked up at Nicola with curiosity.

"My name's Nicola," she said gently, kneeling down to pat the mudkip's head. "I'm your trainer from today."

The mudkip let out a happy cry in response to her touch. He rubbed himself against her leg affectionately, eliciting an involuntary shudder from Nicola. However, she smiled and continued patting him.

"Your name's going to 'Kipa'. That shouldn't be too difficult to remember."

Kipa nodded in response.

"Well, I guess I'd better head home," Nicola sighed. She stood up and recalled Kipa to his poké ball. She began walking back in the direction of her house.

* * *

 _9:42am, 1_ _st_ _April 2006_

"We've got everything, right?"

"I double-checked everything before we packed up. Don't worry!"

It had been a quiet morning so far at the Littleroot Town pokémon centre. Aside from James and Richard, there were only two other trainers in the restaurant. It wouldn't be like this for long though. With all the new trainers getting their first pokémon that morning, they'd soon be descending on the pokémon centre to register for the Hoenn League. Both James and Richard were keen to get moving before then.

"Besides, we still need to work out what route we're going to take," Richard said. "How does it look?"

"Hmm." James turned his attention back to the Hoenn region guidebook that he'd bought the previous day. "Well, the next major settlement is Oldale Town, which is to the east. Route 101 is the easiest way to get there." He pointed to the map, tracing his finger along the red line which indicated a route. "I think we can get there in three days – maybe even two, if we're really quick."

"What's the terrain looking like?"

"Pretty mountainous. I was going to suggest sticking to the main road through the valleys. That'll also take us via Arita Town…" James pointed to a small black dot on Route 101. "…and Ekota Town." He pointed to another, slightly further along and closer to Oldale Town. "Both have pokémon centres, so we can stay there instead of camping out if possible."

"What about this route here?" Richard pointed to another path marked which appeared to wind its way out of Littleroot Town and cut across the mountains to meet up with the main route later.

"That's a bit more out-of-the-way…" James replied, frowning as he examined it. "It means following isolated mountain paths and I actually think it would add more time to our journey than it would take off."

"Ah, that's fine," Richard said dismissively. "It'd be more of an adventure going that way anyway."

"I guess most other trainers won't use it either," James added thoughtfully. He thought for a couple more seconds. "Well, I don't really mind either way. This route would lead us back to the main road before Arita Town anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference."

"Let's do that then!" Richard grinned. He quickly cleared his plate. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah." James nodded, grinning back at him. He too quickly finished what was left of his breakfast. "Let's go grab our bags and get going!"

The two of them took their trays over to the rack at the side of the restaurant before heading back up to their room. A few short minutes later, they were back down with their bags and handing in their room key. After that, they left the centre and started walking along the street, following the directions in James' guidebook. They were on their way at last!

* * *

 _Route 101, Hoenn_

 _12:07pm, 1_ _st_ _April 2006_

Not for the first time that day, Nicola let out a sigh. She was trudging along the main road on Route 101 as it wound its way through the surrounding mountains. Now that the sun was at its height, the day had become much warmer. However, that hadn't done much to lift her spirits.

As she'd expected, she'd arrived home to find that her parents had been expecting her to go off on a journey. Her mother had insisted that it would be a good opportunity to see her new home region and make some new friends – something which, as her mother had been quick to point out, she hadn't done in the past two months. Her father had been enthusiastic about it as well, telling her that he was envious of having the opportunity to go off on a journey and not worry about work, taxes, bills and so on.

Nicola wasn't quite so keen herself. Her parents were under the mistaken impression that her dream was to train pokémon, compete in the leagues and become the champion. In reality, her desire was born of the promise she'd made with her childhood friend back in the Johto region: that they'd one day travel the region together, defeating the gyms and competing in the league. It was only the first part of this promise that Nicola really cared about. She could take or leave the gym challenge and the league: for her, the appeal had always been the prospect of travelling together.

Nicola let out another sigh. She wondered if her friend had picked up her starter pokémon today as well. Had she decided to set off on a journey by herself? Just thinking about it made Nicola feel depressed. Maybe she'd travel as far as Oldale Town and then come up with some excuse to go home. Her parents had never specified how long she had to be travelling, after all.

Kipa, riding on her shoulder, gave her curious look. He seemed concerned – she clearly wasn't good at hiding her low spirits. Leaning in, he nuzzled his orange cheek against hers. It was a strange sensation. She'd gotten used to the slippery wetness of the mudkip's body somewhat over the past hour, but it still made her feel a little uncomfortable. She was able to force herself not to instinctively pull away though. She didn't want to hurt the pokémon's feelings.

"Don't worry, Kipa." She smiled at him. "I'm fine."

The mudkip still looked concerned, but smiled back.

Looking ahead again, Nicola suddenly saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. Further down the road, a burst of flames had suddenly appeared. Growing curious, Nicola drew closer, moving over to the shelter of the hillside as she did. She eventually saw another burst of flames. She finally caught sight of the source.

Two pokémon were fighting on a flat, open area off to the side of the main road, where another, smaller road joined it. Though she hadn't seen any in a while, she could remember both species from when she was in Johto. The one responsible for the flames was clearly a charmeleon, as was obvious from the flame billowing from the tip of its tail. The other, larger one was probably… a nidoking? Nicola had never seen a real one, but had once seen a plushie of it in a shop.

She now noticed that both were being commanded by trainers, two boys who probably were about her age or a bit older. That made sense – it would have been almost impossible to see pokémon like those in the wild here in Hoenn. She also felt relieved. If they'd been wild, then they might have attacked her when she tried to sneak past.

Remembering that she had a Pokédex now, Nicola quickly pulled it out and pointed it at the two competing pokémon. However, there was no response. They were too far away. Getting closer meant being spotted by their trainers, and Nicola wasn't really in a talkative mood.

Still, she found herself unable to look away from the battle. Both pokémon were clearly strong and it was impressive to see how each managed to seemingly shrug off the attacks from the other.

There was an abrupt halt to the fighting and both trainers approached each other, talking briefly before returning to their positions and resuming. Were they practising rather than having a proper battle? Nicola had never heard of trainers randomly stopping battle for idle chatter, so that was the more logical option. Ah! They'd stopped again. Even more likely.

Nicola ended up watching until they finished battling. As the charmeleon and nidoking were returned to their poké balls, she suddenly realised what she'd done. It was still early afternoon, but she needed to get to the next town before sunset. Given that she'd only learned the very basics of map reading from her father over the last month, she really needed as much time as possible to get where she needed to go. It was stupid of her to have wasted so much time!

As the two trainers set off again, Nicola realised that they were probably heading to Arita Town, the next town along the route, as well. It would probably be easier just to follow them. This was the main road along Route 101, so there was nothing out of place about multiple trainers walking along it in the same direction.

"Come on, Kipa," she said to the mudkip, who was dozing on the grass next to her. "We need to get moving!"

* * *

 _Arita Town, Hoenn_

 _3:37pm, 1_ _st_ _April 2006_

"So, this is Arita Town?" Richard looked around as he and James followed the road into the small settlement. Despite the fact that, other than a pokémon centre, there was very little in the town, it was still a welcome sight after their long trip out from Littleroot Town. A small river ran through the town, flowing in the same direction that they were walking. The route east to Ekota Town lay on the opposite side.

"Yep." James confirmed what Richard had said. "The first leg of our journey is complete!"

"I was a little worried that we might have stopped for too long back then!" Richard grinned, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"It's not that late," James replied. "Besides, it was useful having a warm-up ready for our first gym battles!"

"Do you know where the nearest gym is?" Richard asked. "Is there one in Oldale Town?"

"There isn't." James shook his head. "We'll have a look in the guidebook when we get to the pokémon centre."

"On that subject, I wonder where it is…" Richard looked around. Though most of Arita Town was made up of homes and small local businesses, it was still difficult to make out where the pokémon centre could be.

"Oh! Welcome, travelling trainers!"

James and Richard looked left, towards the source of the voice. An old man stood by the low wall around his property, leaning on it as he smiled pleasantly at the two trainers. "Are you looking for the pokémon centre?"

"That's right." James nodded. "Is it far from here?"

"Not at all," the old man replied. "Just keep following this road. You'll eventually find it on your left."

"Thank you for the help."

"You're most welcome, young man." The old man smiled. "If you need any more help, then the other townspeople are more than willing to help."

"The start of the league season is the time of year we all look forward to the most!" one of his neighbours called, joining the conversation. "Arita Town always becomes so lively with so many trainers passing through!"

"Ah, of course!" James nodded as he realised. "I guess you're used to dealing with trainers passing through here for the first time."

"It always makes me happy, seeing all these kids cheerfully setting off on their adventures." The old man nodded. "And we understand that lots of them sometimes need a helping hand. It's the least we can do to offer it!"

"That's very kind of you!" Richard grinned.

"Thanks again for the directions!" James called as he and Richard started moving off.

"You're welcome! Enjoy your stay in Arita Town!" the old man called after them, waving briefly before turning his attention towards a lost-looking girl in a yellow jacket who had just entered the town.

James and Richard continued walking, enjoying the cool breeze and gentle sunshine as they passed more smiling townsfolk and a number of other trainers acquainting themselves with the town. The atmosphere felt neither relaxed nor hectic. James supposed that the presence of so many trainers injected life into a normally sleepy town. He was starting to understand why the townspeople were so enthusiastic about it.

They continued along the main street, occasionally checking with nearby locals to make sure that they were still heading in the right direction. Sure enough, they eventually found the familiar red-roof of the local pokémon centre just off the main street.

As the glass doors whirred open automatically to welcome them, they groaned internally at the sight which greeted them. The lobby was pretty full. So was the trainers' lounge. They'd forgotten that every trainer setting off from Littleroot Town was going to have ended up here.

"Well, maybe they've still got a room left?" James said hopefully, leading the way in.

"Maybe we shouldn't have stopped for the practise battle after all," Richard sighed.

They walked over to the desk. As another trainer retrieved their pokémon from the nurse, they stepped up to speak with the tired-looking receptionist.

"Umm, do you still have any rooms left?" James asked.

"You're in luck – we still have three left," the receptionist replied. "Just for tonight?"

"That's right."

"May I see your trainer card?"

"Looks like we're in luck," Richard said as James handed over his trainer card. He glanced back around the lobby. The girl in yellow who'd been just behind them at the town entrance had just entered – she'd be able to get a room, but any trainers who were later than her would be disappointed. Richard wondered if there was a hotel here in Arita Town to handle the inevitable overflow.

"Here's your key." The receptionist handed James a card key and his trainer card. "I suggest going for dinner and breakfast early, otherwise you'll find that almost everything is gone. Alternatively, there are a number of restaurants here in Arita Town if you want to eat out."

"We'll keep that in mind," James replied gratefully. "Thank you."

"What time does the restaurant open for dinner?" Richard asked.

"Half five," the receptionist replied. "It'll stay open until eight, but we're expecting to run out of almost everything long before that."

"We'll come back down for half five then," James said, turning away and starting to walk towards the stairs. "Richard, let's go to our room and dump our stuff."

"What do you want to do while we wait?" Richard asked as he followed him.

"We can have a look at the guidebook and plan our journey for tomorrow," James replied. He pondered for a second. "We could go and have a look around Arita Town while we're here as well."

"Sounds good to me!" Richard grinned.

* * *

 _Route 101, Hoenn_

 _1:18pm, 2_ _nd_ _April 2006_

"…"

It was no good. No matter which way Nicola looked at the map, she couldn't figure out where she was. At some point, she'd accidentally strayed off of the main road east towards Ekota Town and ended up on a lone road surrounded by rice paddies and empty fields in the middle of a valley. She'd managed to set off from the Arita Town pokémon centre relatively early and things had been going well for the first couple of hours. Then she'd stopped for lunch and lost sight of the trio of starting trainers she'd been secretly tailing since she left Arita Town. Not long after that, she'd found herself in this position.

Letting out a sigh, she sat down at the side of the road, letting her feet dangle above the dry, dusty surface of a drained rice paddy. She pulled out her water bottle and took a swig. It was a hot day and she needed to keep hydrated. At the rate she was going, though, she was going to run out of water soon.

Next to her, Kipa gave her a reassuring cry.

She smiled in response. "I guess I could ask someone if things get really bad." There were plenty of houses dotted around the edges of the valley, so there was little danger of her running into any serious trouble. Even so, she was still bitterly regretting allowing her parents to prod her into leaving Littleroot Town. It was starting to look like she wouldn't even make it as far as Oldale Town.

If memory served, there was a train station in Ekota Town. If she could figure out her way there, she could get straight back to Littleroot Town. Alternatively, she'd eyed Arita Town's station hungrily when she'd passed it that morning, so maybe she could find her way back by trying to retrace her steps.

As she was contemplating this, she suddenly noticed that a pair of boys were walking along the road in her direction. As they drew closer, she suddenly realised that they were the two trainers she'd followed into Arita Town the previous afternoon. Had they gotten lost as well?

* * *

"I'm still not sure why you wanted to come this way," James sighed, gazing around at the empty scenery. "The guidebook says it adds an extra half-an-hour onto the journey."

"It's not about being efficient," Richard replied, shaking his head. "We're more likely to find rarer pokémon if we avoid the routes all the new trainers are using."

"Well, you've got a point there, I suppose." James shrugged, snapping the guidebook shut. There was something pleasant about walking along a quiet part of the route, so he wasn't going to complain. As long as they reached Ekota Town before the end of the day, it didn't really matter how long it took them to get there.

"I wonder what kinds of pokémon live out here," Richard said, looking intently around at their surroundings. "Do you think we should head off the path and explore the mountains?"

"That would be a bad idea," James replied, sighing. "I can keep track of where we are if we stick to the road. I can't if we're wandering through the bushes at the foot of the mountain."

"Come on – the valley only goes in one direction – we could easily see where we need to go from the top of the mountain!" Richard grinned.

"Some other time," James replied. Looking ahead, he suddenly noticed a girl wearing a yellow jacket sat by the side of the road further ahead. "Looks like we weren't the only ones to come this way."

"Oh, you're right." Richard followed his gaze.

"I wonder why she's just sat there…"

"She's probably just having a rest," Richard replied. "It's been a long walk from Arita Town, after all!"

"I guess…"

The two of them continued walking. The girl, having noticed their presence, glanced briefly at them before looking away again. As they got closer, she glanced again and her eyes met James' for an instant. She quickly looked the other way again.

He wouldn't have thought anything of it, but something about the look in her eye had made him pause. She seemed uncomfortable and on edge. Something compelled him to stop just as they were about to walk past her.

"Umm, are you alright?"

"H-Huh?"

"Huh?"

Both Richard and the girl were taken by surprise. True be told, James himself was pretty surprised as well. It wasn't like him to suddenly speak to complete strangers out of the blue. He instantly wondered if he'd done the right thing.

"I-I'm fine," the girl replied stiffly.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry!" James felt his cheeks starting to heat up. "It's just that…" Just what? There had just been something about the way she'd been sat there, and something about the look in her eyes. "…It's pretty uncomfortable sitting on the ground, right?"

Really? That was the best he could come up with? A part of him wished the ground would swallow him up right there.

Richard and the girl both stared at him in silence for a couple of seconds. Then they both started laughing.

"James, if that was bothering her, then she'd just stand up!" Richard said between laughs.

"That's a kinda weird thing to point out!" The girl smiled at him and stood up.

Though sorely tempted to just keep his mouth shut, James valiantly attempted to explain himself again. "W-Well, it's more that something seemed… I don't know… It's like something's bothering you, or something…"

"A-Ah, well." The girl looked away awkwardly. "To tell you the truth, I'm a bit lost at the moment…"

"…How did you manage to get lost on a straight road in the middle of a valley?" Richard asked, his tone sceptical. "There's only one direction to go."

"I lost my position on the map," the girl replied, her tone swiftly turning confrontational. "I don't even know if this valley leads towards Ekota Town!"

"Wait, how did you lose your position on the map?" Richard continued. "It's a straight line from here to the main road."

"I-I just did, alright!" the girl snapped.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Richard said. "And you decided that the best thing to do was to just sit at the side of the road until someone stopped by to help?"

"A-And?" the girl demanded. "I bet you've gotten lost loads of times in the past as well!"

There was an indignant cry from beside her.

James and Richard looked down and spotted the girl's pokémon for the first time. A small, blue creature with a large fin on its head and orange, spikey protrusions from its cheeks. It was glaring up at Richard, clearly as riled up by his comments as his trainer was.

"What's this? I've never seen one before…" James began.

"This is Kipa, my mudkip!" the girl announced.

"Mudkip, eh?" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Mudkip, the mudfish pokémon. The fin on a mudkip's head acts as a highly sensitive radar. Using this fin to sense movements of water and air, this pokémon can determine what it taking place around it without using its eyes. It sleeps by burying itself in soil at the water's edge._ "

Hearing the Pokédex entry appeared to give the girl an idea. She immediately pointed at Richard. "Let's settle this with a pokémon battle!"

"Oh? Are you sure you can win?" Richard asked, grinning confidently.

"Yeah, I'm not sure it's a good idea…" James tried to tell her. However, she seemed determined to press on.

"If Kipa and I work together, then we'll definitely be able to win!"

"Well then, I accept your challenge!" Richard replied, pulling out Naro's poké ball. "One-on-one?"

"Fine by me!" The girl and her mudkip jumped down into the dry rice paddy next to the road and took her position, looking confidently across as Richard did the same.

"I guess I'll be your referee," James sighed. "Play nice, Richard!"

"She challenged me, remember?" Richard grinned cheekily back at him.

"…Whatever. Begin!"

"Go, Naro!" Richard hurled out his poké ball. It popped open and a mass of energy burst out.

James could practically see the girl and her mudkip's jaws drop as Naro materialised, roaring in anticipation of the battle. Undeterred, she issued her pokémon with his orders.

"U-Use Tackle!"

The small mudkip looked even smaller compared to Naro's bulk. Yet the tiny pokémon charged resolutely towards his opponent regardless. He slammed into the nidoking's stomach, but lacked the power to even make his opponent react.

"Poison Sting!" Richard ordered.

 _So, he's holding back after all_. James let out a sigh of relief as Naro, his horn glowing a purple colour, slammed into Kipa with his weakest attack. With a cry, the smaller pokémon was hurled back, landing with a crash that sent a small cloud of dust into the air.

"Kipa!" the girl cried in alarm.

The mudkip attempted to pull himself up again, but he'd clearly had the wind knocked out of him. His already slim chance of victory had vanished. James figured he should end the battle before he tried to get himself more badly hurt.

"Kipa is unable to battle!" he announced loudly. "Naro is the winner! The match goes to Richard!"

"Good work, Naro!" Richard stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. The nidoking gave him an affectionate grin in response before he was withdrawn.

"I'm sorry, Kipa." The girl recalled her pokémon to his poké ball. She glared across at Richard, angry tears in her eyes. "If you were that strong, then you didn't need to go all out!"

"Hey, you're the one who challenged me," Richard replied with a grin as he climbed back onto the road.

James couldn't help but smile to himself. Richard had probably only started being critical of her as a joke at first, but had gotten caught up when she took offence. Despite that, he was clearly avoiding hurting her feelings again by telling the truth.

As the girl reached the side of the rice paddy, James offered his hand to help her up.

"Thanks." She took it and he quickly pulled her up. She looked despondent now. James was starting to think that he'd made the whole situation worse by stopping to speak to her in the first place. After all that had happened, they couldn't exactly just leave her to it.

"Can you send your mudkip out?" he asked, shrugging off his backpack.

"Huh?" The girl looked at him in surprise. "S-Sure." She opened Kipa's poké ball. He quickly materialised, breathing heavily and barely able to stand.

"Hang in there," James told him as he lowered his bag to the ground and knelt down in from of him. "This won't take a second."

"What are you doing?" the girl asked, leaning down to watch.

"Here we are!" James pulled out a Super Potion. He aimed it at Kipa. "Close your eyes. This may sting a little, but it'll numb the pain and give you energy."

Kipa nodded and braced himself. He flinched as the spray hit him, but quickly relaxed. As James returned the bottle to his backpack, the mudkip wagged his tail and smiled cheerfully at him.

"A-Ah! I could have used one of my own potions…" the girl began.

"Don't worry about it," James replied, smiling reassuringly at her. "We're the ones responsible for his injury, so it isn't right that we force you to use one of your own potions."

"That's really kind of you. Thank you." The girl smiled back. She recalled Kipa to his poké ball as James stood up and returned his bag to his back.

"Look, Richard and I are heading to Ekota Town as well," he said. "If you're lost, do you want to tag along with us? It's better than just sitting by the side off the road."

"Yeah, it's better to get lost together than separately." Richard nodded.

The girl looked between the two of them, thinking over the offer. "Well, if you don't mind, then that would be really helpful."

"We'd be glad to have you along!" James grinned. "I'm James Burton, from Pallet Town in the Kanto region! Pleased to meet you!"

"And I'm Richard Winter!" Richard added. "I'm from Pewter City, also in the Kanto region!"

"My name's Nicola Hewitt." The girl introduced herself. "I used to live in Johto, but I moved to Littleroot Town two months ago and I became a trainer yesterday. Thanks for helping me!"

* * *

 _Ekota Town, Hoenn_

 _4:23pm, 2_ _nd_ _April 2006_

"Ah! I think we're here!" Richard called. He was ahead of the others, looking down the street at the houses in front of them. Though this was just a rural suburb, they could see the rest of Ekota Town in the distance. They were almost there!

"That's a relief." James wiped his forehead. "I was worried that I was going to end up getting us lost for a while!"

"But you're really good at reading that map," Nicola said, a confused tone in her voice. "Much better than I am."

"Ah, but I'm still getting used to it," James explained. "I'm not used to being the one doing the navigating."

"Then you mean…" An incredulous look appeared on Nicola's face. " _He_ normally reads the map?!"

"No. That'd be a disaster waiting to happen," James replied firmly. "When we were travelling together last year, we had another friend with us who always read the map."

"Oh, I see!" Nicola nodded. "They didn't come with you to Hoenn?"

"No." James shook his head. "She… needed to go somewhere else."

"Hurry up, guys!" Richard called from up ahead. "I want to get to the pokémon centre and flake out on one of the sofas!"

"We're coming!" James called back. He grinned at Nicola. "We'd better not keep him waiting!"

"I'm looking forward to having a rest myself!" Nicola smiled back.

* * *

The walk across Ekota Town took them another ten minutes. Their feet were really worn out by the time they finally dragged themselves through the doors to the pokémon centre's lobby. Much to their disappointment, it seemed just as crowded as the pokémon centre in Arita Town had been.

"I was hoping that most trainers would have gone on to Oldale Town," Richard sighed.

"I wonder why there are so many here?" Nicola looked around curiously as they walked towards the reception desk.

"Well, it's a good four hours walk from Arita Town," James replied. "I bet they're mostly beginning trainers who aren't used to walking long distances." He paused for a second. "Besides, it's roughly another six hours on foot to Oldale Town from here."

"It is?!" Richard cried.

"Oldale Town's really that far away?" Nicola gasped.

"It doesn't look that far on the map, does it?" James grinned at them. "But we're going to have a tough trip ahead of us tomorrow."

"I'll…I'll do my best!" Nicola proclaimed.

"You sure about that?" Richard asked with a grin. "Even I'm starting to think it'll be a two-day journey."

Nicola gave him a disappointed look. "I expected more from you."

"Hah! I could totally make it to Oldale Town in one go if I _really_ tried though!" Richard assured her. "Could probably cut the travel time down to four hours if I walked fast enough!"

"Yeah, yeah!" James laughed. "You don't mind getting the room, right?"

"I'll handle it," Richard replied. He stepped up to the desk and started talking to the receptionist.

James' eyes fell on a poster on the wall advertising the Hoenn League. He was already eagerly anticipating his first gym battle. He'd been training a lot after getting back from his adventures the previous autumn, but there was still a part of him that was worried after almost a year since the last time he challenged a gym.

"Hmm?" Nicola followed James' gaze. "Oh, are you competing in the Hoenn League?"

"That's right." James nodded. "Richard and I both registered two days ago when we arrived in Littleroot Town. What about you, Nicola?"

"Me?" Nicola pondered for a couple of seconds before frowning. "I'm…not sure. Honestly, the only reason I'm travelling at the moment is because my parents basically pushed me into it."

"Did you just want to become a casual trainer?" James asked.

"It's not that." Nicola shook her head. She let out a sigh. "Back when I was in Johto, I had a friend I was really close to. We promised to both set off on a journey together and travel the Johto region. It's been my dream ever since then."

"She's still in Johto?"

"That's right." Nicola nodded. "I wonder if she got her first pokémon and set off on a journey yesterday as well." She paused for a couple of seconds, completely lost in thought. "Anyway, we promised to both get a water type pokémon as our starters, so that's why I still ended up picking Kipa. I let my parents prod me into setting off for Arita Town, but I figured I'd go as far as Oldale Town before heading back again."

"Is that still your plan?" James asked.

"I guess..?"

"That's a shame."

"H-Huh?" Nicola gave him a stunned look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it was fun travelling with you today," James replied. "I think Richard feels the same way too. If you decided to go for the Hoenn League, then we could all keep travelling together – that's what I was thinking."

"I'm…not sure." Nicola looked troubled. She'd been expecting to travel all the way to Oldale Town alone and then head back. The idea that she might end up travelling with someone in the meantime hadn't crossed her mind. Richard was a bit rude, but James seemed nice enough. She didn't dislike the idea of getting to know them better.

"Well, you don't have to decide now." Her thoughts were interrupted as James spoke. "You said you'd go as far as Oldale, right?"

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

"Then think things over tonight and tomorrow." James smiled. "Hopefully, you'll have a clearer idea of what you want to do by the time we get to Oldale."

"…Then I'll do that!" Nicola nodded.

"Got us a room." Richard reappeared, holding a card key in his hand. "What do you want to do now?"

"Rest until dinner?" James suggested. "We'll have to come to dinner early again today, so we might have some time to go and have a look around town afterwards."

"Were there are rooms left?" Nicola asked Richard.

"A handful, yes." Richard nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to go and book a room," Nicola said, looking between the two boys. "I'll meet up with you again for dinner."

"Sounds good to me!" Richard grinned.

"See you in a bit then!" James added.

As Nicola walked over to the desk, they set off towards the stairs. It had been a tiring day so far, and a rest was just what they needed. It was going to be an interesting meal, getting to know their new friend.

* * *

 **So, I guess I don't score many points for originality by filling the empty slot in the group with a female trainer just starting her journey who recently moved to Hoenn from the Johto region. I'll have to try harder in other areas instead!**

 **Anyway, I hope that this chapter played out well. I suppose the main thing I want to know this time is what you thought of Nicola, the new female travelling companion (hopefully, at least! :P). I hope that her personality comes over as somewhat different to Livvi's.**

 **Aside from that, a quick word on the upload schedule from here on. I'm hoping for a once-a-week upload for** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **, with a one-week break after every tenth chapter. There will be exceptions to this: since James and Richard at least will both be challenging gyms, we'll have multiple gym battles each time. My preferred method will be separate chapters for each trainer, which I will upload close to each other (say, the first in the normal Sunday slot and the second on Tuesday or Wednesday). This may go well, or it may go horribly wrong – we'll have to wait and see! :P Obviously, I have a lot of work to do at university at the moment, so I won't guarantee that a chapter will be uploaded every week, but I'll certainly try!**

 **Anyway, feedback on this chapter is more than welcome.** **If you've enjoyed what you've read so far, then you can like or follow the 'Pokémon Journey – Fanfiction Series' Facebook page to get announcements and news. Hope to see you there!**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle and Growl.


	3. Learning the Ropes

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 3 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James and Richard set off on their journey in Hoenn. On their way up Route 101, they meet Nicola Hewitt, a new trainer who had gotten lost and who tagged along with them to Ekota Town on the road to Oldale Town.**

 **Upload Date: 26** **th** **February 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Learning the Ropes**

 _Oldale Town, Hoenn_

 _5:03pm, 3_ _rd_ _April 2006_

Light was rapidly fading from the sky as the three trainers made their way wearily along a narrow street next to a small river. Half-an-hour prior, they'd been filled with renewed vigour when they'd crossed a bridge over a far larger river and been confronted with a sign welcoming them to Oldale Town. However, it had quickly become clear, as they walked past fields and scattered clusters of buildings, that they still had a way to go before they reached Oldale Town proper.

"I think we've finally made it to the town," James said as they trudged along the street. Now that they'd reached an area surrounded by buildings, they were finally close to their destination: the Oldale Town pokémon centre.

"Great," Richard mumbled.

"Can…can I just stop for a quick rest?" Nicola asked, giving them a desperate look.

"Sure, not a problem." James nodded.

Nicola moved over and perched herself on the low barrier separating the road from the drop down to the river. She took a couple of deep breaths to recover. She was visibly relieved to be off her feet.

James wasn't surprised that she'd asked for another rest. Even he and Richard had found the long walk from Ekota Town punishing and they were experienced with that kind of walking. Nicola had been fine at the start, but had started to struggle as the day wore on. To her credit, this was only the third time she'd asked for a rest all day, though James had noticed an increasing limp in her walk by the time they'd reached the outskirts of Oldale Town.

"How are your feet?" he asked.

"I…I think I can manage it," Nicola replied hesitantly. She flinched slightly as she moved one of her feet. After a walk like the one they'd done today, she'd probably picked up at least one blister.

"Hold this for me." James took off his backpack and held it out to Richard.

"Sure," Richard replied wearily, guessing what James had planned and taking the bag.

James crouched down with his back to Nicola. "Come on. I'll carry you from here."

"Huh?" Nicola looked at him in surprise. "But aren't you tired as well?"

"It's no big deal," James replied. "Besides, I can tell that your feet are killing you. They won't recover in time for tomorrow if you don't rest now."

"W-Well, if you're sure…"

"So, where to now?" Richard asked as James lifted Nicola up.

"We need to turn left at that bridge up there!" James nodded in its direction. "After that, it's a straight road all the way up to the pokémon centre!"

"And long is that?" Richard asked sceptically.

"About half-an-hour," James replied.

"You can't carry me for half-an-hour!" Nicola cried.

"No, but I can try!" James grinned. "Let's get moving again!"

"If you get too tired, then we can always swap," Richard told him as they started walking in the direction of the bridge.

"I should be fine," James replied. "But I'll let you know if I need you!"

* * *

 _5:41pm, 3_ _rd_ _April 2006_

In the end, they made it to the pokémon centre without having to stop once, though Richard could tell that James had been putting on a brave face. Though they were used to walking long distances, they were both a little out of practise after the autumn and winter at home. His feet couldn't have been in much better condition than Nicola's.

Nonetheless, he hadn't said a word and Richard had suspected that Nicola wouldn't have been that impressed by the prospect of being carried by him anyway. She was still hobbling a little on her clearly painful feet as they walked up to the front desk in the lobby, having insisted on being put down once they were outside the pokémon centre. Richard was starting to wonder if she was going to be alright to walk the following morning.

"Can I book a room for the night?" she asked as she reached the receptionist.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Richard whispered to James.

"With some blister plasters and plenty of rest, probably," James replied quietly. "I might plan a shorter journey for tomorrow so that we can walk slower."

"Sounds good to me."

"How are your feet, by the way?"

"They could use a rest, but I should be good for tomorrow."

"Glad to hear it."

The two of them stopped talking as Nicola limped back over to them.

"I've got my room. What's the plan now?"

"Are you going to need a hand fixing your feet up?" James asked. "You've probably got some pretty nasty blisters…"

"If you don't mind…" Nicola gave him an apologetic smile.

"Not a problem," James replied. "I'm sorry I planned such a long journey for today." He turned to Richard. "Did you want to get us a room?"

"Will do!" Richard nodded. "I'll meet up with you guys in a bit!"

* * *

After dropping off their stuff in their rooms and putting plasters on the blisters they'd picked up that day, the three of them headed straight back down for dinner. If there was one advantage to their punishing hike today, it was that the Oldale Town pokémon centre was nowhere near as crowded as the ones in Ekota Town and Arita Town.

"What did you get?" James asked Richard as he walked over to join him at the table.

"Curry," Richard replied as he sat down. "The only choice really."

"Same here." James nodded.

Nicola arrived as well and sat down on James' right. She seemed a little tense.

"Is something up?" Richard asked.

"Nothing," she muttered in response.

"Oh!" A thought suddenly occurred to Richard. He grinned at her. "Are your feet still hurting?"

"…Yes."

"Ouch! Want me to carry you tomorrow?"

"I'll be fine!" Nicola snapped.

"I was only offering to help!" Richard grinned again as he turned his attention back to his food.

"The plasters will help," James said. "And we're not going to be going as far tomorrow. On that subject…" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the guidebook and opened on the page for Route 102. "I wanted to talk over tomorrow's route together."

"What's there to discuss?" Richard asked, shrugging his shoulders. "You told me that the quickest route to Petalburg City is the main road through the mountains north of Oldale Town. There isn't another route that would get us there faster."

"We're heading to Petalburg City next?" Nicola asked, looking between them.

"According to the guidebook, the closest gym to Oldale Town is located there," James replied.

"Wait a minute! 'We'?" Richard turned to look at her. "Does that mean you decided what you're doing next?"

"Y-Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I'm going to register for the Hoenn League tomorrow. I hope you don't mind me sticking around."

"That's fine by me!" James grinned at her.

"Same here!" Richard nodded.

"Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" Nicola asked, leaning over to look at the map of Route 102.

"Ah, nothing too important," James replied. He started pointing to various points on the map. "See, I was thinking that we could aim to reach here by the end of tomorrow…"

* * *

 _11:21am, 4_ _th_ _April 2006_

The bustle of the densely-packed centre of Oldale Town had given way to the comparatively quiet and open outskirts of the town. Though countless buildings still dotted the landscape as far as the mountains in the distance, it was clear that they were getting closer to the open countryside.

"How are your feet?" James asked Nicola as they walked along the side of the main road leading north in the direction of Petalburg City.

"Huh?" Nicola looked up from gazing at her new badge case. "It's a little painful, but I'm fine for now."

"You sure?" Richard asked. "We can stop for a break if you need it."

"Yeah, there's no rush today," James added.

"It's fine." Nicola winced unconvincingly as she took another step.

"We've got a long way to go…"

"Which is why it's best if we move as quickly as possible," Nicola replied. She led the way down the road as if to prove that her feet weren't bothering her too much.

Shrugging at one another, the two boys continued after her. If she felt able to continue, then there was no point in stopping her.

"So, does the guidebook say anything about the gym in Petalburg City?" Richard asked James.

"I couldn't see anything." James shook his head. "This is a guide to the region itself rather than to the league scene here."

"That's unfortunate," Richard sighed.

"We'll be able to figure things out once we arrive in Petalburg City!" Nicola called back to them.

"Well, that's true!" James nodded. "Hopefully, we'll be able to get some training in before we get there."

"I'm sure we'll find the opportunity!" Richard grinned reassuringly.

"…I think I am going to need a rest," Nicola said suddenly, a glum look on her face.

"I thought so!" Richard said knowingly.

"Only a short one!" Nicola snapped. She sat down on a bench by the side of the road and shrugged off her backpack. As she put it next to her, she beckoned to the others. "Why don't you rest as well?"

"Sure." James and Richard both sat down on the bench as well.

"I'm glad it's such a nice day," Nicola said, gazing at the bright sunshine illuminating their surroundings.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be nice trying to walk in the mountains in pouring rain," Richard sighed.

"I think it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow as well," James added.

The three of them lapsed into silence. Nicola still didn't know the other two that well – it was difficult to know what to say beyond small talk. Was there anything she could ask them about? Anything about the league? About their previous travels?

As Nicola agonised over this, she suddenly noticed a small, brown pokémon with spikey fur looking at her from the bushes next to the bench.

"What's that?"

"Oh? There's a pokémon there!" James exclaimed as he noticed it watching them.

"Hmm." Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

" _Zigzagoon, the tiny raccoon pokémon. Zigzagoon restlessly wander everywhere at all times. They are very curious pokémon and become interested in everything that they see. They may play dead to fool foes in battle._ "

"I guess it just wants to investigate us!" Richard laughed.

"Ah!" Nicola let out a cry as the zigzagoon suddenly sprang out of the bushes and landed on the end of the bench. With a brief growl, it seized the strap of her backpack in its mouth and jumped back to the ground. It immediately started racing up the road away from them.

For a moment, the three trainers sat there in silence, attempting to process what had just happened.

"…We need to get after it!" Nicola cried, jumping to her feet. Her blisters were still hurting, but she tried to ignore the pain. "Come on!"

"Right!" James and Richard jumped up as well and started running after her as she pursued the zigzagoon.

* * *

 _Route 102, Hoenn_

 _11:54am, 4_ _th_ _April 2006_

The outskirts of the town gave way to a narrow river valley. Fortunately for the trio, the zigzagoon had decided to run in the same direction as Route 102. Still, the chase had already lasted for half-an-hour and all of them were getting worn out. Their feet, already weakened by the previous day's walking, were really killing them.

The zigzagoon was looking worse for wear as well though. All four of them had slowed down considerably since the chase began. The end was close.

"How…is…it…still…running?" Nicola gasped.

"I think it's slowing down!" James pointed ahead.

The zigzagoon, apparently exhausted and finally bored of Nicola's bag, came to a halt by the side of the road and tossed the bag aside.

"Finally!" Nicola hobbled over to her bag as the zigzagoon staggered off towards the bushes.

"Looks like we can get back on the road to Petalburg City!" Richard grinned.

"I don't think we even left it…" James muttered, looking between his guidebook and the surrounding terrain.

"What are you talking about?" Nicola demanded, looking around at them. "I'm not finished with that zigzagoon yet!"

James and Richard noticed the poké ball in her hand.

"Oh, you're going to battle it?"

"Battle it?" Nicola gave them a puzzled look. "I'm going to catch it!"

Before James and Richard could open their mouths, Nicola hurled the poké ball at the fleeing zigzagoon. Much to their surprise, she actually managed to hit it. As it was sucked into the ball, it dropped to the ground and started shaking. Nicola watched intently.

There was a sudden crack and the poké ball split apart. The zigzagoon re-materialised and, casting a triumphant look back at the trainers, disappeared into the undergrowth.

"Huh?" Nicola blinked a couple of times in surprise.

"Wait, you were actually expecting to catch it?!" Richard cried.

"Well, you catch a pokémon by throwing a poké ball at it, right?" Nicola looked back at them for confirmation.

"That's…not how it works," said James.

"You need to weaken a pokémon before you try to catch it!" Richard laughed. "Just chasing after it for a while isn't enough!"

Nicola scowled at him. "Since you know so much, tell me what was I supposed to do then?"

"How about I show you?" Richard grinned. "I'm sure there'll be an interesting pokémon around here for me to catch!"

"It's a long road to Petalburg City," James said, walking over and scooping up Nicola's broken poké ball. "I'm sure you'll find something!"

"Let's get moving then!" Richard started leading the way along the road beside the river.

"Ugh," Nicola sighed as she followed him. "And I thought I was going to catch my first pokémon…"

"You're not the only person to make that mistake," James said, smiling at her. He placed the broken poké ball in her hand. "Make sure you always clean up after a failed capture."

"Ah, sorry," Nicola replied. "Did it take you long to catch your first pokémon?"

"Ah, well…" James thought back to when he caught his first pokémon. "I actually knew what to do before I caught my first pokémon, mainly thanks to someone else doing it wrong…"

"I see…" Nicola seemed a little disappointed.

"Don't worry – Richard will show how it's done!" James said reassuringly. "He's had plenty of experience catching pokémon in the past."

"Come on, guys!" Richard called. "Let's start looking for pokémon!"

"Right behind you!" James grinned. He and Nicola started walking after him.

They continued trekking along the valley. Unlike the journey up Route 101, the valley was much narrower, with far more dense vegetation covering the mountainsides. There were scattered villages along the valley, according to the guidebook at least. They'd passed through one when they'd first entered the valley while chasing the zigzagoon, and they passed a second while searching for a wild pokémon for Richard to use for his demonstration.

After passing a large bridge across the river and rounding a corner in the valley, a rustling in the bushes by the side of the road caught their attention. A small, dog-like pokémon with grey fur on its body and black fur on its face backed out into the road, a discarded piece of meat clutched between its sharp teeth.

Noticing the three trainers, it dropped the meat and let out a loud howl which echoed around the valley.

"That looks like a cool pokémon!" Richard grinned, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Poochyena, the bite pokémon. At first sight, a poochyena will take a bite out of anything that moves. They chase after prey until the victim becomes exhausted. However, they may turn tail if their prey strikes back_."

"You're thinking of catching it?" James asked.

"Yeah, sound like it'll be a big help in the Hoenn League!" Richard nodded as he pulled out Naro's poké ball.

The poochyena let out a snarl as it started bounding towards them, bearing its teeth. Nicola instinctively drew behind the boys.

"Watch and learn!" Richard grinned at her as he threw Naro's poké ball. "Use Double Kick!"

Naro let out a roar as he emerged. As he stormed towards the poochyena, it came to a halt. Clearly it was rethinking its position. However, Naro was quicker than it anticipated and it was quickly hit by two powerful kicks in quick succession.

"Great work, Naro!" Richard called as the poochyena was thrown back. He pulled out an empty poké ball. He quickly threw it before the poochyena had a chance to get back up. It was sucked into the ball, which dropped to the ground and started rolling around. A click and a small burst of sparks from the release mechanism indicated Richard's success.

"We did it! Great work, Naro!" Richard called, running over to scoop up the fallen poké ball. Grinning at it, he addressed the pokémon within. "Since you're a poochyena, your name can be 'Chena'! Nice to meet you!" He turned back to look at James and Nicola. "So, know what to do now?"

"…" James and Nicola looked at each other.

"…That was too quick for me to follow," said Nicola.

"Yeah, it wasn't particularly clear…" James added.

"…Huh?" Richard seemed disappointed at the reaction.

"Well, at least you got a new pokémon out of it!" James called reassuringly. "Congrats!"

"Thanks," Richard sighed. He let his new pokémon out of the ball. "I hope we'll get to be good friends, Chena!"

The poochyena looked him up and down before barking in understanding. His earlier attack must have been because they'd startled him, since he was looking quite relaxed now.

"Um, James," Nicola began.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Since Richard's demonstration didn't help, could you show me how to catch a pokémon?"

"Sure, I don't mind." James nodded. "I was thinking of catching a new pokémon anyway."

As they scanned their surroundings, James spotted a small bird with a long beak and white feathers diving down towards the river. Looking for food, perhaps? As it flew back up into the air again, James pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the bird.

" _Wingull, the seagull pokémon. Wingull ride updrafts rising from the sea by extending their long and narrow wings to glide. Their long beaks are useful for catching prey. In the winter, they hide food around their nests, which are typically built on sheer cliffs by the sea._ "

"Alright, I think I'll go with that one." James put his Pokédex away and pulled out a poké ball. "Go, Charka!"

The charmeleon burst out of the ball with a shout. As he landed on the road, he looked up at the circling wingull. His sudden appearance had attracted its interest.

"Before you catch a pokémon, you need to try and weaken it first," James explained. "Charka, use Flamethrower!"

Charka nodded and fired a burst of flames into the air towards the wingull. It easily avoided the attack and fired a blast of water back.

"Use Smokescreen!" James ordered.

Charka quickly spat out a cloud of thick, black smoke, instantly concealing his position. The wingull's attack struck the ground, but he'd already moved well clear of the impact.

"Use Fire Spin to immobilise it!" James called.

A jet of flame shot out of the dissipating cloud of smoke and up towards the wingull, who'd been descending to investigate the results of the previous attack. It let out a startled screech as the flame wrapped itself around it in a fiery vortex.

"And now you throw the poké ball?" Nicola asked.

"Not yet." James shook his head. "I want to weaken it a bit more before I do that." He nodded at Charka. "Use Flamethrower!"

Charka nodded and fired another burst of flames up into the air towards the trapped wingull. He scored a direct hit, sending the wingull toppling down towards the ground.

"Now I throw the poké ball!" James called to Nicola as he readied his empty poké ball. As the wingull landed with a thud on the road ahead of them, he threw the ball towards it. The wild pokémon was sucked inside. After the ball had rolled backwards and forwards a couple of times, there was a click and a small burst of sparks. Another successful capture!

"Simple as that!" James turned to Nicola and smiled. "Was that clear enough?"

"It was great, thanks!" Nicola replied enthusiastically.

"Why did you choose to use Charka instead of Kacha?" Richard asked. "You could have knocked it out in one hit if you'd used Thunderbolt!"

"Yeah, and that wouldn't have taught Nicola anything," James replied, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I was still able to catch it, wasn't I?"

"True, I guess," Richard sighed. He turned to Nicola as James walked over to pick up his poké ball. "So, you want to try catching the next pokémon we see?"

"I'll think about it," Nicola replied hesitantly. She looked over at James.

"You can be called…" James frowned as he concentrated. "'Nulin'!" He nodded with satisfaction before releasing the wingull from his poké ball.

Nulin let out a cry as he materialised. The scorch marks all over his small body had left him feeling very uncomfortable.

"Hold on, I've got a potion here." James quickly pulled out a Super Potion and sprayed it on Nulin, who initially shuddered before relaxing.

"Hey, James!" Nicola called out to him.

"Hmm?" James looked around at her.

"I was wondering if Kipa and I could battle you and Nulin!" she said as she approached him. "I want Kipa to get stronger so that we can catch new pokémon together!"

"I don't mind battling you," James replied. He looked at Nulin. "How does that sound?"

Nulin cried enthusiastically in response, flapping his wings.

"It'll be a good opportunity for me to get to know Nulin as well!" James grinned. He looked around at the road, which was boxed in by the river on one side and a steep cliff on the other. "We'll have to wait until we get to the next village though – we don't want to block the road."

"I don't mind!" Nicola replied eagerly. "Let's get moving again!"

* * *

 _12:47pm, 4_ _th_ _April 2006_

As they arrived in the next village along the valley, the three trainers spotted a small, empty field by the side of the river. Despite the fact that they were all pretty worn out after the walk from Oldale Town, Nicola insisted that she and James battle as soon as possible. As they both stood opposite each other in the field, they could both feel the heat of the sun beating down on them. James was privately hoping that the battle wouldn't last too long so that they could rest in the shade before continuing their journey.

"Are you both ready to begin?" Richard called.

"Ready!" Nicola called out, her voice filled with determination.

"Same here!" James nodded.

"Alright, begin!" Richard called.

"Go, Kipa!" Nicola ordered, throwing out the mudkip's poké ball.

"Go, Nulin!" James called. He threw Nulin's ball into the air.

There were a couple of pops as the balls burst open and the two pokémon emerged, each watching the other carefully. Nulin dropped his height so that he'd be better prepared to launch his first attack, while Kipa tensed himself up as well.

"Use Growl!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa started growling at Nulin.

"Use Growl as well!" James ordered.

Nulin also started 'growling' at Kipa, though it sounded a lot more like a series of fast 'caws'.

"Now use Tackle!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa raced forwards and jumped up, ploughing into Nulin and sending him flying back.

"Use Water Gun!" James called as Nulin recovered. The wingull quickly fired a blast of water back towards Kipa, scoring a direct hit and forcing the mudkip to take a couple of steps back, though it didn't seem to faze him that much.

"Tackle again!" Nicola yelled.

Kipa charged forwards again, smashing into Nulin a second time. As he landed back on the ground, he suddenly kicked up several clumps of mud from the ground. Nulin easily avoided the second, unordered attack.

"What was that?" Nicola cried.

"Looked like Mud Slap to me," Richard replied from the side of the field.

"Mud Slap?" Nicola gave him a confused look.

"Kipa's learnt a new attack!" James called over to her. "Mud Slap is a ground type attack that also reduces the opponent's accuracy. Unfortunately for you, ground type attacks have no effect on flying type pokémon like Nulin!" He nodded at the wingull. "Use Growl and then Water Gun!"

Nulin let out another series of 'caws' before firing another blast of water towards Kipa. He flinched upon being struck by the cold jet of water, but was otherwise mostly unaffected by it.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa shook himself to get rid of the excess water and hurled himself towards Nulin again, crashing headlong into him and toppling him to the ground. As the two pokémon separated and Nulin struggled to pull himself back up, Nicola immediately gave her next order.

"Use Tackle again! Keep up the pressure!"

Kipa immediately flung himself at Nulin again. He crashed into him with a mighty thud and the two pokémon crashed to the ground in a pile. Kipa staggered back to his feet, but Nulin remained lying on the ground.

"Nulin is unable to battle, Kipa is the winner!" Richard announced. "This match goes to Nicola!"

"We did it, Kipa!" Nicola cheered, running over to hug the mudkip.

"It wasn't that impressive," Richard said dismissively. "He was going easy on you."

"Huh?"

"Richard!" James threw a disgruntled look in his direction as he recalled Nulin to his poké ball.

"Is…is that true?" Nicola asked, turning to look at James.

"Well, there are things I'd normally do in battle which I didn't do here," James began awkwardly. "I normally have my pokémon dodge around more than I did in our battle. I didn't have Nulin use weaker attacks though – you beat him with your own strength!"

"I see…" Nicola still looked disappointed. "Thank you for battling with me. I think I learnt a lot from it."

"No problem," James replied. "The more you battle, the better you'll get, so I don't mind battling you again in the future."

"I look forward to it. But promise me one thing," Nicola said. "Next time, fight like I'm any other opponent!"

James was silent for a second before smiling. "Sure, I promise!"

"I'll give it my all the next time we fight as well!" Richard grinned at her.

"You need to hold back more!" Nicola retorted.

"Hey! I _was_ holding back in our battle!" Richard cried.

"You call _that_ holding back?!" Nicola fumed. "You knocked us out in one hit!"

"…That technically says more about you and Kipa than about me and Naro," Richard pointed out.

"Grrrr!" Nicola glowered at him.

James let out a sigh. Somehow, he doubted that it would be a peaceful lunch break. Still, he was glad that Nicola had taken her first steps towards improving herself as a trainer. After an eventful morning, they'd certainly earned a rest!

* * *

 **So, James and Richard capture their first new pokémon and Nicola joins them as a Hoenn League challenger. With hindsight, I wish I'd had more time to develop Chena and Nulin's characters a bit more this chapter. I'll have to make up for it next chapter instead!**

 **I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed, followed/favourited, or even just read** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **over the course of its first weekend.** _ **Hoenn**_ **attracted, on 17** **th** **February, more than twice the number of views** _ **Sevii Islands**_ **attracted on its first day and considerably more reviews over the course of last weekend than** _ **Kanto**_ **did in its first month. The positive response so far has gone a long way to making that punishing weekend feel worthwhile. So, once again, thank you!**

 **As ever, I welcome any feedback you had on this chapter. As a quick reminder, I only respond to reviews using PMs, not in story author notes. I encourage guest reviewers or users with PMs disabled to continue submitting reviews for** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **, but please be aware that I will be unable to respond to them.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl and Water Gun.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle and Howl.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl and Mud Slap.


	4. An Electrifying Race!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter was a busy one, with Nicola registering for the Hoenn League, attempting and failing to catch a wild zigzagoon, and being shown how to catch a pokémon by both Richard and James, who caught Chena the poochyena and Nulin the wingull respectively. The journey towards Petalburg City continues…**

 **Upload Date: 5** **th** **March 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: An Electrifying Race!**

 _Route 102, Hoenn_

 _4:02pm, 4_ _th_ _April 2006_

"How much further have we got to go?" Nicola groaned as she dragged herself forwards.

"The nearest pokémon centre is another hour away," James replied, reading the guidebook.

"That's so far!" Nicola cried. "I think I'm going to need another rest…"

"You know, I might actually agree with you there," Richard sighed.

After stopping so that they could have a lunch break and James and Nicola could have their battle, the three trainers had resumed their journey towards Petalburg City. However, the path through the mountains was long and it was going to take them a great deal more time before they arrived at their destination. James had been hoping that they could stop in moderate-sized village that was about halfway through the mountains and marked a crossroads with roads heading to the west and east.

They were getting close to it now, but everyone was worn out after the long walk, as well as the lingering effects of the previous day's journey. He was starting to wonder if they should call it a day and find somewhere to set up the tent. It wouldn't be the most comfortable of nights, as James and Richard were well aware, but it would give Nicola a chance to rest her feet.

While the humans were flagging, the two pokémon they had out seemed to still be full of energy. James' newly-caught wingull, Nulin, was soaring energetically above the ground, occasionally swooping down to receive a treat from his new trainer. He seemed happy enough.

Chena, Richard's poochyena, was far more collected than Nulin. He was strolling alongside his trainer, occasionally glancing around to check his surroundings, but otherwise seeming fairly relaxed. According to the Pokédex, poochyena had a good deal of stamina, so it was no surprise that he was treating the long walk as if it were nothing.

They rounded another corner in the road and suddenly caught the sounds of cheering in the distance. The three trainers looked at each other.

"I wonder what that's all about," Richard said.

"Don't know," James replied, flicking open his guidebook to have a look.

"Maybe someone's having a pokémon battle?" Nicola suggested as they pushed on.

"I don't think that's it," James said, looking up from the guidebook as Nulin landed on his shoulder and nibbled mischievously at the strap of his backpack.

"Oh? Is there something else up ahead?" Richard sounded curious.

"Yeah." James nodded. "We should be able to see it soon."

"You aren't going to tell us?" Nicola asked, sounding disappointed.

"You'll find out for yourselves in a second!" James grinned back.

They continued walking along the road until they emerged from the shadow of the steep, tree-clad slope on their right. They found themselves in a wide-open section of the valley, the road leading up to an area of flat ground nestled against the hills and trees. It was from up here that the cheering was coming from. Between the cheers, Nicola thought she could make out some electronic whirring.

What lay to their right quickly became obvious as they reached a sign on the right side of the road proclaiming "Ocean Kart Racecourse". Beyond it, there was a main building alongside a number of more ramshackle structures lying to the left, while to the right, the tarmacked surface of a race track was visible, the occasional go-kart racing past. A small crowd of maybe twenty people or so were gathered under cover between the main building and the track.

"There's a go-karting track out here?" Richard looked around in surprise. "Isn't it a little out-of-the-way?"

"I guess most people wouldn't want it near their homes," said Nicola, noting the lack of any other buildings in the surrounding area.

"I think you're probably right there." James nodded. He looked at the others. "Since we're pretty worn out, did you want to stop for a quick rest here? The guidebook says that it's free to watch the races here."

"Sounds good to me," Nicola replied wearily, rubbing one of her feet.

"Same here!" Richard nodded.

The three of them walked over towards the viewing area and joined the spectators. The first thing that struck James as he looked out over the racecourse was how unexpectedly quiet it was. He'd once been go-karting back in Kanto a couple of years ago and recalled them being incredibly noisy. As he watched, however, he quickly noticed that each kart had a pokémon sat atop the engine at the back. As the race continued, the pokémon, evidently electric types, transmitted electricity to the engines, keeping the karts in motion.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Nicola murmured as she watched the race.

"Yeah." Richard nodded.

The race was clearly reaching its final stages. All the karts had been slowing down as the pokémon grew tired; those with the least potent electricity falling the furthest behind. As one of the karts crossed the finish line, a flag was waved and the winner was declared. The crowd applauded loudly as the racers crossed the line on-by-one until they were all back.

"Did you know about this, James?" Richard asked.

"Huh?" James snapped his attention away from the racetrack. "I just knew that there was a racetrack here thanks to the guidebook. It didn't mention that the karts were powered by electric pokémon."

"It looks like it was pretty exhausting…" Nicola gazed over at the pokémon.

"Huh?" Richard noticed that some of the racers had started recalling the pokémon to their poké balls. "This racecourse is open to the public, right?"

"That's right." James nodded.

"Then, are you allowed to use your own pokémon?"

James was about to respond when another voice cut in before him.

"As long as it's an electric type, there's no problem with using your own pokémon. Of course, most people just use a rental pokémon from the racecourse…"

The three of them looked around to see an older girl with long, brown hair and green eyes stood behind them. Wearing a racing outfit and carrying a helmet under her arm, it was obvious that she was a racer too.

"It's completely different to the go-karting I've seen," said James. "How do these races work?"

"Interested?" The girl grinned at him. "It's actually quite simple. I'm Charlotte, by the way. Charlotte Cole. My family own this racecourse."

"Nice to meet you," James replied. "I'm James Burton from Pallet Town in the Kanto region."

The others quickly introduced themselves as well.

"So, do those go-karts run on just electricity from the pokémon?" Richard asked.

"That's right!" Charlotte nodded. "They're very simple and easy to operate. The pokémon just has to shock a lightning rod on the engine to power the battery. In a way, it's just like a running race for electric types!"

"That's pretty interesting." Richard nodded.

"Umm, I don't mean to interrupt…" Nicola quickly cut in. "But shouldn't we be focusing on getting to the pokémon centre in the next village?"

"Well, I guess so," said James. "It's a shame really, I wish I could learn more about this racecourse."

"In that case, why don't you stop by my family's inn?" Charlotte asked. "It's just beyond that hill and just off the road towards Tuile Village."

"Hang on, your family owns an inn as well?" James asked.

"Yeah." Charlotte nodded. "It's been in my family's hands for at least a century." She looked between the three of them. "If you want to stay the night here, then I can get you some good rates!"

"I like that idea!" Richard replied enthusiastically. "It'll get us off our feet sooner!"

"I'm fine with it as well," Nicola added.

"Same with me." James nodded.

"Awesome!" Charlotte grinned at them. "Come on, I'll lead the way!"

* * *

 _7:15pm, 4_ _th_ _April 2006_

Set against the far side of the hill, the inn was normally a ten-minute walk from the racecourse if you used the main road. Charlotte, however, had taken them through an out-of-the-way dirt path up the tree-covered hill to the back of the inn. James had gotten the impression that it would normally have halved the time it took to get between the two, but with his, Richard and Nicola's feet in poor condition, it had actually taken them even longer.

The three of them had been relieved to finally reach the inn. Charlotte had introduced them to her mother and helped them book rooms for the night. After that, they'd gone straight to take baths after the exhausting journey from Oldale Town before returning to the communal lounge to relax and talk to each other. Time had passed quickly: it hadn't felt like they'd been there long when Charlotte's mother had announced that she'd started cooking dinner.

"We can't have been down here for two hours," Richard muttered, looking disbelievingly at his watch.

"Well, you were napping for a bit of it!" James grinned, looking over at him from a small table where he was playing cards with Nicola.

"It's been a tiring day after all," Richard sighed. He stretched his arms above his head before reaching out and scratching Chena, who was lying next to him, behind the ears.

"I'm sure that bath helped as well," James added, holding out his cards so that Nicola could select one of them. "I felt like nodding off after that as well!"

"I'm just glad I'm off my feet!" Nicola sighed as she took one of James' cards and added it to her hand.

"By the way," James began. "Where did Charlotte go? I haven't seen her in a while."

"She'd probably helping her mum out," Nicola replied. She attempted to make her face look as passive as possible as he moved to select one of her cards.

"You're probably right." He nodded. "The inn is just run by the family, so…"

Just as he was about to take the card that Nicola was visibly hoping he wouldn't, they heard a familiar-sounding voice from the doorway.

"Huh? I didn't know we had guests this evening."

They looked around, surprised to see Charlotte looking into the room in confusion.

"What are…" James began, but he quickly trailed off. After they'd arrived, Charlotte had changed into her regular clothes. The person standing in the doorway was wearing a racing suit, and a different one to what Charlotte had been wearing earlier as well. "Are you Charlotte's… sister?" he asked hesitantly.

The girl opened her mouth to respond, but an identical girl bounded into the doorway before she could.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before!" Charlotte cried. She put her hand on the shoulder of the girl in the racing suit. "This is my twin sister, Imogen!" She quickly introduced the three trainers.

"I see. So, you're interested in the go-kart races?" Imogen smiled at them. Her eyes seemed to linger on Kacha, who was flaked out on James' lap.

"Charlotte said that she'd tell us more about it once we were here," James replied. "But then she disappeared…"

"Sorry about that!" Charlotte grinned guiltily. "I had to help my mum out!"

"Don't worry about it!" Richard called over to her. "We understand!"

"Can you keep them company while I help prepare dinner?" Charlotte asked Imogen.

"Sure, no problem!" Imogen nodded.

"You're a lifesaver!" Charlotte grinned. "I'll come and get you when it's ready!" She disappeared back into the hallway.

Imogen walked over and sat down at the table between James and Nicola, the latter letting out a groan as James finally picked out a card from her hand. With a grin, he discarded his eight of spades and eight of clubs, leaving him with just one card to Nicola's two.

"Urk." Nicola groaned as she took his five of hearts and laid it down with her five of diamonds. The only card left in her hand was the joker. The game was over.

"Well, I guess that's that!" James grinned, stretching his arms above his head and leaning back in his chair.

"I'll get you next time," Nicola sighed.

"So, is that your pikachu?" Imogen asked, scratching Kacha behind the ears, much to his delight.

"Yeah." James nodded. "Kacha was the first pokémon I ever caught. We've been together for about a year now."

"Is he strong?"

"Of course, he is!"

"Is that so?" Imogen smiled confidently as she withdrew her hand. "So, did you want me to tell you more about the go-kart races here?"

"Sure, I'm interested." James nodded. "Are there any special rules?"

"Just that your kart has to be powered by an electric type pokémon," Imogen replied. "Well, and you can't use moves on other racers, obviously."

"And do you just race until there's only one racer left?"

"No, there are five laps," Imogen explained. "Just like any other race, the first to cross the finishing line is the winner. Your pokémon needs to carefully manage their energy so that they don't drop out partway through."

"So, it just comes down to the strength of the pokémon?" James asked.

"Not quite." Imogen shook her head before giving him a mischievous grin. "The driver's skill is important too. You might not be able to use moves, but you can ram other racers off the course."

"That's allowed?" Nicola cried.

"Well, as long as you're not going in too violently," Imogen replied. "The worst we've ever had are bruises and a few sprained limbs – nothing major." She fixed James with an enthusiastic stare. "So, there's a race tomorrow morning. How about you and Kacha enter it?"

"Huh? Me and Kacha?" James and the pikachu shared a bewildered look. "I'm not sure…"

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Imogen grinned. "Charlotte and I will be racing then as well, so we'll be able to teach you the ropes!"

"Go on, James!" Richard called over to him. "I bet Kacha's been waiting for some excitement ever since we arrived in Hoenn!"

"I'll be there to cheer you on!" Nicola added enthusiastically.

"Well…" James looked down at Kacha. "I guess we can give it a go."

Kacha squeaked determinedly as well.

"Awesome!" Imogen stood up. "I'm looking forward to racing you now!"

"Guys, dinner's ready!" Charlotte called, walking into the room.

"Coming!" Imogen replied as the other three pulled themselves up and started walking towards the door.

* * *

 _9:56am, 5_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Looking good, James!" Richard grinned, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Thanks, I guess." James tugged at the collar of his borrowed racing suit. It was tight and bulky, making it difficult to move around in. Beside him, Kacha had also been kitted out with a small racing suit to help protect him if he fell off the go-kart during the race.

"How are you feeling?" Nicola asked. "You got enough sleep last night, right?"

"I think so," James replied.

After dinner, Charlotte and Imogen had dragged him back to the racecourse so that they could give him some basic training. It had been almost midnight by the time they'd gotten back and James had subsequently been kept up by his nerves. Still, he was glad that he'd had a bit of training beforehand.

A small crowd had already gathered in the viewing area as the other racers started setting up their karts. Including himself, Charlotte and Imogen, there were eight in total. It was going to be tough to make his mark, but Kacha had become a fairly powerful pokémon after all of their training together over the last year. He might be enough to tip the race in James' favour.

"Oh? You're all kitted up?"

James, Richard and Nicola looked around to see Charlotte and Imogen, both wearing their racing suits and clutching their helmets under their arms. Each had a pokémon riding on their shoulder. They both looked very similar: mouse-like pokémon not too dissimilar to Kacha, with cream-coloured fur. The difference between the two, however, was that the one riding on Charlotte's shoulder had read ears and cheek pouches, while the one of Imogen's shoulder had blue ones.

"Are those the pokémon you're riding with?" Richard asked, gesturing to the two pokémon.

"That's right!" Charlotte nodded. "This is my partner, Lucy!"

The red-eared pokémon cried out cheerfully, smiling at them.

"And this is Mini." Imogen introduced her pokémon, who smiled more shyly at them.

"I've never seen those pokémon before." James pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at Lucy.

" _Plusle, the cheering pokémon. When plusle are cheering on their partners, they flash with electric sparks from all over their bodies. If their partner loses, this pokémon cried loudly. They climb telephone poles to absorb electricity._ "

"Interesting," James mumbled as he moved over to Mini.

" _Minun, the cheering pokémon. Minun are more concerned about cheering on their partners than their own safety. They short out the electricity in their bodies to create brilliant showers of sparks to cheer on their team mates. Exposure to electricity from minun and plusle promotes blood circulation and relaxes muscles._ "

"So, these are support-oriented pokémon?" James asked as he put his Pokédex away.

"I guess you could say that," Charlotte replied. "But don't be fooled – Lucy is more than capable of going head-to-head with Kacha!"

"Same with Mini!" Imogen added, grinning confidently at him.

"Looks like I need to watch out then," James sighed.

Kacha let out a sigh as well.

"Looks like the race is going to begin soon!" Imogen suddenly said. "We need to get to our karts!"

"S-Sure!" James' heart gave an uncomfortable jolt as he started following the two sisters. "I'll see you guys later!"

"Good luck!" Nicola called after him.

"We'll be cheering for you!" Richard added.

As he reached the pits, James quickly found his kart and strapped himself into the driver's seat. Behind him, one of the racecourse staff helped Kacha into his position. The others were all finishing their pre-race checks and getting ready to roll out onto the track.

"Let's do our best, Kacha!" He grinned at the pikachu, who quickly returned it, before pulling his helmet on.

The karts were pushed out onto the track by the racecourse staff so that the pokémon didn't have to expend any energy before the race began. With the helmet on, it was difficult to look around that much. However, he was able to see Richard and Nicola among the crowd, waving enthusiastically at him. As the engines started, the electric pokémon began feeding their electricity into the batteries. James was acutely aware of the crackling of Kacha's electricity behind his head. He quickly felt for all the controls Charlotte and Imogen had taught him about the previous night.

"Go!"

With the shout of a single word from one of the staff, the race began!

James quickly attempted to accelerate as fast as possible. "I need more electricity!" he called back to Kacha. The batteries weren't at full charge yet.

The pikachu let out a cry and the crackling intensified.

James was behind the others, but he was starting to gain on them as they approached the first corner. Boldly taking the sharper inside of the turn, he managed to pass one of the others before he had to slow to avoid crashing into another kart. Shortly afterwards, he attempted the same manoeuvre on the second corner, only to find himself blocked in.

Begrudgingly slowing down, he followed the leading karts around the corner before accelerating on the brief straight before the next corner, bending the track around to run parallel with the straight they'd started on. James tried to ignore the crowd as best as he could as he raced along the straight, just managing to overtake another racer before next turn to the right.

They all fought for their positions as they wound their way through the interior of the course, eventually emerging back onto a straight on the outside edge of the course. James had quickly noticed that the route they were following wasn't the only route around the course. Other parts of the track had been blocked off with large signs displaying arrows to help direct them and to keep them on one set course. The arrows themselves were a big help to someone like him, who was unfamiliar with the track.

Charging down the track towards the large corner at the north-eastern end of the track, James managed to move into fifth place and held position as they rounded the corner and rushed back down towards the starting line.

"How are you doing, Kacha?" James called as they started the second lap.

The pikachu cried out reassuringly over the crackling of electricity. He was still in good shape. From the slightly indignant tone, he clearly wanted James to focus on steering!

As he rounded the first corner again, however, James was in for a surprise. As the racers had moved on, the racecourse staff had moved the signs around, opening up a new route and closing the old one. Racing past where they'd turned left a second time on the first lap, they instead took a softer left turn further up before racing back down the internal straight.

"Come on, James! You can do it!" Nicola cheered from the viewing area as James attempted another bold overtake.

"He can't hear you, you know." Richard pointed out.

"I know that!" Nicola snapped. "It's about being supportive anyway!"

"Whatever," Richard sighed. "It looks like he's struggling a bit with the way they've changed the track."

"It looks easier this lap," Nicola murmured. "Fewer tight turns."

"I don't think it's the difficulty with the turns," Richard replied. "It's more that he's trying to get used to a new layout while he's racing."

"Yes!" Nicola suddenly grinned. "He managed to get into fourth place!"

"Hmm." Richard responded idly. Though James was managing to compete with the bulk of the other racers, Charlotte and Imogen were a long way ahead of the pack. As they turned the last corner and charged towards the starting line, the third-place driver and James began the straight just before it.

"Do you think James is going to be able to beat them?" Nicola asked, noticing that he was watching them.

"Maybe," Richard replied in a non-committal tone. "Kacha is a well-trained pokémon, so he's great at maximising his electrical output. I'm surprised by how fast Lucy and Mini are capable of powering Charlotte and Imogen to though. I didn't think they looked that strong."

"I guess you can't judge things on just their appearances," Nicola sighed.

As James entered the third lap, he made getting past the tricky driver in front of him his priority. As he rounded the first corner in a failed overtake attempt, he noticed that the track had been changed again. He didn't have time to linger on that fact though as the drivers behind him were gaining.

"More power, Kacha!" he called.

He continued weaving his way around the new route, following closely behind the third-place driver. Much to his surprise, the long track up in the north-eastern corner of the course had been shut for this lap, which torpedoed his plan to attempt another overtake on the straight. He followed the track around and speed across the starting line again, still in fourth place.

"He's getting close!" Nicola cried enthusiastically, noticing that James and Kacha were getting very close to the driver ahead of them.

"He only has two laps left," Richard added. "If he's going to catch Charlotte and Imogen, then he needs to focus!"

James himself boldly decided to emulate the scuffles among the rest of the pack and, as he rounded the second corner, he carefully bumped into the side of the other driver. With just enough force, he was forced off the track and onto the grass. As he slowed drastically to cope with the rough terrain, James rushed on round on the track, managing to pass him before he could get back onto the track ahead of him.

"He did it!" Nicola cheered as James shot off up the track to challenge Charlotte and Imogen, winding his way through the sharp turns and nearly coming off the track himself.

"Yeah, you can really see Kacha's strength there!" Richard nodded with satisfaction. "All of the other pokémon are clearly getting tired out."

There was no one left who could really threaten James from behind. He and Kacha poured all their energy into closing the gap with Charlotte and Imogen. As they crossed the line and began the final lap, James thought hard about how he was going to overtake them. Kacha's strength was greater than Lucy and Mini, but the two pokémon were able to keep themselves ahead. As he took a sharp U-turn corner as far to the inside as he could, he suddenly noticed something.

Charlotte and Imogen had been leading the race almost since the start, but they didn't seem to be trying that hard to race each other. Now that he thought about it, they'd always stayed pretty close together the whole way through. He continued wracking his brain as he turned another corner and used the brief straight to try and catch up to them.

As he cleared a series of tight turns and reached the long straight towards the final corner, something suddenly clicked into place. Immediately after that, he noticed that the toughest track arrangement had been put in place.

Braking sharply, he turned left partway down the straight onto a smaller track weaving its way across the otherwise empty area within the curve of the final corner. Taking the first corner slightly too fast, he almost skidded off the road, but managed to save himself at the last minute.

Gritting his teeth and urging Kacha on, he edged closer to Charlotte and Imogen as they carefully negotiated the sharp turns in quick succession. He cut narrowly alongside Charlotte as they turned the final corner back onto the main track.

He rammed into her, driving her to the side and off the track. He nearly followed her off into the grass, but just about managed to stay on. He charged after Imogen, who'd immediately noticed that Charlotte had been knocked off the course. The two drivers rounded the final corner and raced for the finish line, James gaining on Imogen as Mini's electricity started failing to keep the battery topped up.

"One final push, Kacha!" James called as he started to draw level with Imogen.

The pikachu let out a loud groan as he strained to put as much power into the batteries as possible.

At the crucial moment, Imogen and Mini suddenly lost speed: the minun was clearly exhausted. So exhausted that it almost seemed impossible that she had managed to keep Imogen far ahead of the pack for the entire duration of the race.

James didn't have time to think about that though. Imogen made a last-ditch attempt to run him off the road, but she was too late. He'd just managed to pull ahead before crossing the line.

There was a loud cheer from the crowd as James and Kacha finally relaxed the tension in their bodies. The go-kart came to a halt and James pulled off his helmet. He turned around and shared a grin with Kacha. They'd done it!

"I can't believe you were actually able to beat us!" Imogen gasped as she pulled her own helmet off. "I guess we're really good teachers!"

"Your lessons really helped!" James called back. "But I think it was really down to Kacha's strength!" He patted the pikachu on the head.

"I guess so!" Imogen laughed. "By the way, how did you figure it out? The reason we were able to keep ahead so easily, I mean."

"Ah, that." James pondered for a second as the other drivers arrived. "I realised that you two had been sticking together for the whole race. Once I started thinking, I remembered that line from minun's Pokédex entry about how plusle and minun's electricity helps blood circulation. I thought that much mean that they have some kind of deep connection to each other."

"I'm impressed," Imogen replied. She nodded. "Plusle and minun have abilities called 'Plus' and 'Minus', which mean that they become more powerful when they're together. When you knocked out Charlotte and Lucy, it meant that Mini didn't have the power to keep the kart moving fast enough to win."

"So, that's what it was!" James looked happy at having figured it out more or less correctly.

"Anyway, congratulations on winning, both of you!" Imogen grinned at him. "It was a great race!"

"Thanks, Imogen!" James grinned back as Kacha cried out happily in response.

* * *

 _11:25am, 5_ _th_ _April 2006_

"It feels like kind of a shame to let you go after all this," Charlotte sighed. "You have great potential as a racer!"

After the race, James and the others had gone back to the inn so that he could have a shower and they could finish their preparations to get back on the road to Petalburg City. Charlotte and Imogen had come down to the main road to see them off.

"You should definitely come by and race here again!" Imogen grinned. "I want to get revenge for today!"

"I'll keep that in mind!" James replied, looking between the two of them. "Kacha and I had great fun racing against you."

"If I ever get an electric type, I'm going to come back here and race with it!" Nicola said, her eyes filled with determination.

"…You know that you could have hired a rental pokémon alongside the kart, right?" Richard asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, I did!" Nicola replied, frowning at him. "But it wouldn't be the same as doing it with your own pokémon!"

"I agree!" Charlotte nodded. "Part of how Imogen and I have gotten so good at this is that we know our pokémon's limits and strengths. I'm sure that's how James was able to win despite never competing in a race like that before as well!"

"Well, it's been fun!" James said. "Thanks again!"

"See you again some day!" Charlotte and Imogen called after the three trainers as they continued on their journey north through the mountains towards Petalburg City.

* * *

 **First up, thanks go to shadowsilv3r for help with some of the ideas in this chapter.**

 **So, this is the result of noticing something interesting on Google maps and trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into the story. It also became a good opportunity to give Kacha more of the spotlight. Though it didn't do much to advance the story, I hope that this chapter was entertaining to read.**

 **I haven't had the time to give this chapter a proper proofread thanks to timing constraints, so if you find any errors please let me know so I can fix them.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl and Water Gun.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle and Howl.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl and Mud Slap.


	5. A New Balance of Power!

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 5 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James participated in a go-kart race alongside Kacha as the group continued on their way along Route 102. With Petalburg City now in reach, the group's thoughts turn towards their first gym battles.**

 **Upload Date: 12** **th** **March 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: A New Balance of Power!**

 _Route 102, Hoenn_

 _8:55am, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

Nicola stirred and blearily opened her eyes. It took her a little while to register her surroundings. The drumming sound of rain reached her ears and she turned her head in its direction. For a moment, she continued lying in bed as she gazed in the direction of the window. The warmth of the bed seemed to be holding her firmly in place.

Fighting through it, she pulled herself up and yawned as she got out of bed. It was hardly a surprise that she'd slept for as long as she had – they'd walked a long way through the mountains the previous day and she'd been practically dead on her feet by the time they'd arrived in the small village in which they'd spent the night. They'd been lucky to find a nice inn close to the main road and the soft bed had contributed to the reluctance with which she'd gotten up.

She walked over to the window and drew back the curtains. Looking out at the lake opposite the inn, she let out a sigh as she saw the heavy rain drops thundering to the ground. She'd been able to hear them from her bed, but the fact that it was raining had only just fully registered. It wasn't going to be fun travelling on to Petalburg City in this weather.

At that moment, her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.

"Nicola? Are you awake?"

James' voice.

"I am!" Nicola called back, walking back over towards the door.

"That's a relief! Richard and I are going to have breakfast in about twenty minutes! Are you going to join us?"

"I still need to get dressed!" Nicola called back. She started rummaging through the drawers of the dresser to pull out her clothes.

"No problem! I'll knock for you when we're heading down!"

She heard the soft thuds of his footsteps as he walked off down the corridor. She let out another sigh. Getting up early was one of the things she was struggling to get used to while travelling. Obviously, school had meant she was used to it, but at least she didn't have to hike for several hours across the countryside to get to and from school!

Putting her clothes in a pile at the foot of the bed, she sat down and examined her feet. Though they hadn't exactly recovered, given that she was still walking so far every day when she really needed a chance to rest, they felt a lot better than they had on previous days. Beneath the plasters, her blisters had shrunk to a far more manageable size. They were still painful, but they were on the mend.

She glanced down at the pile of clothes next to her. Odds were that they'd be completely soaked by the end of the day. Plus, the rain had caused the temperature outside to drop quite sharply. She shivered at the thought.

"I guess I should wear something warmer today…" she mumbled to herself.

* * *

 _2:27pm, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

Though they'd covered a lot of ground in the previous couple of days, they'd still had a lot of ground to cover before arriving in Petalburg City. Walking in the rain was never a pleasant experience and they'd found themselves quickly soaked and cold. After managing a couple of hours, James, Richard and Nicola had ducked into a small restaurant by the side of the road to get dry and have something warm to eat. "A sandwich and some crisps aren't going to cut it," as Richard had said.

The rest had helped, but another forty minutes on the road in the rain had worn them out again.

"How much further do we have to go?" Richard asked, clasping the hood of his raincoat firmly over his head as he looked around. The three of them had just reached a crossroads in a mostly open valley of rice paddies and distant villages.

"We need to go left here," James replied. "We should only be about twenty minutes or so from Petalburg City, but that doesn't include getting into the city centre."

"How long will that take?" Nicola asked, dreading the answer as they turned left and continued walking along the road.

"Almost two hours from when we reach the outskirts of the city," James replied, his tone apologetic. "But that's only to get to the very centre. I was thinking of heading to this pokémon centre here." He pointed to the map in the guidebook.

"That still seems like a long way to me," Nicola muttered wearily.

"Well, I guess we've just got to keep walking and hope that we don't get too worn out," Richard sighed.

"I'm starting to regret choosing this route over the one that came in from the west," James said, glancing at the map.

"Imagine how we feel!" Richard replied.

The three of them continued walking for a while as the road drew closer to the densely-forested slopes of the mountain they'd passed to the south of over the course of the late morning and early afternoon. The rain wasn't letting up at all.

"I think I'm going to need another rest," Nicola mumbled glumly.

"We can stop as many times as you need to," James replied.

"Thanks."

As they reached the foot of the slope, Nicola sat down on a bench under a shelter and let out a sigh of relief. While she was resting, James continued to examine the guidebook.

"Hey, James!" Richard, who'd been wandering around the shelter, beckoned to him.

"What is it?" James asked, walking over to join him.

"This is a bus stop," Richard replied, pointing at the bus timetable fixed to a pole nearby. "Apparently, it goes straight into Petalburg City."

"It does?" James had a look for himself. Sure enough, Petalburg City was listed among the destinations. "That would get us into the city centre much quicker." He turned back to look at Nicola. "What do you say, Nicola? Should we catch the bus the rest of the way?"

"When's the next one?" Nicola called back.

"In about ten minutes!" Richard answered first.

"That's probably the best idea then!" Nicola nodded. "I don't want to be too worn out to do anything when we get there!"

"That's what we'll do then." James stepped back from the timetable and noticed a vending machine a short distance away. "Do either of you two want any drinks?"

"I'll have a lemonade," Richard replied.

"Can I get a soda pop?" Nicola asked, fumbling around for some change.

"Don't worry about it," James replied. "I don't mind paying this once!" He was surprised by his companions' choices of drink. He himself was planning on getting a hot drink of some kind. They still had to wait ten more minutes in the cold, after all!

* * *

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _3:25pm, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

After arriving in the centre of Petalburg City, James, Richard and Nicola had gone to the pokémon centre to book rooms and have a proper rest after their long journey. Richard had insisted that they couldn't stay idle for long though. Petalburg City contained the closest gym to Littleroot Town – they were going to have to move quickly if they wanted to book a slot at the gym before it was swamped by other trainers.

"Petalburg City is a lot bigger than I was expecting," James said as he and the others walked down one of the main streets.

"Well, it's one of the biggest cities in Hoenn," Nicola replied. "I think we need to turn right here," she added as they reached a turning.

"Ah, thanks!"

The three of them turned right and continued walking down towards the bridge across the river which flowed through the middle of the city.

"It sounds like you're quite familiar with Petalburg already!" Richard said to Nicola.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I've come here shopping with my mum a couple of times since moving to Hoenn."

"Could you find your way to the gym?" James asked. "Or did you never look out for it?"

"I don't know exactly where it is," Nicola replied. "But I could probably guide you in roughly the right direction if I knew which district it was in."

"The same one that we're in now." James flicked open the guidebook. "Don't worry, I should be able to get us there using the map I have here."

Reaching the river, they turned left and followed the bank down in the direction of Petalburg's port for a short while before eventually finding themselves outside of a large building constructed using traditional architecture. For a pokémon gym, it struck James as being a little bit out-of-the-way, positioned as it was on a narrow road by the riverbank and away from the main street.

As they opened the sliding door and stepped inside, Richard voiced the same thoughts, adding the fact that the lobby was surprisingly empty. The three of them momentarily wondered if they had the right place. However, the Pokémon League logo was emblazoned above the reception desk and the walls were adorned with pictures of countless trainers and pokémon. James took note of the fact that all of the pokémon in the photos were normal type as they walked up to the reception desk.

"Excuse me? We'd like to book slots for gym battles," he said.

"Gym battles here are fought using a three-on-three format. Is that going to be a problem?" the receptionist immediately asked in response. It sounded as though he'd repeated the same line many times before already.

"I only have one pokémon," Nicola replied hesitantly.

"And I only have two," Richard added.

"Then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to help you," the receptionist replied. "But you're more than welcome to come back once you have three pokémon."

"I've got three," James quickly said as the receptionist turned to him. "I can book a slot, right?"

"Sure." The receptionist nodded. "I'll just need your trainer card for a couple of seconds."

"Are rules like this common?" Nicola asked Richard quietly as James handed his trainer card over.

"Pretty much every gym will specify how many pokémon each side uses," Richard replied. "They don't always enforce it, so you could technically challenge a gym with a three-on-three format using just one pokémon, if you were feeling brave. Other gyms take their rules really seriously. I'm guessing that this gym is one of them."

"I guess I'll need to catch some more pokémon then," Nicola sighed. "At least James will be able to battle, though!"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "It'll be a good opportunity for us to watch the gym leader's battle style."

"Thank you!" James called to the receptionist as he re-joined Richard and Nicola.

"All sorted?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." James nodded. "I booked a slot at five so that I've got some time to train."

"I guess we're heading back to the pokémon centre then?" Nicola looked between the other two for confirmation.

"Sounds good to me," James replied. "I don't want to train out in the rain."

"Let's hope there's enough space in the training room," Richard sighed as the three of them trooped out of the gym, closing the sliding door behind them.

"So, are there many other trainers before you?" Nicola asked.

"Just a couple," James replied. "Most people arriving from Littleroot Town probably don't have that many pokémon on them when they arrive, so they can't fight a three-on-three battle."

"I guess they're out enjoying being in the city," said Richard, looking across the river at the various tall buildings standing starkly against the grey sky.

"That reminds me, there's probably a practise arena in the shopping centre," said James, pulling out the guidebook. "We could stop by there to get a snack and stock up on things as well as training for my gym battle."

"Do we have to train with you?" Nicola asked unenthusiastically, looking at the rain. "I'm in the kind of mood to just crawl into my bed and go to sleep."

"Well, you could," Richard began. "But then we wouldn't help you train for your gym battles!"

"Give-and-take does seem like the fairest system," James added with a guilty grin. "Besides, helping me train my team will help Kipa improve too."

"…Alright." Nicola nodded. She turned and started leading the way downstream towards the port. "I can get you to the shopping centre from here."

"We're in your hands!" James called after her.

* * *

 _4:10pm, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

The shopping centre was certainly impressive. While not the only one in Petalburg City, it was the one that stood out the most. Centred around a fake canal and featuring colourful architecture, it was clearly the most popular in the city.

It hadn't taken them long to find all the essentials they were after and, after stopping for a snack at a sweet stand in the central plaza, they'd headed for a small practise arena beside the canal running through the plaza. Fortunately, the rain had eased off, though the cold air remained. There were countless other trainers milling around the shopping centre, but most seemed uninterested in doing any training while they were here. James supposed that there wasn't much point if they didn't have enough pokémon to challenge the Petalburg gym.

"Alright, Chena, use Tackle!" Richard ordered.

With a sharp bark, Chena charged forwards, snapping James out of his thoughts.

"Soar up and use Water Gun!" he called to Nulin.

With a cry, the wingull quickly gained height, easily avoiding Chena's attack, and fired a blast of water down towards him.

"Use Howl!" Richard called as Chena jumped clear at the last moment.

The poochyena let out a loud howl, drawing the attention of the countless trainers in the vicinity of the central plaza.

"Alright, now just as I showed you!" Richard shouted.

With a quick nod, Chena spun around and kicked up a cloud of sand. Though it missed Nulin, it was perfectly executed.

"Looks like he's finally got the hang of it!" James grinned.

"Yeah, look like it!" Richard nodded. "Great work, Chena!"

The poochyena barked happily in response.

"So, what does Sand Attack do?" Nicola asked, walking over from the side lines.

"It's an attack that lowers the opponent's accuracy by kicking sand in their face," Richard replied. "It's ground type, so we were never going to be able to hit Nulin with it, but…"

"Even if you had hit, Nulin's ability is Keen Eye," James added. "That means that his accuracy can't be lowered."

"So, is it a useful move, or not?" Nicola asked.

"I'd say it's pretty useful," Richard replied. "As long as you can actually hit…"

"What about the move you're trying to teach Nulin?" Nicola asked, turning to James.

"Ah, that's Supersonic," James replied. "If we can get it right, then it confuses the opposing pokémon and makes them more vulnerable to attacks. There's a chance they could trip over their own feet and hurt themselves as well."

"…There's so much I need to learn," Nicola sighed.

"Don't worry about it!" James smiled reassuringly. "You'll get the hang of these things the more you battle. On that subject, would you and Kipa like to help me and Nulin master Supersonic?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Nicola nodded. She quickly swapped positions with Richard and called out Kipa. "What do you want me to do?" she called to James.

"Just attack for the time being!" James replied.

"Got it! Use Tackle!"

Kipa immediately sprang forwards and slammed into Nulin, sending him flying back. The wingull quickly recovered, however, and emitted a high-pitched buzz. Kipa, struck by the sound waves, immediately became disoriented.

"Use Tackle again!" Nicola called.

Kipa started charging towards Nulin again, only to stumble and crash to the ground on his way.

"Use Water Gun!" James called.

Nulin fired a blast of water down towards Kipa, scoring a direct hit and sending him flying back.

"Looks pretty good, James!" Richard called.

"I still want to work on the power of the sound waves!" James called back. "But at least it's useable now!"

"Are you okay, Kipa?" Nicola asked, kneeling down to pat him on the head.

The mudkip staggered back to his feet and gave his head a shake before nodding.

"Looks like it's worn off already," James sighed. He looked at Nulin as he swooped down and landed on his shoulder. "We need to work on the power of the move if it's going to be useful in the gym battle!"

"Is having Supersonic really that important?" Nicola asked. "Is it going to be a decisive part of the battle?"

"Hmm." James pondered her question. "Probably not, but it always pays to be as prepared as you can be for a gym battle." He glanced at his watch. "Besides, we still have forty minutes before the gym battle. We've got to do something to kill the time!"

* * *

 _5:02pm, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

James found his heart hammering more intensely than he'd been expecting as he walked along the passage to the main arena in the Petalburg gym, having said goodbye to Richard and Nicola back in the lobby. He guessed it was because it had been so long since the last time he fought a gym battle, even though he was confident in the abilities of his pokémon and his own ability to lead them.

Still, he'd heard rumours at the shopping centre that the main reason why most trainers didn't challenge the Petalburg gym soon after starting their journeys was due to the skill of the gym leader. It reminded him of the gym in Viridian City, back in Kanto, which was the closest to Pallet Town, yet was led by Blue Oak, the former Champion of Kanto.

Emerging into the arena, James immediately surveyed his surroundings. It was constructed in the style of a dojo, with plain wooden walls. At the far end of the arena stood a man wearing a red, zip-up jumper and a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms, his arms folded as he watched his challenger approach.

"So, that guy is the gym leader?" Nicola whispered to Richard, up in the stands.

"Looks like it." Richard nodded. "He doesn't look like he's going to be a pushover."

"Welcome to the Petalburg gym!" the man called out as James reached the challenger's corner. "I am Norman, the leader here at this gym!"

"I'm James Burton, from Pallet Town!" James called back. "I understand that we're fighting using a three-on-three format! Are there any other rules that I should be aware of?"

"None!" Norman replied. "It'll be a standard three-on-three single battle format, with only you being allowed to substitute pokémon. If you're ready, shall we begin?"

"That's fine by me!" James nodded.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Petalburg City gym leader, Norman, and the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!" The referee stepped forwards to the side line. "The battle will be fought using a three-on-three single format and will be over when all three of one side's pokémon are unable to battle! In addition, only the challenger may substitute pokémon!"

James and Norman reached for their first poké balls.

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

"Go, Nulin!" James called, throwing out his poké ball.

"Go, Zigzagoon!" Norman also threw out his poké ball.

Nulin and Zigzagoon materialised on the arena floor, fixing each other with wary looks.

"Start off with Mud Sport!" Norman called.

Zigzagoon nodded and fired an eruption of mud into the air. As it splattered to the ground and onto Zigzagoon himself, Norman issued his next command.

"Use Pin Missile!"

Zigzagoon quickly fired a volley of spine-like projectiles towards Nulin, scoring three hits as the wingull desperately attempted to evade the attacks. However, he didn't appear to have taken much damage.

James let out a sigh of relief and ordered Nulin onto the offensive: "Use Growl, followed by Water Gun!"

"Why did Norman use such a weak attack against Nulin?" Nicola asked as Nulin started growling at Zigzagoon. "I thought that bug type moves were weak against flying types."

"He probably wanted to test out Nulin before he starts using more powerful attacks," Richard replied. "It's not a tactic I'd have used myself…"

Nulin fired a jet of water towards Zigzagoon, only for the mud-covered pokémon to dodge out of the way at the last moment.

"Use Headbutt!" Norman ordered.

Zigzagoon quickly rebalanced himself and flung himself at Nulin. The wingull easily dove out of reach before the attack could hit and swung around for his next attack.

"Try using Supersonic!" James called. "And make sure you keep your distance from him!"

With a cry to show he understood, Nulin emitted the curious sound Nicola had heard while they were training together. As the sound waves reached Zigzagoon, his gaze became unfocused. He attempted to move forward, but staggered unevenly.

"Stay focused, Zigzagoon!" Norman called encouragingly. "Use Headbutt!"

Zigzagoon gave his head a shake and charged at Nulin, who, despite James' orders, had drawn closer to the ground now that his opponent was confused. He let out a startled squawk as Zigzagoon fired himself into the air and crashed into him directly.

"Are you okay, Nulin?" James called as Nulin was flung back through the air. He quickly regained his composure and nodded at his trainer. "Then go with Water Gun again!"

Nulin reacted quickly, firing a blast of water at Zigzagoon, scoring a direct hit and hurling him back again the wall. On Norman's order, he attempted to charge at Nulin, but missed completely this time and crashed into the wall on the other side of the arena.

"Ouch! That's got to hurt!" Nicola cried as Zigzagoon stumbled back in a daze and was hit by another blast of water from Nulin. "James seems to be dominating this battle so far!"

"I get the feeling that Norman is saving his best until last," Richard replied. "But, then again, so is James. It's still too easy to say that James has already won."

Zigzagoon gave his head a good shake, finally clearing it, and charged towards Nulin again, this time scoring a hit. The wingull quickly recovered, however.

"Finish this up with another Water Gun!" James ordered.

Nulin dove low and fired a blast of water at close range, before Zigzagoon could fully react. He crashed into the wall and slumped to the ground.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Wingull is the winner!"

"You put up a good fight, Zigzagoon," Norman said as he recalled his fallen pokémon. "Have a good rest." He quickly pulled the next one. "Go, Slakoth!"

A small, monkey-like pokémon with lazy-looking eyes and covered in brown fur materialised with a yawn.

"Slakoth?" James quickly pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Slakoth, the slacking pokémon. Slakoth loll around for over twenty hours a day. Because they move around so little, they don't need much food. This pokémon's sole daily meal consists of just three leaves. They don't change their nest their entire lives, but they sometimes travel great distances by swimming in rivers_."

"How is a pokémon like that going to compete with Nulin's speed?" Nicola wondered aloud as James put his Pokédex away and had Nulin fire a blast of water towards Slakoth.

"You'd be surprised," Richard replied as the water hit Slakoth and blasted him back. "Norman is a gym leader – he'll have a plan in place."

Slakoth pulled himself slowly back to his feet and let out an especially big yawn.

"Ah!" James cried belatedly, realising what was happening. "Nulin, don't pay attention to it!"

Nulin, however, was starting to look uncharacteristically tired, his eyelids drooping as he struggled to stay airborne.

"Use Supersonic!" James shouted, realising that he had to move fast.

"What's wrong?" Nicola asked Richard.

"You haven't heard of Yawn?" Richard looked at her. "It's a move that makes the opposing pokémon feel drowsy before eventually falling asleep. James has to strike fast before Nulin conks out completely."

"So, that's what Norman's plan was?" Nicola gasped.

Nulin's supersonic waves had struck Slakoth as he idly loafed around at his end of the arena, disorienting him and clouding his senses. Though no one noticed any change in the normal type's facial expression.

No sooner had his attack landed, Nulin dropped to the arena ground with a soft thud, a quiet snoring sound filling the air. The initiative had passed to Norman and Slakoth.

"Use Scratch!" Norman ordered.

Slakoth lugged himself forward lazily before swiping half-heartedly at Nulin. The attack was shockingly powerful though, and sent Nulin flying back. He continued to sleep despite the force of the attack, while his opponent returned to loafing around.

"That really is a lazy pokémon," Richard sighed. "He could have already ended the battle if he didn't keep stopping and doing nothing all the time!"

"Ah! Nulin's waking up!" Nicola cried, pointing at him.

Sure enough, Nulin groggily awoke from his slumber and took off again.

"That's a relief," James sighed. "Use Growl!"

Nulin immediately started growling at Slakoth.

"Use Encore!" Norman called.

Slakoth suddenly fired a white ball of energy at Nulin, who immediately started growling again.

 _This is bad_ , James though. _As long as Encore is active, Nulin won't be able to use any attacking moves!_

Nulin continued growling as Slakoth loafed around again before hesitantly following Norman's orders to launch an attack. With surprising strength, he once again scored a powerful hit on Nulin, despite the latter's attempts to dodge. Nulin crashed to the ground heavily, but was able to pull himself back up.

Unable to use any other moves, he continued growling as Slakoth returned to loafing around again before finally launching another attack. With another vicious strike, Nulin was thrown back and landed with a crash.

"Wingull is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Slakoth is the winner!"

"It was tougher than I thought," James muttered as he recalled Nulin. "Still, you did a good job softening him up, Nulin! Not bad for your first gym battle!" He pulled out his next poké ball. "Go, Kacha!"

Kacha let out a loud cry as he burst out of the ball and materialised on the ground. A couple of jolts of electricity sparked from his cheek pouches.

Realising that Kacha was going to be a far greater challenge than Nulin, Norman called out to Slakoth. "Use Slack off!"

Slakoth was all-too-happy to oblige. He immediately flaked out on the ground, watching Kacha with lazy eyes and occasionally yawning.

"…" Nicola stared at Slakoth for a couple of seconds before turning to Richard. "…Isn't that what it's been doing this whole time?"

"On the surface, yes." Richard nodded. "But there's probably some other effect that makes it worth using."

"You don't know?"

"I don't think I've ever come across Slack Off before," Richard replied, shrugging.

"Use Thunder Wave!" James ordered.

Kacha immediately fired a weak electrical pulse at Slakoth, striking him and sending jolts of electricity pulsing through his body.

"Now use Slam!" James ordered as Slakoth continued to laze around. He'd realised what his opponent was trying – unlike the lazing about that had characterised the battle so far, this was actually a different technique altogether. James had once encountered moves that allowed a pokémon to hurt physical injuries in battle, and that seemed to be what Slakoth was doing now.

Kacha charged towards Slakoth before jumping up and slamming into him with his tail, sending him flying back with a crash. He started to pull himself slowly back up.

"Use Yawn!" Norman called.

"Argh!" James groaned in frustration as Slakoth yawned loudly, setting Kacha off as well. "Use Thunderbolt! Give it everything you've got!"

Kacha fired a powerful bolt of lightning at Slakoth, managing to score a direct hit. Slakoth let out a cry of pain before slumping to the ground.

"Slakoth is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Pikachu is the winner!"

"Not bad!" Norman called across the battlefield to James as he recalled Slakoth. "I'm interested to see how you hold up against my last pokémon."

"We'll do our best!" James called back, casting a worried look at Kacha, who was struggling to stay awake.

"Go, Vigoroth!" Norman shouted as he threw his last poké ball.

There was a loud screeching noise as a white, baboon-like pokémon with sharp claws and agitated look on its face emerged from the ball and started hopping about impatiently.

"It's the complete opposite of Slakoth!" James cried in surprise, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Vigoroth, the wild monkey pokémon and the evolved form of slakoth. Vigoroth are always itching and agitated to go on a wild rampage. They simply can't tolerate sitting still even for a minute. Their stress levels rise if they can't be moving constantly._ "

"Not good," James mumbled as his own pokémon slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Use Slash!" Norman ordered.

Vigoroth immediately raced forwards and slashed viciously at Kacha, sending him flying back.

"Kacha!" James cried in alarm as the pikachu hit the wall with a crash. He hit the ground with a thud, but remained asleep, not unconscious.

"Use Focus Energy!" Norman called. As Vigoroth started scanning Kacha for weak spots, he added: "Use Brick Break!"

Vigoroth stormed forwards, his right claw glowing a dark red colour. He smashed into Kacha, the force of the impact sending him flying up into the air again. He landed with a crash.

"Kacha!" James shouted.

With a startled and pained cry, the pikachu's eyes snapped open. He grimaced in response to the pain of his newly-inflicted injuries.

"Use Agility and then Slam!" James called.

Kacha moved in a split second. No sooner had James issued the order, he was behind Vigoroth. However, to his and James' shock, Vigoroth reacted instantly. As Kacha was about to start his attack, Vigoroth span around and raked at him with a flurry of swipes.

Kacha was flung back again, but managed to land on his feet. He was looking worse for wear: they needed to finish this up quickly.

"Use Thunder Wave!" James ordered.

Kacha fired an electrical pulse towards Vigoroth, only for him to leapt clear of it at the last moment.

"Use Slash!" Norman shouted.

Vigoroth raced towards Kacha, one claw raised menacingly above his head.

"Intercept it with Thunderbolt!" James yelled.

Kacha immediately fired a powerful electrical blast at Vigoroth, striking him directly. Despite the electricity surging through him, he continued on course and struck Kacha with a powerful blow.

"Use Slam!" James called as Kacha came to a halt.

"Use Brick Break!" Norman shouted.

Both pokémon charged at each other and slammed into them with a loud thud. Kacha was sent flying back towards James, landing with a crash about halfway down the arena. As Vigoroth stood up straight, however, a series of electrical jolts crossed his body, intermittently locking up his joints.

"Pikachu is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Vigoroth is the winner!"

"James still has the advantage," Richard muttered as he watched him recall Kacha. "Vigoroth is injured after fighting Kacha, while Charka is at full strength."

"Hey!" Nicola prodded his arm. "What's up with Vigoroth?"

"You mean the fact that he's moving slower?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "Does Slam have an effect like that?"

"That was Kacha's ability, Static," Richard explained. "It sometimes paralyses the opponent on contact. It means that Vigoroth won't be able to move as quickly against Charka."

"That's good." Nicola nodded. "I'm sure he'll come out victorious!"

"Use Metal Claw!" James called to Charka, who'd just materialised.

The charmeleon immediately raced forwards, his right claw turning to steel. He slashed viciously at Vigoroth, knocking him back.

"Use Slash!" Norman called.

Vigoroth stormed back towards Charka, only for him to shoot out a cloud of thick, black smoke. As Vigoroth hopelessly swiped at thin air, Charka appeared on his flank.

"Use Fire Spin!" James yelled.

Charka shot a jet of flame at Vigoroth. It wrapped around him, burning him and trapping him in place.

"And now use Flamethrower!" James ordered.

Charka fired a burst of flames at the immobilised-Vigoroth, scoring a direct hit. As he stumbled back, however, Vigoroth seemed even more angry.

"Use Fury Swipes!" Norman shouted.

Vigoroth quickly charged at Charka, raking him with several vicious swipes. The charmeleon took a couple of steps back before letting out a load roar.

"Use Metal Claw!" James called.

Charka turned one of his claws to steel and started charging back towards Vigoroth.

"Use Brick Break!" Norman ordered.

Vigoroth stormed forwards, his right fist glowing a dark red colour. With his longer reach, he was able to strike Charka with a heavy blow and send him flying back.

"Keep at a distance!" James yelled. "Use Flamethrower!"

Charka fired a burst of flames towards Vigoroth, only for him to dodge with surprisingly speed for a pokémon affected by paralysis.

"Use Slash! Finish this up!" Norman shouted.

Vigoroth raced forwards as fast as he could, brandishing his claw as he did.

"Fire Spin!" James called.

Charka reacted instantly. Despite his increasing weariness, he fired a jet of flame at Vigoroth, trapping him in the fiery vortex and preventing him from moving.

"And now use Smokescreen!" James yelled.

Charka emitted a cloud of thick, black smoke as Vigoroth forced his way through the fire and dove towards him. There was a loud swoosh as he swung his claw down, only to find air.

"Let's use that technique we were working on!" James called to Charka as the smoke cleared, leaving Vigoroth dangerously exposed. "Use Molten Claw!"

Charka nodded and grinned at him. He turned his right claw to steel before blasting it with flames. He grimaced in pain as the heat rose. After only a couple of seconds, the formerly shiny, silver colour had been replaced with the bright orange of red-hot steel. Flinging himself at Vigoroth, Charka slashed at him with his burning claw, scorching his front and sending him toppling back with a screech of pain.

"Vigoroth is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Charmeleon is the winner! All three of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"We did it!" James cheered tiredly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Charka called back excitedly, wincing as his claw cooled.

"Thanks for your efforts, Vigoroth." Norman smiled as he recalled his fallen pokémon. He started walking across the arena as James recalled Charka. "That was an excellent battle! I could really tell that you've been through a lot with those pokémon, your charmeleon and pikachu especially!"

"Thanks," James replied, walking out to meet him. "I was kind of worried, fighting a gym battle after so long. I couldn't have beaten you when I was just starting out!"

"You seemed to settle back into it just fine," Norman said with a smile. He held out his hand. "Here, this is the Balance Badge, recognition that you've beaten the Petalburg gym."

"Thanks, Norman!" James grinned as he took the badge.

* * *

 _5:34pm, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Congratulations, James!" Nicola called, running over to him as he emerged into the lobby.

"Thanks," James replied, grinning at her. "I was really worried for a bit, but it worked out in the end!"

"It's been a long time since you last fought a gym battle, hasn't it?" Richard said as he joined them. "How did it feel? Is it all coming back to you?"

"I think so," James replied. "I can still feel my heart beating really loudly!" He pulled out his Balance Badge and admired it for a couple of seconds. "I'm looking forward to getting more of these!"

"And I'm looking forward to getting my first!" Richard added with a grin as James put his badge away in his badge case.

"What was that last attack you used?" Nicola asked. "I've never heard of 'Molten Claw' before."

"Ah, that was an improvised move," James replied. "It was an idea that I got while training with Richard before we came out here."

"Metal Claw increases attack," Richard explained. "Turning it red-hot using Flamethrower means that it can burn the enemy as well."

"I don't like using it that much though," James said, frowning. "Scorching his own arm really hurts Charka."

"Can you teach me more about attacks like that?" Nicola asked.

"Sure, I don't mind." James nodded. "I only come up with moves like that occasionally, but I'll tell you what I know."

"Thanks!" Nicola smiled happily.

"Anyway, we should get back to the pokémon centre," James said. "I want to heal up my team and we need to work out what we're doing next."

* * *

 _5:54pm, 6_ _th_ _April 2006_

"So, I was thinking that we could head up here to get to Rustboro City," said Richard, pointing to the map in the guidebook. "Apparently, there's another gym there and we'll have to pass through Petalburg Woods, here, in order to get there. That'll be a good opportunity to try and catch some more pokémon."

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Nicola replied, nodding with approval. "Any idea how long it'll take?"

"…Probably best to ask James when he gets back," Richard replied.

"You can't work it out, can you?"

"Hah! I totally could if I felt like it!" Richard retorted. "I just don't feel like it right now."

"Sure," Nicola replied, unconvinced. She glanced over in the direction of the lobby, but there was no sign of James yet. Instead, she let herself be enveloped by the softness of the sofa in the trainers' lounge and turned back to Richard. "Do you use improvised moves like James does?"

"Not really," Richard replied. "I prefer to just power through with what moves I already have."

"So, you're just a brute force kind of person then?"

"There's no harm in playing to your pokémon's strengths! Besides, you don't even have a preferred tactic at the moment!"

"I will soon!"

"Then I look forward to battling you again when you do."

At that moment, the two of them were interrupted by James' return.

"Ah! James!" Nicola said as she realised he was approaching. "Richard and I were discussing what to do tomorrow…"

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait," James interrupted her. "I just got off the phone with my mum."

"Has something happened?" Richard asked.

"Nothing bad, but something that's going to affect us," James replied.

"What?" Richard and Nicola both asked in unison.

"My younger brother got his first pokémon and has come to the Hoenn region," James explained. "And he wants to join us…"

* * *

 **So, the decision to only have James challenge the gym in this instance was partly down to me chickening out of doing aa multi-challenge while in the middle of doing essay assignments, but I feel that the issue of the others not having enough pokémon to match Norman's total was also valid. As shown in this chapter with 'Molten Claw', I'm trying to bring back the improvised moves that were prevalent back in** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **.**

 **Describing Petalburg City was a bit of a pain for me since it isn't really one of the larger cities in Hoenn, but its real-world counterpart, Fukuoka, is the largest on the whole island. Trying to balance between the two has been annoying.**

 **Anyway, we get a (technically) new character next week, if I'm able to find time between my essays, so I'll leave you guys to spend the next week agonising over whether or not I'm going to be adding a fourth gym-challenging trainer to the story! :P**

 **As with last chapter, I haven't had time to properly proofread this chapter. If you spot any issues, please let me know so that I can fix them!**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun and Supersonic.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl and Sand Attack.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl and Mud Slap.


	6. Where There's a Will, There's a Way!

**Hello, everyone and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James, Richard and Nicola finally arrive in Petalburg City, where James was able to defeat Norman to earn his first Hoenn League gym badge. In the aftermath, a call from home informed James that his younger brother, Will, was on his way to join them.**

 **Upload Date: 19** **th** **March 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Where There's a Will, There's a Way!**

Pallet Town, Kanto

9:33am, 1st April 2006

 _Professor Oak opened the door to his lab to find a short ten-year-old boy with short, scruffy hair waiting outside._

" _Ah, Will. I've been expecting you. Do come in."_

" _Thanks, Professor." Will Burton stepped forwards and followed the professor through the door. They walked along the neat hallway until they reached a small room with a sofa and a low coffee table. Aside from the large windows at the back of the room, every other wall was concealed by bookcases packed with books and papers on pokémon._

" _The others have already come and gone," Oak said, gesturing for Will to sit down. "I was getting worried that you weren't going to show up!"_

" _I wasn't going to miss getting my first pokémon!" Will replied with a grin. "I needed to make some final preparations before I set off."_

" _Ah, of course!" Oak nodded. "What time do you need to get to Vermilion for?"_

" _The ship leaves at five in the evening," Will replied. "But I want to get there as soon as possible – can't afford to miss it after all!"_

" _I understand." The professor stood up. Reaching into his pocket, he produced three poké balls. "Have you decided which pokémon you want as your starter?"_

" _I have." Will nodded. "I've spent the last year weighing up which one would be best for me."_

" _I'm glad to hear it!" Oak looked at him expectantly. "So, which one will it be?"_

" _I want a squirtle as my starter," Will replied._

" _A fine choice." Oak nodded approvingly. He handed Will one of the poké balls. "I'll leave you to get acquainted while I get your Pokédex and poké balls."_

 _As he left the room, Will released his new pokémon from his poké ball. As the squirtle emerged, he blinked a couple of times and looked at Will curiously._

" _Nice to meet you," Will said enthusiastically. "I'm your new trainer. My name's Will."_

 _The squirtle nodded in response._

" _And your nickname is going to be 'Toya'," Will added. "I hope that we'll get along!"_

 _Toya nodded again and grinned at him. He seemed like a confident pokémon – Will liked that. He was about to say something else when the professor returned._

" _I've already upgraded your Pokédex to the national dex," he explained as he handed it to Will. "That way, you'll be able to find out more information about pokémon you meet while you're out in the Hoenn region."_

" _Thanks, Professor!" Will grinned. He immediately pointed the Pokédex at Toya._

"Squirtle, the tiny turtle pokémon. A squirtle's shell is not merely used for protection. The shell's rounded shape and the grooves on its surface help minimise resistance in water, enabling this pokémon to swim at high speeds _."_

" _You'll find that squirtle have a powerful advantage when fighting in water," Oak added. "But the shape of the shell also helps them move around on ground that's slippery from rain."_

" _That's handy to know," Will replied, putting his Pokédex away. "I'll keep it in mind."_

" _Anyway, I shan't keep you any longer. I know you have a long journey ahead of you." Oak handed him five poké balls. "Best of luck to you, Will. I'm looking forward to hearing stories about your travels when you get back!"_

" _I'll make sure I've got some good stories!" Will grinned, standing up and returning Toya to his poké ball. "Thanks again, Professor. See you when I get back!"_

" _Have a good trip!" Oak called after him as he left the room and started walking back towards the front door._

 _Upon leaving the lab, Will turned in the direction of his house. He still needed to make a couple of final preparations before he could leave. As he started walking, he wondered how his older brother, James, was doing. He knew that he'd arrived in Littleroot Town the previous day and that he was probably setting off on his journey properly about now._

 _Will was going to need to move quickly if he was going to catch up with him._

* * *

 _Route 102, Hoenn_

 _11:43am, 7_ _th_ _April 2006_

Will let out a sigh, not the first one of that particular day. The weather, horrible yesterday, hadn't improved in the slightest as he walked along the road through the valleys towards Petalburg City. He was cold and wet, though his companion seemed to be enjoying the constant raindrops hammering down from the sky.

Toya cried out in delight as he jumped into a puddle further up the road. He turned back to Will and grinned enthusiastically at him.

"Well, at least you're having fun," Will said, turning his gaze to the mountains that separated him from Petalburg City. He wondered if his mum had managed to call James like he'd asked.

Having reached Oldale Town a day behind his older brother, he'd called their mother to ask if she'd call the Petalburg City pokémon centre to try and get in contact with him. Even though he was a capable walker, Will didn't think he'd be able to catch up with James otherwise.

He shuddered as a particularly cold breeze blew past. He was looking forward to reaching Petalburg and getting warm again. A part of him had been tempted to just stay put for the day, especially since he'd heard that the weather was supposed to clear up tomorrow, but he didn't want to risk being left behind. Since James and his companions were challenging gyms, they needed to move on to the next gym. He didn't want to be burden before he'd even arrived!

Will, himself, didn't need to worry about that. Though he had every intention of one day participating in the leagues and making a name for himself as a pokémon master, he was content to wait for the time being. That was part of the reason why he'd decided to follow James out to the Hoenn region rather than staying to travel through Kanto – he wanted to gain some experience before he started challenging gyms. The best way to do that was to follow a more experienced trainer and learn from what they did. And James couldn't technically say no, since that would risk incurring their mother's anger. An excellent plan, if he did say so himself.

That being said, Will didn't want to sit idle this year. He already had Toya and he was keen to capture more pokémon to start training. If he filled out his team while in Hoenn, then it would look all the more impressive when he got back to Kanto! He could remember his brother's friends, Livvi and Richard, mentioning that they grew stronger just from training with James while he was challenging the gyms, so that was part of his aim as well. The stronger he could get this year, the better he'd do when he actually started challenging the gyms.

Up ahead, Toya had reached a fork in the road and turned back towards him, a questioning look on his face.

"Umm." Will quickly pulled out the pocket map he'd bought at the ferry terminal shortly after arriving in Littleroot Town. "I think we need to go left here."

Nodding, Toya started following the road to the left. He'd already grown stronger just from their journey from Littleroot Town, having battled several wild pokémon on the overgrown shortcuts Will had been following in an attempt to catch up with the others. They had already become good friends and Will had quickly learned that the squirtle had a cunning streak when it came to fighting. That suited him fine, since it would allow him to use even more complex battle plans.

Shuddering against the cold rain again, he turned his focus back to the road ahead. He still had a while to go before he arrived in Petalburg City. He'd better keep up the pace.

* * *

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _12:03pm, 7_ _th_ _April 2006_

"There it is!" Will gasped, grinning at Toya in relief.

Toya grinned back at him as they hauled themselves up to the front door of the pokémon centre in central Petalburg City.

As the automatic doors whirred open, Will gratefully stepped into the warm interior. He took off his rain coat and shook it off. As he was wondering what to do with it, he suddenly spotted James emerging from the trainers' lounge.

"Hey, James!" he called.

"Huh?" James looked around. "You're here, Will!"

"Just arrived," Will replied, sighing as he watched more water drip from his coat. "Sorry I've taken so long to get here."

"I don't mind," James replied. "I'm just surprised that you came out here rather than travelling through Kanto."

"Well, there is a reason for that," Will began. He quickly explained why he'd decided to come out to Hoenn instead of staying in Kanto. As he finished, he noticed that Richard had appeared, accompanied by a girl he'd never seen before. He remembered that his mum had mentioned James had made a new friend since starting his journey in Hoenn.

"Hey, Will! How's it going!" Richard grinned at him.

"As you can see…" Will gestured to his brown pullover and light blue jeans, which were soaking wet. "…Things could be better."

"Yeah, that was us yesterday." Richard nodded solemnly. "I feel for you."

"Oh, this is Nicola, by the way!" James quickly introduced the girl. "She's travelling with us to compete in the Hoenn League." He turned to Nicola. "This is my younger brother, Will. He'll be joining us from here on."

"Pleased to meet you," said Nicola, offering her hand. "Your older brother has been a big help to me."

"What about me?!" Richard cried.

"When have you been helpful?" Nicola asked, frowning.

"Loads of times!"

"Like when?"

Deciding to leave them to it, James turned his attention to the squirtle standing by Will's feet. "I remember you talking about getting a squirtle. For the type advantage over Charka, right?"

"Not just that!" Will replied. "I've always liked the idea of having a blastoise!"

"Well, yeah." James nodded.

"Anyway, this is Toya," said Will. "My first pokémon."

"Pleased to meet you, Toya!" James grinned, kneeling down to pat Toya on the head. "I'm counting on you to keep an eye on Will for me!"

Toya nodded proudly in response. Clearly, he liked the feeling of being relied on!

"So, what next?" Richard asked.

"Well, I don't especially like the idea of setting off today," Nicola replied. "It's too cold and wet outside."

"I second that." Will nodded.

"Why don't you have a shower and get changed?" James gave Will his suggestion. "Then after that…" He paused to consider. "How about you and Nicola have a battle?"

"Huh?" Nicola and Will both looked at each other before looking back at James.

"Well, I don't mind," Will said hesitantly. "But why?"

"I figured it would help break the ice," James replied. "Battling is a great way to get to know each other."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Richard grinned. "Plus, it'll be loads of fun for me and James to watch!"

"Sure, I'm up for it as well!" Nicola nodded.

"You might even stand a chance at winning!" Richard grinned at her.

"Hey! I'm getting better!" Nicola snapped.

"Awesome!" James looked between his companions. "I'll take you to our room, Will. After that, we'll meet up back down here in, say, half-an-hour?"

"That's fine by me," Nicola replied. The other two nodded as well.

"Great!" James started walking in the direction of the staircase up to the rooms. "Follow me, Will."

"Coming!" Will returned Toya to his poké ball and followed James towards the staircase. "I remember reading somewhere that there's a pokémon gym in Petalburg City."

"Oh, yeah." James quickly produced his badge case and showed him the Balance Badge. "I won this yesterday!"

"Great work!" Will grinned. "I'm looking forward to getting stronger from training with you!"

"I won't go easy on you just because you're my brother," James replied, returning the badge case to his pocket. He paused to consider something for a couple of seconds. "Actually, once you've had a shower, you'd better call Mum to let her know you've arrived."

"Will do," Will replied.

* * *

 _12:44pm, 7_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Alright, shall we get started?" James asked, looking between Will and Nicola. The two rookie trainers were stood at opposite ends of the indoor practise arena to the rear of the pokémon centre.

"I'm ready!" Will nodded.

"Same here!" Nicola added.

"Okay then, let's begin!"

Will quickly threw Toya's poké ball. "Go, Toya!"

"Go, Kipa!" Nicola threw out the mudkip's poké ball.

The two water type pokémon burst out of their balls and faced each other across the battlefield. Both looked equally determined to win.

"Start off with Tail Whip!" Will ordered.

Toya quickly jumped forwards and wagged his tail at Kipa.

"And now use Tackle!" Will called. _Using Tail Whip lowers the opponent's defence. Now we'll have an advantage when we attack_!

Toya charged forwards, only for Kipa to jump out of the way at the last second. Undeterred, the squirtle turned and charged again, smashing into Kipa's flank and sending him flying back.

"Use Mud Slap!" Nicola shouted as Kipa pulled himself back to his feet.

He quickly gave himself a shake and then kicked up a clump of mud. Toya cried out, more in alarm than in pain, as it struck him in the face.

"Now use Tackle!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa hurled himself at Toya as he struggled to wipe the mud off his face, striking him in the chest with enough force to knock him off his feet. A squirtle's shell was tough, but tended to be weaker on the front. Though Toya hadn't taken much damage, he winced in pain as he landed on his back.

"Are you okay, Toya?" Will asked as Toya rolled around on his back, trying to right himself.

With a cry, he succeeded and pulled himself back to his feet. There was still mud stuck on his face, impeding his vision, but he was ready to attack again.

"Keep an eye out, Kipa!" Nicola warned him. "Be prepared to dodge!"

"Toya, use Tail Whip and then Tackle!" Will shouted.

Toya hurled himself forward, wagging his tail while preparing to strike Kipa with a powerful tackle. This time, however, the mudkip was prepared. As Toya began his final lunge, Kipa quickly jumped to his left. As the squirtle sailed past, he automatically charged himself. There was a thud as he struck the edge of Toya's shell, sending him spinning to the ground with a crash.

"Now use Mud Slap!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa quickly added a clump of mud to the mix, striking the side of Toya's face as he pulled himself up.

"Use Tackle!" Will called.

Toya shouted in frustration and charged at Kipa, finally scoring a direct hit.

"Kipa!" Nicola cried in alarm as the mudkip was hurled back with a crash. Fortunately, he was able to pull himself back up relatively quickly.

"This is… interesting," Richard muttered from the side lines as he watched the two pokémon take turns charging at each other, with the occasional clump of mud being hurled around by Kipa.

"They're still just starting out," James replied, grinning at him. "I'm pretty sure this is how my first battle went as well!"

"I'm just saying, in _my_ first battle, I beat a pidgey using a weedle," said Richard, a proud expression on his face.

"I'm fairly confident that was a fluke." James raised an eyebrow.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola called as Kipa recovered from another of Toya's blows.

Kipa quickly raced forwards, managing to strike Toya in the centre of his chest.

"Counter with Tackle!" Will shouted.

Toya, holding his ground, pushed Kipa back and then slammed into him.

"Will definitely seems to be the one with the initiative," said Richard, watching as Toya dodged Kipa's next attack.

"He's not the sort of person who'll let his opponent dictate the pace of the battle." James nodded. "But Nicola could still turn things around with the right combination of moves…"

Nicola's ears twitched. It was true that Will and Toya were the dominating attackers at the moment. At the rate they were going, the battle would just continue until Kipa ran out of energy. She needed to do something about Toya's powerful tackles.

"Use Growl!" she suddenly ordered.

Kipa started growling at Toya as he prepared another attack.

"Use Tackle again, Toya!" Will called.

Toya raced forwards, but misjudged his direction and missed Kipa.

"Counter with Tackle!" Nicola called, spotting her opening.

Kipa leapt forwards, slamming into Toya's chest from the side and knocking him to the ground.

"Now use Mud Slap!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa fired a clump of mud at the prone squirtle, scoring a direct hit. He was about to go in for another tackle when Toya started to pull himself up and prepared to fight back.

"Use Growl again!" Nicola called in preparation.

Kipa quickly started growling as Toya regained his composure and waited for his next order.

"I guess it'll end up as a stalemate," Richard sighed. Both pokémon were looking worse for wear and a few more good attacks from either side would probably end up knocking both out.

"Well, they're both starting out after all," James replied.

"Toya, hurt yourself by crashing into the ground!" Will ordered.

There was a moment of silence in the arena.

"Huh?" James, Richard and Nicola all said.

Toya looked back at Will, a confused and, understandably, startled look on his face.

"Don't worry about it – just trust me!" Will grinned at him.

Toya paused for a second before slowly nodding. He jumped into the air and hurled himself to the ground, wincing as pain shot through his body.

"What is he doing?" James wondered aloud as he watched Toya pull himself unsteadily back to his feet.

"He's practically giving the match to Nicola," Richard added.

"Kipa, use-" Before Nicola could finish her order, an aqua blue aura appeared around Toya and started circling him like rushing water.

"Torrent!" James suddenly exclaimed.

"He did that just to activate Torrent?!" Richard cried.

"Use Bubble!" Will shouted.

Toya immediately fired a blast of bubbles towards Kipa who, still stunned by Toya's previous actions, couldn't get out of the way in time. He was caught up in the mass of bubbles and was blown back.

"Use Tackle, one final time!" Will yelled as Kipa came to rest.

Toya raced forwards, fighting through the pain from his crash landing. He slammed into Kipa and sent him flying back. As he landed with a crash, he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"…I guess that's it." James still seemed a little stunned by the turn of events as he called the match. "That was… not what I was expecting, but it looks like Will is the winner."

"Thanks for trusting me, Toya!" Will walked over and sprayed a Super Potion on him. "Sorry I ended up hurting you even more."

"Don't worry, Kipa." Nicola bent down and smiled reassuringly at the mudkip. "I'm sure we'll win next time."

"Nice work on winning," James said, walking over to Will. "But try not to do that in the future. It's generally frowned upon to inflict more damage on your pokémon than is really necessary."

"…I'll keep it in mind," Will replied as he recalled Toya to his poké ball.

"Anyway, what are we going to do now?" Richard asked. "It's still really raining out there."

"It's too late to set off today, really," James replied. "It's one o'clock now, so I guess we should go and have lunch!"

"Sounds good to me," Nicola said. She recalled Kipa to his poké ball.

"Same!" Will nodded.

* * *

 _6:27pm, 7_ _th_ _April 2006_

The hammering of the rain outside filled the room as James lay on his top bunk in their room at the pokémon centre. It hadn't stopped all day. He was starting to worry that the bad weather might continue tomorrow. They'd have a miserable day ahead of them if that was the case.

"So, why did you decide to go with that tactic earlier?"

Below him, Richard and Will were sat on their beds, facing each other and talking.

"It seemed like the most logical choice," Will replied, shrugging. "If we'd just kept using Tackle again and again, the battle would have lasted longer and both sides would have ended up more injured. I didn't exactly like the tactic either, but you need to be practical when fighting a battle."

"Oh, I'm not criticising you," Richard quickly assured him. "I was just interested to hear your thoughts behind it. It's not often that you see a trainer deliberately ask his pokémon to hurt itself as part of a battle strategy."

"Well, I was a little worried that Toya might just refuse outright," Will said thoughtfully. "That would have been completely understandable."

"I guess he's coming to trust your judgement already!" Richard grinned.

"Just don't take it for granted!" James called from his bunk. Both of the others looked up in his direction. "As a trainer, your role is to come up with a winning strategy and direct your pokémon in battle, but you're also your pokémon's carer. If you prioritise the battle over their wellbeing too much, then you're starting to treat them like pawns rather than allies." He pulled himself up and grinned down at Will. "But I don't think you'll fall down that path!"

"I won't!" Will responded firmly. "It wouldn't be logical to treat my pokémon like that."

"I guess this is part of why you wanted to follow James around!" Richard grinned. "So that you can learn what to do and what not to do!"

"You'll find I'm a perfect role model!" James looked down at him. "Just ask Nicola!"

"She could learn from me if she'd just pay attention," Richard sighed.

"Well, I'll learn just from watching both of you," said Will. "And Nicola too, since she's taking the gym challenge as well."

"And while you're at it, you can help us train for our gym battles!" James grinned. "That way, your pokémon will get stronger as well!"

"That's my plan!" Will grinned back. "That way I'll take the league by force when I challenge it myself!"

"Don't think that we'll roll over and let you win when that happens!" Richard laughed.

"It's starting to get late." James glanced at his watch. "Should we go and get Nicola and then head down for dinner?"

"Sure, sounds like a good idea to me!" Richard nodded.

"I agree," Will added.

The two of them got to their feet, while James climbed down from his bunk. Richard grabbed the room key on the way out. The three of them set off for Nicola's room, continuing to talk amongst each other as they did.

* * *

 **So, you can all breathe a sigh of relief – we're not having four simultaneous gym challenges this story! :P**

 **I guess the only thing to ask is what you thought of Will. Given that he's had little character development up until this point, I was quite pleased with how he turned out (and, more importantly, so was my brother!).**

 **Anyway, as ever, I welcome your feedback on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun and Supersonic.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl and Sand Attack.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl and Mud Slap.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip and Bubble.


	7. A Taillow Blow!

**Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the arrival of James' younger brother, Will, and his squirtle, Toya. With the whole group now assembled, it's time for James, Richard, Nicola and Will to set off from Petalburg City.**

 **Upload Date: 26** **th** **March 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: A Taillow Blow!**

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _10:04am, 8_ _th_ _April 2006_

"You're sure that we've got everything, right?" Richard asked as James stepped out of their room at the pokémon centre and made to close the door behind them.

"I'm sure." James nodded. "We double-checked, remember?"

"True." Richard shrugged as James closed the door and locked it. "But I wouldn't want to accidentally leave something behind."

"You don't need to worry – I'm the same," James replied as they started walking down to the lobby.

After a day spent largely confined to the pokémon centre the previous day, they were both raring to get back on the road. Discussions over the last couple of days had led to the decision to aim for Rustboro City, a large city beyond a densely-forested area known as 'Petalburg Woods'. All four of them were hoping that it would give them an opportunity to catch some new pokémon and train their teams.

As James and Richard arrived in the lobby, James stopped off at the reception desk to return the room key. Richard wandered over to the entrance of the trainers' lounge. Looking in, he could see Nicola and Will sat on one of the sofas, deep in conversation.

"You both ready?" he asked as he walked over to them.

"Why do you think I'm down here instead of in my room?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fair point," Richard conceded.

"I've been down here longer than Will," Nicola added. "I was wondering what was taking you guys so long."

"Just wanted to check the room again before we left," Richard replied. "You know, just to make sure."

"So, what's the plan for today?" Will asked, glancing out the window at the glorious sunshine that was lighting up the street outside. There was scarcely a sign that it had been raining all of yesterday.

"Hmm? Weren't you listening at dinner last night?" Richard asked.

"Well, I sort of did," Will replied with a guilty shrug.

"We're aiming to get to Seona Town today," Richard explained. "That's about halfway along the part of Route 104 that's on the Petalburg side of Petalburg Woods."

"You were saying that it's a pretty easy walk, right?" Nicola asked him.

"Should be." Richard nodded. "It's basically just a flat path running along the coast."

"I haven't seen the sea since we left Littleroot Town," Nicola sighed. "I wonder what kind of pokémon we'll run into along there…"

"Probably water types!" Richard grinned. "Not so good for you and Will!"

"Hey, what's wrong with having more than one water type on the team?" Nicola demanded, frowning at him.

"Well, nothing, I guess," Richard replied airily.

"What's taking James so long?" Will wondered aloud. "It's going to take a while to get to Seona Town, right?"

"About five hours or so," Richard replied. "But that's if you're just walking non-stop. We'll be stopping for breaks and to get something to eat."

"On that subject…" The three of them looked around as James joined them. "Before we leave Petalburg, I want to stock up on supplies."

"You mean you didn't yesterday?" Will asked.

"Would you have been willing to go out again in all that rain?"

"…Fair point."

"Anyway." James cleared his throat. "There's a large Poké Mart down by the port. I figured we could walk down to there and then cross Petalburg Bay via these bridges." He gestured to his guidebook. "Then we'll just have to follow the coast up until we reach Seona Town."

"That sounds fine to me," Nicola replied.

"Same." Richard nodded. "Let's get moving!"

* * *

 _12:23pm, 8_ _th_ _April 2006_

A cool breeze, just a little bit too cold to be comfortable, blew across the port as Will and Nicola hung about outside the large Poké Mart. James and Richard had said that they'd handle getting the shopping, leaving the younger trainers outside awkwardly.

"Th-The weather's nice, isn't it?" Nicola said, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Sure is." Will nodded, shielding his eyes from the sun as he gazed up at the bright blue sky. "Makes a nice change after yesterday."

"I know the feeling!" Nicola laughed nervously.

They fell into silence again.

 _What should I say now?_ Nicola wondered. _I don't really know anything about him, but I can't think where to begin…_

She looked back over at Will. Now he was looking over in the direction of the sea, beyond the large containers by the dockside. What was he looking at? Was it something she could ask him about? She didn't want to come over as too prying…

 _I hope James and Richard get back soon!_ she thought.

Now he was done looking at the dockyard. He leaned back against the chain-link fence and turned back to look at her. She managed to avoid jumping as he suddenly spoke. "So, do you want to have a battle while we wait?"

"Th-That's probably not a good idea," Nicola replied. "I wouldn't want our pokémon to get injured just before we head out of the city."

"Ah, good point," Will replied thoughtfully. "I should keep that in mind."

"Besides, they'll probably be done soon," Nicola added.

"True." Will stretched his arms above his head. "Still, I'd have thought that you'd want to get in as much training as possible, since you're taking the gym challenge."

"Well, I guess," Nicola replied with a sigh.

"Quite frankly, if you fight in your first gym battle the same way that you fought against me, I can't see how you'd win." Will elaborated on his point bluntly.

"Ouch!" Nicola frowned at him. "I know that I'm not an especially competent trainer yet, but I've only just started!"

"Fair enough." Will shrugged. "I tend to say things as I see them – I'm not trying to offend you."

"What about you?" Nicola asked assertively. "You said that you weren't taking the gym challenge, right? Then are you really just going to follow us around and watch what James and Richard do?"

"Well, that's pretty much what Richard did back when he was travelling around Kanto with James last year," Will replied. "It worked out pretty well for him."

"He was telling me that he only started to really improve once he started challenging gyms himself," Nicola replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm planning on challenging gyms eventually as well," Will said with a grin. "I just don't want to rush into it and embarrass myself."

"I still think that your practical knowledge is more important," Nicola replied. "You can only get that by challenging lots of other trainers."

"Well, different methods work for different people." Will shrugged. "Besides, with James and Richard to help you, you'll improve in no time."

"…Thanks."

At that moment, the two of them noticed the automatic doors at the front of the Poké Mart shoot open. James and Richard walked out, the latter transferring their purchases to the former's backpack.

"Sorry to keep you two waiting!" James called as they approached. "We've got everything that we need now."

"Let's get moving again!" Richard grinned. "It's already the afternoon and we haven't even managed to get out of Petalburg City!"

"How much further until we are out of Petalburg?" Will asked.

"If we follow this road around to the left, then we'll cross the bridge onto the Island City District," James replied. "Once we cross the bridge out of Island City, we'll be outside Petalburg City."

"What are we going to do about lunch?" Nicola asked, reacting to a sudden rumbling in her stomach.

"I was thinking we could stop off somewhere by the seaside once we're out of the city," James explained. "We've still got a long way to go until we reach Seona Town, so I'd prefer to cover as much ground before lunch as possible."

"I seconded that plan!" Richard nodded. "Apparently, there are lots of interesting restaurants along the coast with all kinds of food."

"Let's get moving then!" Will stepped away from the fence and moved out onto the pavement. "I've still got plenty of energy!"

"Right behind you!" James grinned as they started walking again.

* * *

 _Route 104 (Petalburg Side), Hoenn_

 _1:39pm, 8_ _th_ _April 2006_

Finally out of Petalburg City, the group were enjoying the peace and quiet as they walked along the coast in a north-easterly direction. They'd ended up following a road along the low, tree-covered clifftop, the beach on their left with its sand glowing in the bright sunlight. The atmosphere was only disturbed by the occasional calls of bird pokémon and the crashing of waves onto the beach.

"I'm starting to feel hungry," Nicola whined as they walked along a dirt path beneath the trees.

"Yeah, me too!" Richard nodded in agreement. "How about we stop for lunch soon?"

"No problem," James replied. "Once we're out of the trees, there should be loads of restaurants on the clifftop."

"They won't be too expensive, will they?" Richard asked.

"I hope not."

"My feet are starting to hurt…" Nicola added.

"You'll get a chance to rest soon," James assured her.

The four of them continued walking along the path. Soon, they emerged from the cover of the trees and found themselves atop the open clifftop. They momentarily tensed themselves against the surprisingly strong wind blowing in from the sea. James shuddered as the cold passed through his body. He was glad he was wearing his hoodie. The breeze passed as quickly as it had come, immediately making the clifftop feel warmer.

Further along the clifftop, there was a building with a terrace facing the sea, several tables and chairs dotted around it. There were a handful of people already sat out there, tucking into their meals.

"How about we stop off here?" Richard asked, turning to look at the others.

"You sure?" James asked. "There are other restaurants to choose from…"

"Nah, too hungry," Richard replied. "I just want to eat."

"I feel the same way." Nicola nodded.

"Well, I don't mind," said James. "If you'd rather just go here, then that's fine by me."

"I'm easy either way," Will added.

The four of them continued walking until they reached the front of the restaurant. Noticing that there was a menu outside, they gathered around to read it. It seemed like there at least one thing that each of them liked, and the prices, while more expensive than they'd been in Petalburg City, didn't seem unreasonable.

The four of them all looked at each other.

"So, here then?" James asked.

"Yep!" Richard replied with a grin as the others nodded.

"Alright." James pushed open the door and started walking inside. "Do you guys want to sit inside or out on the terrace?"

"The terrace!" Nicola replied immediately. "That way, we can look out at the sea while we eat."

The other three seemed to be in agreement with her. Running into a waitress, they were quickly able to get a table and order their food. After that, they alternated between looking out at the sea and talking with each other about the plans for the rest of the afternoon as they waited for their food to arrive.

"If you guys want, then we can stick to the coastal path for longer," James explained, showing them the map. "Seona Town is pretty close to the sea."

"How much longer will it take to get there from here?" Nicola asked.

"Maybe another two hours or so?" James suggested. "We'll definitely get there in time to have a nice, relaxing evening."

"That's good," Nicola sighed. "I'm feeling completely worn out already!"

"Wait until you've eaten – then you'll feel better!" Richard grinned at her.

"Going up the coastal path sounds good to me." Will added his opinion to the mix. "Do you think we'll find more pokémon if we go that way?"

"Probably." James nodded. "It's not as busy as the main route from Petalburg City to Seona Town."

"Maybe there'll be an opportunity for me to catch a new pokémon as well," Nicola mused. "I want to practise everything you taught me before I forget it again!"

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their food. As they tucked in and started alternating between eating and chatting amongst themselves, Will was suddenly gripped by the odd feeling that he was being watched. And intently, at that!

"Hmm?" James seemed to notice his sudden uneasiness. "Is something up?"

"I don't know," Will replied, glancing discreetly around. "Just a feeling that I'm being watched, or something…"

"Ah, that's probably just a wild pokémon," James replied. "This tends to happen if you eat outside in less populated areas – wild pokémon will always have their eye on your food!"

"Will they attack?" Nicola asked nervously. She, too, started glancing around.

"Not usually, no," Richard said. "Unless you're stupid enough to leave food lying around within their reach!"

"There's not much chance of that," James added, looking around at everyone's plates. They were doing an excellent job of clearing them so far.

The conversation turned back to other things and the worry about wild pokémon was swiftly forgotten. As they were starting to reach the end of their meals, James asked if they wanted to get dessert as well. The suggestion was well-received and the others quickly made to finish their food.

"There's no need to rush!" James laughed at them.

"Well, we don't want to be delayed for too long, right?" Richard grinned back.

"Ah, that reminds me." James turned to Will. "I don't suppose I could have a look at your map, could I, Will?"

"Huh? Sure, but why?" Will replied, giving him a confused look.

"I wanted to see if it has any routes that my guidebook doesn't."

"I see." Will turned and leant down to open his backpack.

It all happened in an instant.

There was a sudden, loud cry and the rapid flapping of wings. The leaves on a nearby tree rustled as a small bird shot out and dove at the table. Coming to a sharp halt above Will's plate, it seized the remaining chunk of fish in its talons.

"Hey!" Will shouted out as the bird shot back out of reach. He whipped out his Pokédex.

" _Taillow, the tiny swallow pokémon. Taillow courageously stand their ground against foes, however strong they may be. These gutsy pokémon will remain defiant, even after a loss. On the other hand, they cry loudly if they become hungry. They typically feed on wurmple that live in forests._ "

"I was eating that!" Will yelled angrily. He shouldered his bag and turned briefly to the others. "I'm going after it!"

"Huh?!" The other three cried in surprise, barely able to process what had happened. As Will jumped over the fence and onto the forested slope down to the sea, Richard jumped to his feet.

"I'm coming too!"

"But, but, what about dessert?" Nicola cried.

"Looks like we'll have to skip dessert!" James grinned guiltily. "You go on after Will and Richard!"

"What about you?" Nicola asked as she got to her feet.

"Well…" James nodded in the direction of the stern-looking waiter who, no doubt assuming that they were trying to skip out on their bill, was striding purposefully towards them.

"…Alright!" Nicola called as she headed after the others. "We'll meet up with you later!"

* * *

 _5:49pm, 8_ _th_ _April 2006_

The sun had begun setting by the time Will, Richard and Nicola, having lost sight of the taillow, called off their pursuit. After briefly wandering around and trying to get their bearings, Nulin had appeared overhead to guide them back to the main path, where James had been waiting for them.

"Good news!" he had said as soon as they'd arrived, before gesturing to the buildings not too far away. "We've reached Seona Town!"

That was the one consolation after a disappointing chase.

Putting that aside, the four of them had continued on to the pokémon centre, where they'd left their pokémon for a check-up before heading back out again to find a snack to satisfy them until dinner.

"You're the one with the guidebook," Richard had said in response to James' question about where they should go. "What sort of places are there in Seona Town?"

Not a lot, as it turned out. The town wasn't especially big and was largely residential, with very little that would appeal to tourists. Thankfully, they'd managed to find a small ice cream shop not too far from the pokémon centre and stopped off there to get an ice cream each.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think we really deserve this after today!" Richard grinned, taking a bite out of the chocolate flake.

"I agree!" Nicola nodded.

"Don't sound too relaxed!" James warned them. "We've still got a long way to walk tomorrow!"

"Ugh." Nicola frowned. "I was hoping you wouldn't remind me…"

"Well, whatever." Will shrugged. "We can worry about it tomorrow morning, once we've had a rest."

"Well said!" Richard nodded in agreement.

"Ahh, we're finally having the dessert we missed earlier!" Nicola smiled happily.

"That reminds me, you guys owe me your shares of the lunch bill," James said. "I can't keep paying for all of you – I'll run out of money before we're even halfway to the league!"

"Sure, sure," Will replied dismissively. "We'll pay you back once we get to the pokémon centre."

Suddenly, the four of them were distracted by the sound of flapping wings and a sharp cry. With a whoosh, a small, bird covered in dark blue feathers dove towards them from a nearby rooftop.

"Ah!" Will cried in alarm as the bird seized his ice cream cone in its talons and ripped it out of his hands.

"Is that the same taillow as before?" Nicola cried as the wild pokémon raced back to the safety of the roof, turning only to smirk irritatingly at Will before disappearing from sight.

"I'm going after it!" Will declared. "It's insulted me for the last time!"

"Wait, Will!" James cried, reaching out to grab his brother's shoulder.

"Don't try and stop me, James!" Will turned to him.

"It's starting to get dark!" James replied. "Besides, you don't have Toya with you, do you?"

"I can use my fists!" Will argued.

"That technically counts as pokémon abuse." Nicola pointed out.

"Besides, that taillow would be too fast for you to catch by yourself," Richard added with a grin.

Will let out a sigh. "Fine, but if it flies into the pokémon centre to steal my dinner this evening, there's nothing you can do to stop me chasing it."

"I'm not sure how it's going to get into the pokémon centre, but sure." James shrugged. "Anyway, let's get back before it comes back and steals someone else's ice cream."

* * *

 _10:38am, 9_ _th_ _April 2006_

"I told you, we're probably not going to see it again!" James said exasperatedly.

"Just a bit further!" Will insisted, leading the group down the road.

The four of them had set off from the pokémon centre in Seona Town less than an hour before, with Will insisting that they stick to the coast to keep an eye out for the wild taillow from the previous day. The others had been less enthusiastic – they were still a long way from Petalburg Woods and they really needed to turn inland if they wanted to pick up the shortest route to Rustboro City. But, in the end, they'd gone along with what he wanted, for now at least.

Since they were starting to move increasingly off-course, though, they were starting to become more vocal in their opposition.

"We really should start thinking about getting back on track," Richard said. "How about we turn off at that next turning?"

"Can't I have just a bit more time?" Will asked. Though he'd spent much of the evening seething over the taillow's brazen actions, by morning he'd cooled down and started respecting the pokémon's nerve in snatching things from right under his nose. A pokémon as brave and fast as that would be a perfect addition to his team. Yet he was starting to lose hope as they continued walking along the coastal road with no sign of the taillow. He didn't want to hold the others up for too long.

"Ah!" Everyone looked as Nicola suddenly cried out. "Look there!"

Off to the side of the road, at the far side of a small car park, the taillow from yesterday was shuffling out of the foliage that separated the beach from the road. It looked decidedly more lethargic than it did the previous day, no doubt the result of all the food it had eaten.

"Alright, this won't take a minute!" Will called to the others, pulling out Toya's poké ball and rushing over towards the taillow.

As Toya emerged from his poké ball, the taillow perked up somewhat. He gave Will and Toya a cocky grin before fixing Toya with a firm stare as he scanned for weak points. With a sharp cry, he suddenly shot forwards, his speed remaining impressive.

However, Toya was ready for him. Taking advantage of the taillow's diminished reflexes in its bloated state, he darted to the side just before impact.

"Use Tail Whip!" Will ordered.

Toya quickly wagged his tail at the taillow as it swung around and dove back towards him.

"Followed by Tackle!" Will added.

Toya nodded, a confident grin on his face. He surged forwards, propelling himself towards the taillow. However, his opponent reacted quicker than expected and gained enough height to avoid the attack. Growling at him, the taillow began another attack, pecking at Toya's exposed head.

"Are you okay, Toya?" Will called as the taillow pulled back.

Toya nodded, giving himself a shake.

"Good! Use Bubble!"

Toya immediately fired a cluster of bubbles towards the circling taillow. The sudden shift from close-quarter to ranged attacks caught it off-guard. However, it quickly recovered and dove back down towards Toya.

Just as the taillow drew close, the squirtle suddenly withdrew back into his shell. The taillow's attack still hit, but did far less damage.

"Use Bubble!" Will ordered, recognising his opportunity.

Toya burst back out of his shell and fired a blast of bubbles into the taillow's face before it could react.

"Great work, Will! Now's your chance!" James called as the taillow was thrown back, briefly stunned by the sudden counter attack.

"Alright!" Will pulled out an empty poké ball and threw it at the descending taillow. Striking it, the wild pokémon was sucked inside the ball, which dropped to the ground and started rocking. After several shakes and a tense pause, there was a click and a small burst of sparks.

"Phew!" James and Richard let out sighs of relief as the successful capture sank in.

"We did it!" Will grinned, reaching down to pat Toya on the head before walking over to pick up the poké ball.

"Great work on catching it, Will!" James patted him on the back. "And Toya did a good job learning Withdraw as well."

"I was wondering when he'd learn it," Will replied. "It's not exactly a complicated skill for a squirtle to use." He looked at the taillow's poké ball and grinned happily. "Still, I'm glad I was able to find this guy again!"

"Got any ideas for a nickname?" Richard asked.

"I'm going with…" Will paused for a second. "Turkey!"

"Turkey?" The other three shared bewildered looks.

"Why?" James asked.

"Does it matter?" Will shrugged. "Your pokémon don't tend to have nicknames that scream 'hidden meaning' either."

"True," James replied. "It's your choice after all."

"Oi, kids!" The four of them jumped as they heard a shout from nearby. A man had emerged from the shop the car park served. "No pokémon battles in the car park!"

"We're sorry! We were just leaving!" James quickly assured him.

The others apologised too as they quickly backed up onto the pavement and started walking again.

"So, which way now?" Richard asked.

"Right here," James replied, gesturing to the right hand turn just ahead of them.

As they continued walking, Nicola glanced at Will, still grinning happily at his new capture. She let out a sigh. Now, she was the only one in the group who hadn't caught a pokémon. If she didn't do anything about it, then she was going to end up reaching Rustboro City and _still_ not be able to challenge the gym. And Richard would probably tease her about it too…

Taking a deep breath, she vowed to try her best to find a new pokémon on the way up to Rustboro City.

* * *

 **So, a new capture for Will and additional pressure on Nicola as the group move towards Petalburg Woods. I don't have anything specific I really wanted to draw attention to this chapter, so I guess I'll keep things brief.**

 **If you've got any feedback on this chapter, then, as ever, feel free to let me know.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun and Supersonic.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl and Sand Attack.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl and Mud Slap.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl and Focus Energy.


	8. Lost in the Woods

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group depart from Petalburg City in the direction of Rustboro City. While on Route 104, Will encountered a wild taillow which continually stole his food. He eventually caught the troublemaker, naming him 'Turkey'. The group now turn their attention to their next major obstacle: Petalburg Woods.**

 **Upload Date: 23** **rd** **April 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Lost in the Woods**

 _Route 104 (Petalburg Side), Hoenn_

 _10:03am, 10_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Looks like we've reached Petalburg Woods," James said, gazing around at the forested hills surrounding the valley they were walking along. "Once we're through this village, we're into the woods."

"Great, so now we get to navigate that mess," Richard sighed, eyeing the point where the road ahead disappeared into the trees with caution.

They'd deliberately set off earlier than normal that morning to allow for the difficulties of travelling through the dense wood. Apparently, most of the paths were well-marked and easy to follow – this was no Viridian Forest! But at the same time, it was still a wild area and there was no telling what could happen once they were inside. Though the woods didn't stretch too far and could easily be passed through in only a couple of hours at a fast pace, there were plenty of issues that could arise and delay them. If needs be, they even needed to be prepared to camp out for the night.

Nicola had been quite alarmed when James had first mentioned this the previous evening, apparently assuming that there'd never actually be a need to use the tent. James, contending with Richard and Will poking fun at Nicola's misgivings, had managed to convince her that preparations for camping out were for the worst-case scenario and that odds were that they would be through the forest long before evening. Richard had scoffed at him, pointing out that he was tempting fate by saying that.

Still, they'd made it from the last town to the outskirts of the woods without any trouble. As long as they stuck to the paths in the woods themselves, there shouldn't be any real issue with getting through the woods, even if they decided to stop to look around or search for pokémon while they were in there.

"So, does the guidebook say anything about Petalburg Woods?" Will asked.

"It's a pokémon reserve, sort of," James replied.

"Sort of?"

"Well, it's an unofficial one – there are a number of pokémon that live there that can't be found anywhere else in Hoenn. We need to be careful not to disturb things too much while we're passing through."

"Are there restrictions on catching pokémon in Petalburg Woods?" Nicola asked.

"It doesn't say that there are," James replied. "And I haven't seen any warning signs around here saying that you can't either. It shouldn't be a problem."

"You thinking of trying to catch a pokémon again?" Richard grinned at her.

"Yeah!" Nicola replied enthusiastically. "Now that Will has caught Turkey, I want to catch my first pokémon soon too!"

"Sounds good to me." James nodded as he returned his guidebook to his backpack. "We've got plenty of time to get through Petalburg Woods, so you can take your time finding one while we walk."

"Are they common?"

"Well, forest pokémon tend to be more secretive than most pokémon, but I'm sure we'll be able to find something interesting without much trouble."

"I wonder if there'll be any good spots to train with Turkey and Toya," Will said as they reached the edge of the trees. The already overcast sky suddenly felt a lot darker as they passed beneath the thick, green canopy.

* * *

 _Petalburg Woods, Hoenn_

 _11:34am, 10_ _th_ _April 2006_

Not long after entering the woods, the group had found themselves on a high road that wound its way through the hills and overlooked the deeper parts of the forest below. James had started to appreciate how easy to follow this main road was – if they were to continue following it, they'd be out of the woods in no time at all.

Things, naturally, weren't going to be that simple. The disadvantage with the high road above the rest of the woods was that most wild pokémon avoided it due to the volume of traffic passing along. Nicola had quickly insisted that they needed to leave the main path and head down into the dense valleys so that she could find something.

That wasn't a problem, since they'd found a good path down which was well-signposted and (mostly) well-trodden. However, as the search had continued further into the depths of the valley, James was getting increasingly worried about the prospect of trying to find their way back to the main path without losing their trail.

"There's something!" Nicola suddenly cried, snapping James out of his thoughts. He peered through the gloom at what she was pointing at.

"Looks like a bug type to me," Richard said. "I once had a bug type on my team," he added with an approving nod.

The pokémon in question was a small, red caterpillar-like creature with big eyes and, ominously, a pair of pale barbs on its tail.

" _Wurmple, the worm pokémon. Using the spikes on its rear end, wurmple peel the bark off trees and feed on the sap that oozes out. This pokémon's feet are tipped with suction pads that allow them to cling to glass without slipping. They attempt to weaken foes by leaking poison from their spikes_."

Nicola's Pokédex clicked as it finished the entry.

"So, what do you think?" Richard asked her.

"Hmm." Nicola pondered for a couple of seconds.

"Oh, there are more!" Will pointed to a tree branch not too far from them. Now that they looked closer, there was a small white orb hanging motionless from it.

"That's a pokémon as well?" Nicola raised her Pokédex again.

" _Silcoon, the cocoon pokémon and the evolved form of wurmple. Silcoon tether themselves to tree branches using silk to keep from falling. There, these pokémon hang quietly while they await evolution. They peer out of the silk cocoon through a small hole. They sustain themselves with rainwater that collects in their silk._ "

"There's another one over there." James pointed to another small orb hidden in the shadows of the tree, partly concealed beneath a pile leaves.

"Am I just imagining it, or is that one a slightly different colour?" Richard asked.

"It might be the light," Will replied.

"No, it's a different pokémon," Nicola said, holding up her Pokédex.

" _Cascoon, the cocoon pokémon and the evolved form of wurmple. Cascoon make their protective cocoons by wrapping their bodies with a fine silk from their mouths. Once the silk goes around their body, it hardens. To avoid detection by their enemies, they hide motionlessly beneath large leaves and in the gaps of branches. They also attach dead leaves to their bodies for camouflage._ "

"Wait, they're both the evolved form of wurmple?" Nicola cried in surprise. "Can a pokémon evolve into two different forms?"

"I think I remember hearing about pokémon that can do that in the past," Richard replied.

"That's right." James nodded. "It says here in the guidebook that a wurmple will randomly evolve into either a silcoon or a cascoon, which then evolve into a beautifly or a dustox respectively."

"So, I guess I should try and catch one of the evolved forms, since they'd be tougher!" Nicola readied Kipa's poké ball.

"I wouldn't." Richard shook his head.

"Why not?"

"In the wild, cocoon pokémon forget all of their battling moves to focus solely on evolution. A caught wurmple would keep some of its battling skills after evolution, since it anticipates a life of battle even after it becomes a silcoon or a cascoon."

"Really?" Nicola looked to James for confirmation.

"That's right." James nodded.

"Hey! Why do you need James to confirm it?" Richard demanded.

"It's just that you're… you know?"

"In any case, it's probably better to try and catch the wurmple rather than one of the silcoon or cascoon," James said. "The cocoon pokémon have tougher defences and will only harden their bodies further if attacked – that makes it much easier for them to resist poké balls."

"Got it!" Nicola nodded. She turned her attention back to the wurmple and threw out Kipa's poké ball. "Use Tackle!"

Kipa burst out of the ball and immediately rushed towards the wurmple, catching it by surprise and slamming into it.

"Now use Mud Slap!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa made to kick up a clump of mud. However, the wurmple recovered quicker than they anticipated and counter attacked. It slammed into Kipa and knocked him back. Using the chance, it fired a stream of sticky silk at Kipa, tangling his legs as he tried to recover. And then it dove into the undergrowth and out of sight.

"Ah! Wait!" Nicola immediately ran after it. As she reached the bush, a shot of silk suddenly fired up from the ground. She let out a yelp in shock and fell backwards, landing on the ground with a thud.

"Careful, Nicola! You almost stood on a cascoon!" Richard called to her, noticing the culprit peeking out from under a leaf.

"Eww! It's all sticky!" Nicola groaned, trying to wipe the silk from her face and chest. She pulled herself unsteadily to her feet and let out a sigh as she recalled Kipa to his poké ball.

"Still, in a way that was pretty impressive, Nicola!" Richard grinned.

"Huh?"

"Low-level bug pokémon like wurmple are famously easy to catch – I even caught a low-level bug without having to battle it! That's definitely a story worth telling: that you were beaten by a wurmple!"

Nicola spun around to look at him. His heart gave an uncomfortable jolt. He'd been expecting her to glower and snap at him. Instead, she seemed to be barely holding back tears, her red cheeks and pained expression belying her humiliation. He was instantly filled with regret – he'd gone too far.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Nicola turned and ran off into the bushes.

"Huh?" The three boys took a moment to process what was happening.

"Nicola! Wait!" James shouted after her.

The three of them ran after her, quickly losing sight of her in the thick foliage. They emerged into a clearing and looked around. There was no sign of her.

"Great work, Richard!" James turned to Richard, a stern look on his face. "You know how Nicola was feeling about not having caught a pokémon!"

"I'm sorry!" Richard cried. "I just… got carried away."

"So, what are we going to do?" Will asked, looking around. "There's no sign of her, and we're the ones with all the supplies."

"We could split up to look for her," Richard suggested. He made to start walking. "I'll head this way…"

"Hold it!" James held up his hand. "If we all just charge off trying to find her, then we won't be able to find each other again." He looked between his two companions. "Let's set up a base camp and then come up with a plan."

"That sounds better to me." Will nodded.

"…Sure," Richard sighed.

* * *

 _12:05pm, 10_ _th_ _April 2006_

"…Huh?"

Nicola looked around at her surroundings. The small glade seemed oddly familiar. Had she been going in circles all this time? As she walked towards the centre of the clearing, she spotted a shoe print in the mud. A quick comparison with the footprints she'd just left confirmed that they were her own.

"I'm totally lost!" she wailed.

Her sudden outburst startling Kipa, who was walking by her feet. He let out an indignant cry in response.

"Sorry, Kipa," Nicola said apologetically, looking down at him with a nervous smile on her face.

It had been stupid of her to just run off like that – she didn't have a map on her and she had no way of working out where she'd come from or which direction she should head. The others would probably be looking for her, but they could get lost just as easily.

What if they never found her? What if she never managed to find a way out of the forest?

She shook her head to try and clear the thoughts away. It was too soon to be panicking – she'd only been lost for about half-an-hour. The others must still be nearb-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud cry from above. Looking up, she spotted a taillow descending into the glade. For a moment, her heart soared.

"Turkey?" she called tentatively to it.

The taillow briefly looked at her, then suddenly dove and attacked Kipa. The mudkip let out a surprised cry and jumped back. The way that the taillow had suddenly attacked gave Nicola her answer, though. It would have been too fortunate if she'd been found by Turkey right away – this was a wild pokémon.

As Kipa prepared to fight back, however, the taillow suddenly turned his attention on Nicola, flying straight at her and pecking at her.

"Ow! Ow!" Nicola yelped in pain, turning her back to the wild pokémon to defend her face. "Why are you attacking me?!"

The taillow started clawing at her bag. Maybe it was trying to get at the food she had in there?

Suddenly, a blast of water flew through the air and struck the taillow directly. It gave a startled cry and, spooked, flew off again.

Nicola looked around at Kipa, who was running back towards her with a relieved smile on his face. "Did you do that, Kipa?" she cried. "Did you learn a new move?"

The mudkip nodded as he reached her.

"Great work!" Nicola beamed at him as she bent down to pat him. "I think that was Water Gun." Something good had come out of this at least.

Still, Kipa learning a new move didn't make it any easier trying to find her way back to the others. She needed to keep searching. If the others were looking for her, then she'd stand a good chance of finding them if she searched as wide an area as possible. She took a deep breath.

"Alright, Kipa! Let's get moving!"

* * *

 _1:41pm, 10_ _th_ _April 2006_

Nicola and Kipa suddenly stopped.

There it was again! The tiniest of rustles that suggested something was moving through the grass. The two of them spun round, but saw nothing.

"I'm not imagining it, am I?" Nicola asked, looking down at Kipa. "We're being followed, aren't we?"

Kipa nodded, twitching the fin on his head. Of course! It functioned as a radar, so he was able to track things in the vicinity.

Whatever it was that was following them, it was trying its hardest to keep out of their sight. Nicola had initially hoped that it was James and the others, but there was no way that they'd just tail her without approaching her.

She let out a sigh. She felt comfortable with Kipa with her, but she still wanted to know exactly what was following them. Was it something that she and Kipa could defeat? Was it even hostile to them? The fact that it had merely been following them could mean anything – that they hadn't been attacked yet didn't necessarily mean that they were safe.

Continuing along the path, Nicola and Kipa arrived in a small clearing in the woods. Though straining her attention to listen for the footsteps of their stalker, Nicola noted with relief that her new surroundings were unfamiliar – she was finally making progress!

At that moment, she caught her foot on a tree root. With a cry, she tumbled to the ground.

"Oww!" she groaned.

Kipa immediately ran to her side, crying out in concern.

"D-Don't worry, I'm fine!" Nicola flinched as she put pressure on her knee – she must have grazed it in the fall. She pulled herself up to her knees. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have injured herself beyond a couple of bumps and scrapes. Badly hurting her feet out here would have been a disaster. As she checked her feet to make sure, she looked around the clearing.

"Ah!" she cried, spotting a small, pale, almost cone-shaped pokémon hovering hesitantly by the edge of the path they'd just been walking on. It was watching them curiously. She'd expected it to bolt immediately again, but it seemed relatively calm. She pulled out her Pokédex as it started waddling slowly towards her.

" _Shroomish, the mushroom pokémon. Shroomish live in damp soil in the dark depths of forests. They are often found keeping still under fallen leaves. These pokémon feed on compost that is made up of fallen, rotted leaves. If they sense danger, they shake their body and scatter spores from the top of their head._ "

"If you're looking for food, I think I've got something…" Nicola reached for her bag as the shroomish approached her, guessing that it was searching for food.

The shroomish, however, shook its head. Nicola briefly feared that it was shaking out spores, but it seemed that it was just denying that it had followed her for that reason. It started speaking to Kipa. He immediately perked up and turned to Nicola, calling out to her enthusiastically.

"Huh?" Nicola blinked a couple of times in confusion as she attempted to understand what the mudkip was trying to tell her. If the shroomish wasn't after food, then what was it doing there? And why had it been following them?

The shroomish, meanwhile, smiled reassuringly at her and then turned and started walking away in the direction of one of the other paths.

"You're going…" Nicola muttered. She was confused. What had it wanted? Why was it leaving so soon? A thought suddenly clicked into place as Kipa started following it. "Oh!" Had the shroomish shown up to help her find the others? She pulled herself to her feet and joined Kipa in following the shroomish. She asked Kipa if her thoughts were correct, earning an enthusiastic nod in response. He seemed to have been quick to trust the wild pokémon.

Still, they'd been wandering aimlessly for a long time now, with no sign of the others. There was no harm in letting a wild pokémon lead the way for now – it wasn't any less likely to be able to lead her back to them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the gurgling on her stomach. Of course! It was around lunchtime and she'd been so preoccupied with searching for the others that she'd forgotten to eat. She didn't want to stop the shroomish when it had only just started helping them. Maybe they could stop together in a little while.

* * *

 _3:14pm, 10_ _th_ _April 2006_

The sun had sunk lower into the sky, leaving the forest increasingly dim and murky. It was already starting to become dangerous wandering about in the woods. Despite this, Nicola was in a surprisingly good mood. Though they'd still not found the others, she and Kipa had quickly become friends with the shroomish as they continued through the woods, and especially after they had stopped for lunch together.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, glancing to the shroomish, now riding on her left shoulder.

The shroomish shook her head to reassure her. Down by her feet, Kipa continued to keep pace with her. Nicola had been hoping that he could use his fin to 'see' in the dark, but it turned out that it didn't work like that – he was only able to pick up movement in their surroundings, not the lay of the land.

"Still, I wonder where the others are," she murmured, glancing around. It was difficult to see through the gloom. She had a torch in her backpack, but she wasn't sure how much battery she had left – she'd save it for when it got really dark. "Are we anywhere near where you saw them?" she asked the shroomish.

After some difficult interpretation, she'd learned that the shroomish had seen both her and then James and the others earlier in the day. After realising that they were trying to find each other, she'd headed off to try and track Nicola down so that she could guide her back to her friends. Nicola knew that pokémon were intelligent creatures, but she'd never expected them to be capable of such rationality.

The shroomish nodded in response to her question.

At that moment, Kipa suddenly twitched his fin and called up to her.

"Movement?" Nicola asked.

Kipa nodded and started moving forwards slightly faster.

"Don't go too fast!" Nicola called after him. "It's dangerous when it's dark!"

They moved forwards for a short while before freezing upon seeing a rustling bush ahead of them.

A poochyena emerged from the bush and cautiously stepped out onto the path. His eyes widened as he saw Kipa and Nicola.

"…Chena?" Nicola breathed.

The poochyena suddenly let out a couple of loud barks.

"What's up, Chena? Did you find something?"

A wave of relief flooded over Nicola as she heard Richard call from a distance. There was a loud series of rustles before Richard finally emerged from the undergrowth.

"Nicola! We finally found you!" He, too, let out a sigh of relief. "I knew that relying on Chena's sense of smell would pay off!" He bent down and scratched the poochyena behind the ears. "Are you okay? You aren't hurt, are you?"

"I…" Nicola looked away awkwardly. "I-I'm sorry that I suddenly ran off. I probably worried you guys…"

"…I'm the one who should be apologising," Richard muttered. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I went too far and I shouldn't have hurt your feelings." He suddenly noticed the shroomish perched on Nicola's shoulder. "Hey, did you catch a pokémon while we were separated?!"

"Huh? Oh, no!" Nicola quickly shook her head, almost knocking the shroomish from her shoulder. "This shroomish happened to see you guys earlier and was trying to lead me back to you."

"Shroomish, eh?" Richard pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the grass type.

"Thanks for your help! You saved me!" Nicola smiled warmly at the shroomish as Richard's Pokédex finished reading out the data entry.

"Why don't you catch it?" Richard asked as he put his Pokédex away.

"Huh? I can?" Nicola cried in surprise.

"Well, you've bonded with it," Richard replied. "Doesn't it look like it likes you?"

The shroomish was smiling happily at her.

"B-But, I thought you needed to fight a battle first!"

Richard laughed.

"What?" Nicola asked, frowning at him. "I feel like you're mocking me again."

"No, not at all!" Richard replied quickly. "There's no rule saying that you can only catch a pokémon by battling it. If you're both okay with it, then you can just tap it with a poké ball and you're done."

"…You won't claim that I haven't _really_ caught a pokémon?"

"Why would I? I caught a pokémon that way once."

"…Okay then." Nicola put the shroomish on the ground and took off her backpack. Pulling out a poké ball, she cautiously tapped it against the shroomish's head. She was immediately converted to red energy and sucked inside. As the ball clicked shut, it rattled in Nicola's hand for a couple of seconds before emitting a small burst of sparks. "…I did it!" A wide grin appeared on Nicola's face.

"Congratulations, Nicola!" Richard grinned at her.

"Thanks!" Nicola beamed at him.

"Anyway, we should head back to the others," said Richard. "They've set up camp not too far from here."

"Sure!" Nicola walked over to join him. She held up the poké ball containing her newly-caught pokémon. "I think I'll call her 'Mushy'."

Richard snorted. "Mushy? Seriously?" He laughed. "That's not a particularly nice name!"

"Grrrr!" Nicola scowled at him. "Let's just get back to the others."

"Sure!" Richard grinned back. "Let's follow Chena's nose – he'll lead us back there in no time!"

* * *

 _3:53pm, 10_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Ready, Turkey? Use Quick Attack!" Will shouted.

Turkey screeched as he flew forwards with a flash of light. His new attack was executed perfectly, summoning up the energy for a high-speed strike and sustaining it long enough to reach his opponent. However, his foe had other plans.

"Nulin, use Wing Attack!" James ordered.

With sharp reflexes, the wingull just avoided Turkey's attack and slammed into him with his wing.

Turkey let out a cry as he lost control of his flight path and crashed to the ground.

"That was a good attack!" James called over to Will. "We almost weren't able to dodge it."

"We've still got some work to do," Will sighed. "Are you ready to go again, Turkey?"

Turkey took off again with a confident cry.

"Nah, I think that's enough for today," James said, smiling at Nulin. "Nulin's managed to nail Wing Attack and we don't want to overdo it."

"When's Richard going to get back?" Will asked. "You don't want to head off if you don't have to, right?"

"True." James nodded. "It's a shame that the trees are so thick, otherwise we could have had Turkey and Nulin search from the air."

After setting up a base camp not long after Nicola had disappeared, they had decided to have two people head off on searches in the forest while the third manned the base camp. They were to return after an hour to switch over. That had been their routine throughout the day.

After Will had arrived back from his patrol, he and James had decided to do some training to kill time while they waited for Richard to return. The result had been Turkey and Nulin both learning some new attacks.

"Still, he's been much longer than an hour now," James sighed. "I'm starting to wonder if I should search for _him_ as well as Nicola!"

"Maybe you will!" Will grinned at him.

Fortunately, there was no need for James to mount a search for Richard, as both he and Nicola finally made it back to the camp about ten minutes after that.

"I'm sorry I made everyone worry." Nicola apologised to them as soon as they arrived in camp.

"No problem!" James smiled reassuringly at her. "We're just glad that you're safe."

"Besides, it gave me and James plenty of time to train with Turkey and Nulin!" Will grinned. He told them what they'd been doing while waiting for them.

"Wing Attack and Quick Attack, eh?" Richard said. "Those'll both be really handy, even if they're quite low-level attacks."

"Got to start somewhere." James shrugged.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Richard turned to Nicola. "Why don't you show them Mushy?"

"Mushy?" James and Will both gave them confused looks.

"Sure." Nicola pulled out a poké ball and released the pokémon within.

"You caught a new pokémon?" James watched as Mushy materialised.

"Never seen that pokémon before…" Will muttered as he pulled out his Pokédex.

"This is my new team member, Mushy!" Nicola beamed. "She'll be travelling with us from now on!"

Mushy smiled calmly around at the others.

"Nice to meet you, Mushy!" James grinned. "Congrats, Nicola!"

"Yeah, congrats," Will added as he put his Pokédex away.

"So, what now?" Richard asked.

"It's too late to try and get out of the woods now," James replied. "I say that we camp out here tonight and set off tomorrow instead."

"Are we far from the main path?" Nicola asked.

"Not too far," James explained. "But by the time we've taken the tent down and packed everything up, it'll be too dark for us to travel safely along the path back."

"Sorry." Nicola looked down, a guilty look on her face. "We wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't run off by myself."

"Well, it's pretty fun camping out, so I don't mind!" Richard grinned.

"Same." Will nodded.

"Do you want to spend some time training with Mushy?" James asked. "There's still a couple of hours before we start cooking dinner."

"Sure!" Nicola nodded, grinning at the shroomish.

It had been an eventful day and it had been far from an ideal attempt to pass through Petalburg Woods, but Nicola was happy with the way it had worked out.

* * *

 **So, first up, sorry for the delay on this chapter. I decided the day after uploading Chapter 7 that I was too stressed out with university work to get this chapter finished. For future reference, I always update my profile regarding developments that might affect my writing, so be sure to check there if there's another unscheduled delay.**

 **Anyway, Nicola has caught her first pokémon, though it wasn't exactly in the way she envisaged. I'm looking forward to developing Mushy further in later chapters. Aside from that, Turkey, Nulin and Kipa all learned new moves this chapter.**

 **My upload schedule should be back to normal for the time being, so you can hopefully (remember that I've never made any guarantees!) expect to see Chapter 3 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **on Wednesday and Chapter 9 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **next Sunday.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl and Sand Attack.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Absorb, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	9. The Missing Guidebook

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 9 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola get lost in Petalburg Woods, where she befriended and caught a wild shroomish (who she nicknamed 'Mushy') before being found by Richard and Chena and guided back to the camp the boys had set up in her absence.**

 **Upload Date: 30** **th** **April 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Missing Guidebook**

 _Petalburg Woods, Hoenn_

 _9:36am, 11_ _th_ _April 2006_

Richard blearily opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. He laid still for a few long seconds, contemplating, or rather, psyching himself up to haul himself out of his sleeping bag. Even though he was still in the tent, it was still bright. It must be a really sunny day outside if it was strong enough to penetrate through the canopy of Petalburg Woods.

He forced himself to unzip his sleeping bag and half-heartedly rolled himself out, coming to rest in James' empty space. Of course, he was already up, being the busybody that he was. In fact, Richard thought he could smell something cooking. A part of him envied James' capacity for early mornings, even as his sleeping bag called for his return.

Will, on the other hand, was still firmly tucked up in his sleeping bag, emitting the occasional snore as he peacefully dozed, dead to the world. There was no point disturbing his rest yet – James would do that once he'd finished preparing breakfast.

Richard reached for the zip to open the entrance to the boys' side of the tent. He stuck his head out and twitched his nose. Yep, James was definitely cooking something. A part of him wondered if he should offer to help – it was James who did this sort of thing most of the time, after all. But then again, it was a small stove and he didn't want to complicate things.

He was distracted by the moving of the zip on the other side of the communal area. Shortly, Nicola's face appeared, her eyes half-asleep, her hair dishevelled.

"Ah!" She uttered a brief cry as she spotted him.

Before Richard could say a word, she vanished back into her room, the zip whipping shut behind her.

"What was that about?" Richard mumbled to himself in confusion, shaking his head. He retreated back himself and zipped the room closed. He quickly got dressed. He contemplated brushing his hair, but decided to shake it up a bit with his hand and leave it at that. Only a few short minutes later, he was out in the communal area, pulling his shoes on.

"Oh, you're up?" James grinned at him as he stepped out of the tent. "Any sign of life from the others?"

"Nicola's up. I think she's getting dressed," Richard replied. "Will's still asleep."

"Could've guessed that!" James laughed. He prodded one of the pieces of bacon on the frying pan with a fork. "Breakfast will be soon; I'd better wake him up."

Richard pulled up a chair and sat by the stove to watch the cooking. He rubbed his eyes. The clearing they'd set up camp in looked completely different in the morning. It was strange how different a place seemed once he'd gotten used to it. It was like the clearing they'd first walked into yesterday was somewhere else entirely.

James returned from his mission, evidently disappointed by the level of effort required to rouse his sleeping brother. He took his place by the stove once again and continued cooking.

A short while afterwards, Nicola appeared. Dressed in her usual attire, her eyes were more alert now and her hair had been arranged into her normal style. As she stepped out of the tent, James excused himself and disappeared back inside again to have another go at waking Will.

"What was that about earlier?" Richard asked as he remembered.

"Nothing…" Nicola muttered. She walked over to the bushes, clutching a toothbrush in one hand and a tube of toothpaste in the other.

"You brush your teeth before you have breakfast?" Richard asked.

"You don't?" Nicola turned back to look at him, stunned.

"Well, since I'm about to eat, I might as well wait until after that," Richard explained. "Isn't it a bit pointless to clean your teeth and then immediately eat something?"

"I heard that it's best to clean your teeth before breakfast to get rid of any bacteria that gather while you're asleep," Nicola replied, turning away and squeezing some toothpaste onto her brush.

"Ehh, I guess it works either way." Richard shrugged.

James reappeared, this time with a reluctant Will in tow. "Breakfast will be ready soon," he said as he sat back down.

Nicola, her toothbrush in her mouth, nodded to show she understood.

"Smells good." Richard nodded with approval.

Once breakfast had finished cooking, they all gathered around and tucked in. Their pokémon were all released from their poké balls so that they could eat as well. There was little conversation as they focused on eating. Once all the food was gone, and Turkey and Will were finished fighting over the contents of the latter's plate, they quickly turned their attention to the plans for that day.

"I reckon that we should find the main path if we backtrack along that path," said James, pointing to one of the paths leading out of the clearing.

"Are you sure?" Richard asked, a puzzled look on his face. "Didn't we first arrive here from that direction?"

"I thought that was when we came back to the clearing after a quick scout around," Will said. He frowned. "It sounds like getting through Petalburg Woods isn't going to be as simple as we thought."

"Can Nulin and Turkey work out where the main path is from the air?" Nicola asked, glancing at the two flying types as they raced around the edge of the clearing, each trying to overtake the other.

"That'll be tricky," James replied. "The canopy makes it difficult to see where the minor paths are from above."

"Or Chena could try and trace our steps using his sense of smell," Richard suggested. The poochyena was currently tangling with Kipa and Kacha. Having eaten all their food, Charka and Naro were flaked out nearby, while the newest addition, Mushy was lazing nearby, happily soaking up the sun's rays as they streamed into the clearing.

"That could work… in theory," James said hesitantly. "But our scent from before might have already been lost overnight."

"Maybe Charka could burn the forest down," said Will, his tone half-joking. "That way it'd be easy to get through!"

"As a last resort!" James grinned at him. "Anyway, we'll work this out in a bit. Let's focus on taking the tent down and getting ready to move."

"Got it!" The others nodded.

* * *

 _Route 104 (Rustboro Side), Hoenn_

 _7:15pm, 11_ _th_ _April 2006_

As it turned out, finding the way back to the main path had been anything but simple. After a long day of wandering through the undergrowth and dark glades of Petalburg Woods, the group had failed completely to locate the main path. Fortunately, they'd managed to cross the forest anyway and, as evening approached, they'd finally emerged on the eastern side of the woods.

It was getting late and it didn't seem like there was going to be much of an opportunity to continue on the road to Rustboro City. Instead, they'd agreed to start searching for somewhere to stay that night, either a pokémon centre or something similar, of even just a good, safe place where they could pitch their tent.

Fortunately, they'd found a nice-looking inn which had space available while exploring the first village they came to. After booking out two rooms, the four of them had gathered in the boys' room so that they could discuss the plan for the following day.

"It should be an easy run straight to Rustboro from here," said James, pointing out the main road up Route 104. "The tricky bit was always going to be getting out of Petalburg Woods."

"Do you think we can get there by tomorrow?" Richard asked.

"Hmm." James pondered for a second. "Possibly, if we can keep up a good pace."

"Is there anything between here and Rustboro City?" Nicola asked.

"Well, there's a number of smaller towns in the area," James replied. "If you're worried about having to camp out again, I think we can avoid that."

"What's the terrain looking like?" Will peered over James' shoulder.

"Mostly flat," James replied. "The guidebook says that there are some rivers and lakes along our path, and it can get a bit marshy in places, but as long as we stick to the main path this time, we shouldn't have any problems."

"So, that's the route for tomorrow sorted then!" Richard lay back on his bed and stretched out.

"Everyone happy?" James looked around at the others.

"No problems here," said Will.

"Same." Nicola nodded.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Richard asked as everyone stood up.

"It's getting late," said Will. "Should we have something to eat?"

"You read my mind!" Nicola grinned. A frown suddenly crossed her face. "But this inn doesn't serve food, does it?"

"Only breakfast," Richard replied sadly. He looked over at James. "Does the guidebook recommend any good restaurants around here?"

"There are a couple that seem pretty good," James replied. "There's one that serves local specialities and one that serves more general food. Any preferences?"

"I'm all for the local specialities!" Richard declared.

"So am I," Will added.

"It's nice to try something new every once in a while." Nicola nodded.

"That's settled then." James snapped the guidebook shut and returned it to his bag. "Let's get moving – I'm starving!"

"It's a handy little guidebook, isn't it?" Nicola marvelled as they headed for the door.

"Given how cheap it was, I'm surprised by how useful it's been." James nodded. "We've got Will's map as a backup, but it's nice having additional information about everywhere we're going."

"I think that guidebook is deliberately aimed at trainers arriving from other regions," said Richard. "I haven't seen it being sold anywhere other than Littleroot Town."

"That just makes it all the more worthwhile holding onto it!" James grinned.

The four of them left the inn and set off into the village in search of the restaurant.

* * *

 _1:36pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

The sky had clouded over by the morning, when the group had set off from the inn to continue on their journey up to Rustboro City. Though the absence of the sun had left the air cooler than yesterday, it wasn't so cold as to be uncomfortable.

"Is this it?" Nicola asked as she walked up to the large road bridge ahead of them.

"I think so," said James.

"So, this is the Onga river?" Richard looked over the wide expanse of water that lay ahead. It was the largest they'd seen in Hoenn so far. It was far too wide for them to be able to cross it by wading or swimming, even if they'd been willing to consider it. Fortunately, the roads leading up from Petalburg Woods towards Rustboro City also needed to cross it. That meant that there were many bridges like the one ahead of them which led to the other side of the river.

"What are we waiting for?" Will started walking in the direction of the bridge. "Let's get moving."

"Right behind you," Richard replied with a grin. As he moved to join Will and Nicola, however, he noticed that James was rummaging through his backpack with an increasing urgency. "What's up, James?"

"I, uh, can't find the guidebook." James looked around, giving them an apologetic look.

"Did you lose it somewhere?" Nicola asked.

"I guess I must have done," James sighed in disappointment.

"You didn't leave it at the inn, did you?" Will walked back over towards them.

"No, you were definitely reading it at lunchtime." Richard shook his head.

"We haven't come that far since we had lunch," said Nicola. "We could head back quickly and look for it."

"Are you sure?" James asked, a troubled look on his face. "We can just use Will's map, you know."

"Your guidebook is better," Nicola replied.

"Hey!" Will cried, apparently taking offence at the suggestion.

"And you can only get them in Littleroot Town," Richard added. "We can't replace it easily."

"We're making good time anyway, so it's not a problem!" Nicola grinned.

"Thanks, guys," James replied. He stood up and shouldered his backpack. "I definitely remember taking the guidebook out at lunchtime, but I can't remember whether I put it back in my bag."

"It should be easy to find where we had lunch – it was next to that pretty pond, wasn't it?" Nicola asked.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "If we retrace our steps from here, then we should be able to find it."

"Let's get moving then," said Will. "We won't find it if we just stand around here."

"Right! Let's go!" James nodded.

* * *

 _2:16pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

Backtracking all the way to the pond they'd eaten lunch next to, there was still no sign of the guidebook.

"I don't see anything around here," Nicola said as she scoured where they'd sat and had lunch for any sign of it.

"Have you checked the bushes?" Will called.

"Why would it be there?"

"It's worth a try!"

As he watched the other two search around, Richard turned to James. "You're sure that this was the last time you took it out, right?"

"Hmm." James frowned. "Did I take it out after that?"

"Ah!" Richard suddenly remembered. "Don't you remember? After we set off, we stopped on that bridge and you looked in the guidebook to make sure we were heading in the right direction."

"You're right!" James exclaimed. His face fell again. "But that means that the guidebook probably fell into the pond. If it's been there for over an hour, then it's probably already ruined."

"It's still worth looking," Richard replied encouragingly. "We can get Kipa or Toya to search underwater for us."

"You're right." James nodded. "Nicola, Will!"

As the others came over, James and Richard quickly explained the situation.

"Kipa's used to that kind of water – he'll have no trouble finding it!" Nicola nodded firmly.

"Let's go over and have a look," said Will.

The four trainers wandered over to the bridge over one end of the pond. Obviously, there was no sign of the guidebook on the bridge itself, so they started looking over the side and down at the murky water below. The thought of trying to find the guidebook in all that was a demoralising one.

"Go, Kipa!" Nicola called out Kipa. As the mudkip materialised on the bridge in front of her, she bent down to explain what she needed him to do.

"I think I remember now," said James, screwing his eyes shut as he concentrated on recalling all the details. "After we'd finished checking the guidebook, I decided to have a quick drink from my water bottle. I think I put the guidebook on the railing and must have forgotten about it when I put my water bottle back."

"So, it _is_ in there," Nicola sighed. "You ready, Kipa?"

The mudkip nodded. He leapt from the bridge and landed with a splash in the water. A second later, his head reappeared above the surface as he spun around to look up at Nicola.

"Just keep looking around until you find something!" Nicola called. "It can't have gone far!"

Kipa nodded again and dove back beneath the surface.

"So, what can the rest of us do?" Nicola asked, turning back to look at the others.

"Well, unless you want to wade in there and help Kipa, there's not much we can do," Will replied.

"Is Toya not helping out with this search?" Richard asked.

"I guess he can." Will pulled out a poké ball and sent out Toya. "Help out Kipa," he said. "Try searching for the guidebook this side of the bridge."

Toya grinned confidently back and dove off the side of the bridge, landing in the water with a splash.

"The rest of us should split up and search around the edge of the pond," said James. "It might have been carried away by the wind or something."

"Like a lily pad?" Richard asked.

"Well, I guess?" James replied. "Where did that come from though?"

"Well…" Richard pointed. Out in the middle of the pond, a green lily pad was floating on the surface. Lying on top of it was something which looked suspiciously like a book.

"Did the guidebook fall off the bridge and land on that lily pad?" Nicola asked, stunned.

"I guess we'll see." James pulled out a poké ball. "Nulin, go and retrieve that book!"

Nulin let out a cry as he burst out of the ball. He immediately flew across the pond and dove towards the lily pad, slowing down as he approached.

However, just as he was about to reach it, the lily pad tipped slightly and a small, blue face popped up from beneath the water's surface. With an indignant cry, it fired a small jet of water up at Nulin, surprising him.

"It's a pokémon?!" Richard cried, pulling out his Pokédex as Nulin retreated to a safe distance.

" _Lotad, the water weed pokémon. Lotad are said to have dwelled on land before. However, these pokémon are thought to have returned to water because the leaves on their heads grew large and heavy. They now live by floating atop the water. If they do not drink water for too long, the leaves on their heads wilt._ "

While Nulin was distracted, the lotad was quickly swimming to the far side of the pond at a surprising speed. Before James and Nulin could react, it had already disappeared into the mass of reeds at the water's edge, the book still lying on its back.

"What are we going to do now?" James asked, watching as Nulin circled above the pond in an attempt to locate the lotad again.

"I'll head round and try to track it down on foot," Richard replied.

"Sounds like a plan." James nodded. "Will, can you head around the other way to try and cut it off?"

"Sure, I guess," Will replied with a shrug.

"Nicola and Kipa can patrol the water in case it comes back in." James continued. "I'll have Nulin keep an eye on things from above."

"Don't worry! I'll find it!" Richard grinned as he ran over to the far side of the bridge.

* * *

 _2:28pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

After a run along the bank of the pond, Richard had sent out Chena to help track down the lotad. Based on its Pokédex entry, he was expecting it to either remain in the water, among the reeds, or to risk travelling overland, where it would be slower and easier to catch.

While Chena was sniffing at the edge of the reeds, Richard watched out for any sign of movement across the grassy field surrounding the pond. Overhead, Nulin was soaring over the pond, looking out for the lotad as well. The occasional splash from the other side of the reeds momentarily excited him before he realised that it was probably coming from Kipa, hence why the wingull had reacted to it.

A part of him had some respect for the lotad though – the guidebook wasn't the lightest thing in the world, yet it had still managed to support it on its back despite the apparent weight of its leaf as well.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden cry from Nulin. He started circling an area not too far from where he was standing. He and Chena rushed up to the spot he was circling. As they approached, Chena started barking and splashed through the shallows into the reeds. Sure enough, the lotad was plodding along in the shallows, moving back towards the open water.

Chena halted his pursuit as a jet of water blasted the reeds from the outside – a warning shot from Kipa, no doubt. The lotad, clearly realising it was trapped, turned again and started charging for Chena, launching an unexpected strike that caught him completely off-guard. As the poochyena stumbled back, the lotad started waddling out onto the land.

Waiting for the best opportunity, Richard suddenly darted in and grabbed the book from atop the lotad's leaf. Sure enough, it was the guidebook that James had lost. Despite the obvious relief at not carrying that additional weight, the lotad turned and fired a beam of green energy towards Richard as he stepped back.

Quick as a flash, Chena had darted between them, taking the attack to spare his trainer.

"Chena! Are you okay?" Richard called.

Chena gave himself a shake and nodded.

"Thanks for the save!" Richard grinned. "Now use Tackle!"

Chena quickly surged forwards, knocking the lotad back before it had a chance to launch another attack.

"And now use Sand Attack!" Richard called.

Chena quickly kicked up a cloud of sand, which the lotad, much to their surprise, was able to nimbly avoid with a quick rush to the side. It let out a low clicking noise, apparently trying to intimidate Chena.

"Use Tackle again!" Richard called.

Chena immediately charged forwards, scoring another direct hit and sending his opponent flying back. Despite the weight of the blow and the obviousness of Chena's superior strength, the lotad still resolutely pulled itself up. It fired another beam of green energy towards Chena, hitting him and draining his energy. In another instant, it launched another surprise attack, causing Chena to suddenly yelp and start backing off, even if it hadn't done much damage.

It was a sharp reminder for Richard that poochyena weren't natural fighters. Now that the lotad seemed to have the initiative, Chena was starting to waver – his attempts to break the lotad's spirit had failed.

"Chena, return!" Richard quickly recalled him to his poké ball and whipped out Naro's instead.

The lotad remained resolute as Naro's hulking form appeared, even if it was visibly alarmed by its new opponent.

"Use Horn Attack!" Richard called.

With a roar, Naro stormed forwards. He slammed into the lotad with his horn and sent it flying back. As it landed with a crash, Richard pulled out an empty poké ball and threw it at the wild pokémon. Striking the lotad directly, it sucked it inside and closed with a click before dropping to the ground. After rolling around for a couple of seconds, there was a click and a small burst of sparks from the release button.

"Yes!" Richard grinned, pumping his fist.

Naro gave him a confused look as he walked over and picked up the fallen poké ball.

"You saw how determined it was," Richard said, guessing what the nidoking was thinking. "How could I not try to catch it."

Naro grunted and shrugged. Apparently, he'd been hoping for a longer workout than just a single move.

Richard quickly scanned the poké ball with his Pokédex to pick up the lotad's individual data. "Oh? My first female pokémon," he muttered. "And what does 'Rain Dish' do? Heals if raining? Sounds pretty good to me." He put his Pokédex away and released the lotad from her poké ball. "From now on, your name is 'Dish', after your ability!" He grinned at her. "Welcome to the team, Dish!"

Naro grinned enthusiastically at her as well.

Dish seemed a little stunned with what was happening, but she quickly warmed up to Richard as he offered her some pokémon food and used a potion to heal her wounds.

With everything sorted and the guidebook tucked safely under his arm, Richard recalled both Naro and Dish and started walking back around the pond, following Nulin back towards the others.

"Hey, Richard!" He heard Nicola shouting to him as he drew close to the bridge again. "Did you manage to get the guidebook?"

"Yeah! It's right here!" Richard called back, waving the guidebook above his head.

"Great work!" James yelled. "I owe you one!"

"Nah, I got something out of it too," Richard replied. He handed the guidebook to James and pulled out Dish's poké ball. "I've got a new team member now!"

"Ooh! You caught that lotad?" Nicola asked, peering into the poké ball.

"That's right!" Richard nodded. "Her name's 'Dish'. I bet she's going to be really handy in the future!"

"Why 'Dish'?" Will asked.

As Richard explained his choice of name to Will, James returned his guidebook to his bag and ensured that it was tightly secured. "Anyway…" He interrupted them. "Now that we've got the guidebook back, shall we get back on the road to Rustboro City?"

"Yeah, let's get moving again." Nicola nodded. "We've already lost enough time."

"Right behind you," Richard replied with a grin.

"Do you think we can make it to Rustboro today?" Will asked as they started walking again.

"No." James shook his head. "I think we should aim to reach the next major town along the route – Rinshin Town – before the end of the day. We can definitely manage that."

"Let's get moving then!" Richard grinned, leading the way as they started walking back towards the Onga river."

* * *

 **So, another pokémon for Richard and the recovery of the guidebook for James. A part of me thought about having a taillow or something swoop down at the end and snatch the guidebook out of Richard's hand when he was waving it above his head, but I figured it was kinder to leave the matter resolved this chapter instead!**

 **As ever, feel free to give me any feedback you have on this chapter, and thanks for reading!**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl and Sand Attack.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl and Absorb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Absorb, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	10. Battle in Rinshin Town

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **In the previous chapter, James' guidebook went missing, leading the group to retrace their steps until they found it on the back of a wild lotad. Richard successfully recovered the guidebook and caught the lotad as well, naming her 'Dish'.**

 **Upload Date: 7** **th** **May 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Battle in Rinshin Town**

 _Route 104 (Rustboro Side), Hoenn_

 _3:42pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Oh! What's that town up ahead?" Nicola called. She looked back at the others for confirmation.

"I think it's the one we're aiming for," James replied, pulling out the guidebook. "Yep! That should be Rinshin Town!"

"Rinshin Town, huh?" Richard gazed at the buildings in the distance. "Know anything about it?"

"Not much," James sighed, scanning the guidebook. "There's apparently an old mansion on the outskirts, but it's otherwise just like any other town on the main route between major cities. Its economy is based on travellers passing through on their way to Rustboro City or Petalburg City."

"So, what's the plan?" Will asked. "Are we stopping off here for the night?"

"That's sounds best to me," said Richard.

"Agreed!" Nicola nodded. "It's almost four o'clock now – we don't want to end up camping by the side of the road."

"Yeah, we're not going to be able to get to Rustboro City today," James added. "Even if we weren't tired out after a day of walking, it would still take us more than two hours to get there."

The backtrack to find the guidebook hadn't helped their timings either. James bitterly noted that they probably could have made it all the way to Rustboro in one hit had they not had to add another two hours onto their trip. Still, the delay meant that they'd arrive in Rustboro the following day much fresher than they were now and they'd be ready to hunt down and challenge the gym as soon as they arrived.

That, and Richard was pleased with having caught a new pokémon too. Dish the lotad was, interestingly enough, both a grass and a water type. Just as her water typing shielded her from her fire type weakness, her grass typing erased both of her water type weaknesses of electric and grass type attacks. The way that a dual-typed pokémon's types interacted with and benefitted each other was fascinating.

"Still, it's a little disappointing that there isn't all that much to do in Rinshin Town," Nicola sighed.

"We haven't even arrived yet!" Richard grinned at her. "James just said that there wasn't anything particularly famous there."

"That's right." James nodded. "There should be some shops there, as well as other attractions."

"Apparently, there's a golf course just to the south-west of the city," Will added, pointing to the map of the town in the guidebook.

"I don't think we'll have time for that…" Nicola replied.

"How are we for supplies by the way?" Richard asked, turning to James.

"We should have enough to last us until Rustboro," James replied. "I was going to check everything once we got to the pokémon centre."

"Is there anything that we should buy while we're here?" Nicola asked.

"I don't think so." James shook his head. "I'd rather wait until we find a Poké Mart in Rustboro City, where it'll be cheaper."

They continued walking towards Rinshin Town, their thoughts quickly turning towards the prospect of a hot meal and a warm bed to sleep in that evening.

* * *

 _Rinshin Town, Hoenn_

 _4:14pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

"So, what do you want to do now?" Richard asked.

"Hmm. Tricky one," Will replied. "What about you, Nicola?"

"Huh?" Nicola looked up from fussing Kipa and Mushy. "I thought we were going to go and find something to have as an afternoon snack."

"Could do." Richard nodded thoughtfully. "I've heard that they do some pretty good sweets in this area."

"Aren't we going to wait for James?" Nicola asked.

Since he was preoccupied with the supply situation, the others had left James in the boys' room going through all of their bags and counting everything. He'd seemed pretty ensconced in it when they left.

Of course, it was tempting to just hang around in the trainers' lounge rather than go back outside. The Rinshin Town pokémon centre was fairly crowded compared to the ones along their route previously. Richard thought that lots of trainers who'd overtaken them while they'd waited for Will had gotten lost in Petalburg Woods as well and they'd managed to catch a large number of them up. However, there were still plenty of seats available and more trainers meant more opportunities to gather information on what lay ahead.

"I think James will be a while," said Richard, responding to Nicola's earlier question. "He told me that it was okay for us to go out without him."

"He's just checking our supplies, right?" Nicola asked. "That's not going to take too long, is it?"

"You'd be surprised," Will replied with a sigh. "He won't just be counting the tins of beans; he'll be working out exactly how long that can last us based on how much we normally eat per serving and so on."

"That sounds ridiculously thorough!" Nicola cried.

"It's mostly guesswork anyway, but James seems to enjoy putting in a lot of effort," Richard explained. "I guess he's getting used to being 'in charge' of the group."

"'In charge'?"

"Well, he works out where we're going and makes sure that we have the supplies to get us there. That's probably as close as you can get to 'in charge' without officially being a leader."

"Is it tough work?"

"I used to think it was easy, but then James and I had to start doing this sort of thing ourselves. It doesn't seem so easy anymore!" Richard grinned.

"Did your previous travelling companion handle all of that?" Nicola asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Richard nodded. "Livvi put herself in charge of the map and shopping for supplies."

"So, you made a girl do most of the work?"

"Hey! It was her choice!"

"Sorry to interrupt, but are we going to head out somewhere or not?" Will asked, cutting into the conversation.

"Hang on a second!" Nicola jumped to her feet. "I'm just going to go and see if James wants to come too!"

"I already told you…" Richard muttered as Nicola ran over towards the lobby.

"Aah!"

"Ah!"

As she reached the lobby, Nicola collided with a boy approaching from the main entrance. There was a thud as Nicola, thrown back by the impact, landed on the floor.

"Oww." She rubbed her hip in pain as she started trying to pull herself up.

"Watch where you're going in the future," said the boy she'd bumped into.

"S-Sorry!" Nicola stammered as she pulled herself up. As she took a closer look at the boy, both their eyes widened.

"The transfer student?" The boy quickly regained his composure. "I'm surprised you even set off from Littleroot Town."

"I have a name, you know!" Nicola snapped, her expression darkening.

"Heh! Why would a future Hoenn League Champion bother to remember the name of a small fry like you?" A smug grin appeared on his face as he folded his arms.

"Urgh." Nicola frowned. "How you're so popular at school, I will never understand!"

"Who is this?" Richard asked as he and Will reached them.

"Just someone who thinks they're a big shot just because everyone seems to like them," Nicola replied dismissively.

"Ouch!" The boy grinned. "You know, that snappy, rude attitude is exactly why you don't have any friends."

"I-I have friends!" Nicola snapped back.

"I'm Corey Sanderson." The boy ignored Nicola and introduced himself to the others, sweeping his long fringe out of his face as he did. "Future Hoenn Champion."

"I-Is that so?" Richard groaned internally. This guy was going to be fun…

"Will Burton." Will introduced himself.

"And I'm Richard Winter," Richard added. "We've been putting up with Nicola for the last fortnight!"

"Hey!" Nicola cried indignantly, elbowing him in the chest.

"I can hardly believe it," Corey sighed. "Nicola the Loner actually managed to find people willing to tolerate her!"

"So, how do you two know each other?" Richard asked quickly, before Nicola could respond.

"She transferred into my class at school in Littleroot Town a couple of months ago," Corey explained. "I wouldn't say I 'know' her though – she just sits at the back of the class and occasionally makes sarcastic comments."

"Get this!" Nicola spoke loudly over Corey. "This guy actually thinks he's going to be the next Hoenn Champion just because (he claims) he's descended from a noble family!"

"'Sanderson' doesn't sound all that noble to me…" Will murmured.

"O-On my mother's side, of course!" Corey was quick to assure him.

"So he claims." Nicola shrugged. "Not that he'd ever give us any proof…"

"Sounds like you two know each other quite well," said Richard.

"What? Him/her?! No way!" Both of them immediately shouted in response.

"This is the most we've ever spoken to each other," Corey added. "Nicola normally just sits at the back of the class by herself."

"Yeah, and this guy's too busy dealing with his fanboys and fangirls to have a proper conversation with anyone!" Nicola proclaimed.

"S-So, you're taking the gym challenge?" Richard asked Corey, trying to defuse the situation.

"Naturally!" Corey replied. "Though I'm already confident of my skills, it'll be nice to have some gym badges I can pin to my jacket when I go back to school. Are you challenging gyms as well?"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "I got to the quarter finals in the Sevii League last year, so I'm definitely going to do better here in Hoenn!"

"Sevii League… Wait, _The_ Sevii League?!" Corey cried in surprise. "You mean the one where half the competitors come from one, battle-crazy town?!"

"The very same!" Richard declared proudly, puffing out his chest.

"Richard's not someone to mess around with." Nicola nodded. "He defeated me in battle with a single attack!"

"That's just because you're weak," Corey said.

"He's got you there!" Richard grinned guiltily at her.

"Huh?! Are you on my side or not!" Nicola scowled at him. "In that case!" She jabbed her finger in Corey's direction. "Let's have a battle right now!"

"Sure, I need to kill some time until my friends get back," Corey said, grinning confidently.

"I'm much stronger than I was when I set out from Littleroot Town!" Nicola grinned confidently as well. Not that it meant anything – she'd never fought Corey before.

"I guess I'll come along and make sure you don't hurt each other," Richard sighed.

As the three of them headed for the door, Will watched them go. "Should I follow them?" He wondered aloud. It would probably be more interesting than waiting here for James to show up.

He started walking after the others, following the sound of Corey and Nicola bickering.

* * *

 _4:25pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

"So, what rules do you want, Small Fry?" Corey called across to Nicola.

"Don't call me that!" Nicola shouted. "Two-on-two?"

"Heh! Sounds good to me!" Corey nodded.

The two of them were stood opposite each other on a flat, dusty arena in the middle of a small park a couple of streets away from the pokémon centre. The sky remained overcast and increasingly dark as evening drew closer. Fortunately, that meant that there weren't any other people using the arena and they'd been ready to start as soon as they'd arrived.

"Play nice, you two!" Richard shouted from the side lines. "Are you both ready?"

"Ready!" Corey and Nicola both nodded as they pulled out their first poké balls.

"Begin!" Richard yelled.

"Go, Tsua!" Corey called, throwing out his poké ball.

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola shouted as she threw hers.

There were a couple of pops as the balls burst open and the pokémon emerged from within.

"Oh, a shroomish?" Corey grinned. "That shouldn't be a problem for us, eh, Tsua?"

Tsua, a small, white, humanoid pokémon with green hair, nodded in agreement. As he nodded, Nicola noticed that there were red horns sticking out of both the back and front of his head.

"What pokémon is that?" She pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Ralts, the feeling pokémon. Ralts sense the emotions of people using the horns on their heads. These pokémon rarely appear before people. But when they do, they draw closer if they sense that the person has a positive disposition. They take cover if they sense any hostility._ "

"It sounds pretty rare," Nicola muttered as she put her Pokédex away. "No wonder we haven't seen any."

"Impressed?" Corey grinned. "It's only natural that someone as confident and self-assured as me could attract a rare pokémon like Tsua to my side!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Nicola snapped. "Mushy, use Tackle!"

Mushy cried out and nodded. She charged towards Tsua. As she drew close, however, the ralts suddenly disappeared from sight. As the shroomish, stunned, stopped and started looking around for her opponent, Nicola called out to her:

"He used Teleport! He's back near our end!"

As Mushy spun around and spotted her opponent, he suddenly teleported again, this time appearing directly in front of her.

"Use Confusion!" Corey ordered.

With a shout, Tsua's eyes glowed light blue from beneath his hair. Mushy was surrounded with an aura of psychic energy, lifted into the air and then hurled back with an effortless twitch of Tsua's eyes. The shroomish landed with a crash, but quickly managed to pull herself back up.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola called.

Mushy quickly fired a cluster of seeds towards Tsua. As the seeds flew through the air, she charged forwards to begin a second attack.

However, Tsua once again vanished from sight, reappearing close by on Mushy's right.

"Use Confusion again!" Corey shouted.

Tsua's eyes lit up once again and Mushy was thrown back with a thud. As she pulled herself to her feet, she looked back towards Nicola for her next order.

 _I have to find a way past Teleport_. Nicola bit her lip. _But we don't have any attacks that can move fast enough_.

As she pondered the situation, Mushy called out to her as she jumped back from Tsua's approach. One way or another, they needed to make their next move soon.

 _I've got it_! Nicola looked over at Mushy. "Use Tackle again!"

Giving her a confused look, Mushy nonetheless began charging forwards towards Tsua.

"Hmph! Easy!" Corey grinned. "Tsua, use Teleport!"

Once again, Tsua vanished from sight. He reappeared on Mushy's left as she continued her charge.

"Use Absorb!" Nicola ordered, reacting quickly.

Mushy screeched to a halt and spun to the left before firing a green beam of energy at Tsua. The ralts let out a surprised cry as he was hit. A small amount of energy drained out of him and returned to a relieved-looking Mushy. Nicola wasn't finished there though.

"Now use Leech Seed, while they're off balance!"

Mushy reacted quickly, firing a cluster of seeds as Tsua started recovering from the shock of the sudden hit.

"Dodge!" Corey shouted, but to no avail. Tsua was caught up in the seeds, which sprouted and started leeching even more of his energy.

"Now use Tackle!" Nicola grinned. Now that she'd broken their teleporting tactic, all she had to do was press her advantage and gain victory!

Mushy rushed towards the struggling ralts and slammed into him, knocking him back.

"Great work…" Nicola was stunned in sudden silence as a cloud of spores suddenly burst out from Tsua upon impact. Mushy, taken completely by surprise, was engulfed by the multicoloured spores. She attempted to move, but quickly found her joints locking up. The spores had deadened her nerves and left her unable to move.

"Haha!" Corey laughed cheerfully. "Looks like you feel into my trap!"

"What kind of move was that?" Nicola cried.

"Don't you recognise it?" Corey replied, barely concealing his grin. "It's your shroomish's ability: Effect Spore!"

"Huh? But how..?"

"Let me enlighten you, Small Fry," Corey began. "Tsua has an ability called 'Trace'. It lets him copy the ability of an opposing pokémon, in this case, Effect Spore from your shroomish. And so, since you attacked him directly, he was able to paralyze your shroomish!"

"An ability whose effect he doesn't know until after the battle begins?" Richard murmured. "And he was able to use that in his tactics on the fly?"

"Now, use Double Team to make absolutely sure that you can't be hit!" Corey shouted.

Tsua quickly summoned a group of doubles. Together, they circled Mushy quickly, like a pack of wolves closing in on their prey. There was a sudden flash of blue light and Mushy was hurled back.

"Use Absorb!" Nicola cried desperately.

Mushy tried to force herself to move, but couldn't break through the paralysis. There was another flash of light as Tsua picked her up with his psychic powers and threw her violently to the ground.

"Looks like this battle is as good as mine," Corey said dismissively.

"Come on, Mushy! You can do it!" Nicola shouted. "Use Tackle!"

Focusing all her effort into making her legs move, Mushy pulled herself up and started charging towards the ring of Tsua doubles.

"Put it out of its misery!" Corey ordered.

The eyes of Tsua and the doubles lit up with a light blue colour. Mushy was lifted up and hurled back for the last time. She landed with a loud thud, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. As it cleared, there was no further movement from the shroomish.

"Mushy is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "…Tsua?" He looked at Corey for confirmation.

"That's right!" Corey nodded proudly. "Come on, announce my victory!"

"Tsua is the winner!" Richard finished.

"I'm sorry, Mushy!" Nicola cried as she recalled her fallen pokémon. "You put up a good fight!" She looked over at Corey. "Don't think that you've won yet!"

"But I am winning!" Corey called back. "That's undeniable!"

"Grrr!" Nicola pulled out her next poké ball and threw it out. "Go, Kipa!"

Kipa let out a cry as he landed on the dusty ground and surveyed the scene.

"Ah, so you went with a mudkip, did you? Not the best starter, but still…"

Nicola ignored Corey and gave Kipa his first order. "Use Mud Slap!"

The Tsua doubles had faded by this stage, leaving the original wide open for an attack. Kipa took advantage of this and quickly started charging towards his opponent.

"Use Teleport!" Corey shouted instantly.

Just as Kipa was about to begin his final leap, Tsua vanished from sight. With his sudden reappearance on Kipa's right, his eyes glowed light blue and the mudkip was thrown through the air.

"Going back to that, eh?" Nicola gritted her teeth. "Use Tackle!"

Kipa, recovering quickly from impact, leapt back to his feet and charged at Tsua. Just as he drew close, the ralts quickly vanished again. Once again, he started lifting the mudkip with his psychic power.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola cried.

Kipa reacted instantly. With a shout to acknowledge the order, he fired a blast of water down at his captor. Tsua, panicking, dropped Kipa and attempted to dive out of the way. He was a split second too late.

"Tsua!" Corey cried in alarm.

"Use Tackle again!" Nicola yelled as Tsua was knocked to the ground.

Kipa quickly charged forwards. However, Tsua quickly recovered and, despite his lack of energy now being obvious, managed to teleport away.

"Mud Slap!"

In the instant Tsua reappeared, Kipa spun to face him and kicked a clump of mud into his face. As the ralts reeled back in surprise, his opponent charged forwards. At the last moment, Tsua disappeared again.

"Use Double Team!" Corey shouted.

Suddenly, a ring of doubles surrounded Kipa, who looked between them, searching for the real one. As they gathered pace, their eyes started glowing a light blue colour, creating the impression that the mudkip was surrounded by a ring of light.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola called. "I know you can do it, Kipa!"

Kipa grinned and closed his eyes. His fin twitched slightly as he read the air around him. His eyes shooting open again, he fired a blast of water at the circle.

"What?!" Corey cried, stunned as the doubles disappeared. Kipa had struck the real Tsua with a direct hit. He was blasted back and landed with a crash. He made no effort to get up again.

"Tsua is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Kipa is the winner!"

"Heh! Not bad, Small Fry!" Corey called as he returned Tsua to his poké ball. "I guess you can fight after all!"

"We're not going to give up!" Nicola called back. "We're going for total victory!"

"Well, sadly, that's going to end right here." Corey shrugged as he pulled out his next poké ball. "Go, Koret!"

The ball burst open and the lithe, green form of a treecko emerged.

"That's new to me." Watching the battle from by the fence around the park, Will pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at Koret.

" _Treecko, the wood gecko pokémon. Treecko have small hooks on the bottom of their feet that enable them to scale vertical walls. These pokémon attack by slamming foes with their thick tails. The tail can also sense humidity, allowing treecko to predict the next day's weather._ "

"A grass type?" Will sighed as he put his Pokédex away. "Nicola's going to be in for a tough time."

"Go, use Quick Attack!" Corey ordered.

Koret sprang forwards in a flash of light, his eyes narrowed as he homed in on Kipa. The mudkip scarcely had time to let out a startled yelp before Koret was upon him. A quick strike with his tail sent Kipa flying back.

"Now use Absorb!" Corey yelled.

As he landed a safe distance away from Kipa, Koret fired a green beam of energy towards his opponent. Kipa, still stunned by the previous attack, took the hit directly and cried out in pain as his energy was drained.

"Quick, Kipa, use Tack-"

Before Nicola could finish her command, Koret had already sprung forwards with his next one. With another lightning-fast attack, he knocked Kipa back again before leaping back to fire another green beam towards him.

"This isn't good," Richard mumbled to himself. "If Nicola can't regain the initiative, then Kipa's just going to be a sitting duck."

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola called, her voice wavering slightly.

Kipa, recovering from another of Koret's hit-and-run attacks, nodded. He quickly fired a blast of water towards the treecko, catching him by surprise.

"Now use Tackle!" Nicola shouted as Koret was knocked back.

Kipa immediately charged forwards, flinching slightly as the bruises he'd gained from earlier knocks ached.

"Use Quick Attack again!" Corey yelled.

Koret jumped back to his feet and, with almost blinding speed, darted to the left and struck Kipa's flank with a single smooth movement. As Kipa was flung back, he followed up with another green beam, draining more of the mudkip's energy.

"Keep it up, Koret!" Corey shouted encouragingly.

Koret sprang forwards for another attack, knocking into Kipa again.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola shouted. Her voice was starting to sound increasingly panicky.

Kipa immediately fired at Koret, only to miss wildly. He managed to dodge Koret's next absorbing attack, but was knocked back again by the next blow.

"Water Gun!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa continued firing jets of water towards Koret, watching in shock as the treecko nimbly dodged his attacks and darted in to strike at him again. After each strike, Koret would jump back and fire another beam at Kipa, further sapping his energy.

"Finish this up with Pound!" Corey shouted.

Koret raced forwards, slower than with his other attacks, but still alarming to his opponent.

"Water Gun!" Nicola shouted again.

Kipa fired another jet of water. He struck Koret directly, but his weakened state meant that the treecko was able to simply push through the jet of water. Jumping clear, he swung his tail and slammed into Kipa from above. His legs gave out and he crashed to the ground. As Koret landed and the dust cleared, Kipa lay silent.

"K-Kipa is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Koret is the winner! Both of Nicola's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is Corey!"

"Yes!" Corey cheered. "One step closer to winning the Hoenn League!"

"I thought I was small fry?" Nicola scowled at him. Secretly, she was pretty shaken up by how easily Koret had beaten Kipa, but there was no way she was going to give Corey the satisfaction of showing it.

"Oh, don't get me wrong – you're still just small fry," Corey said as he recalled Koret to his poké ball. "But you're tougher than I originally thought, so you can at least be proud of that, even if you won't stand a chance at the Hoenn League."

"And you're so sure you're going to win the league?" Nicola demanded. She pointed her finger at Richard. "You know that he's going to be at the Hoenn League, and he fought in the Whateveritwas League!"

"The Sevii League." Richard corrected her.

"Ha! I'll defeat anyone who stands in my way!" Corey grinned confidently.

"How about you battle him right now then?" Nicola asked.

"I'm up for that if you are," Richard added.

"N-No, that's enough battling for one day," Corey replied quickly. "I need to meet up with my friends. Guess I'll see you around, Small Fry!"

"Stop calling me that!" Nicola shouted after him as he left.

The three of them were silent as they watched Corey go.

"Haaaaaaa!" Nicola suddenly sank to her knees and let out a loud sigh, looking up at the sky. The clouds had cleared somewhat while they were battling, leaving patches of blue sky above them.

"How are you feeling?" Richard asked, walking over towards her.

"…I guess I still have a long way to go." Nicola wiped a stray tear from her eye. She took a deep breath and then stood up again. "A-Anyway, we should head back to the pokémon centre! Mushy and Kipa need healing up and James is probably wondering where we are!" She recalled Kipa to his poké ball and started walking back in the direction of the pokémon centre.

"Umm…" Richard stretched out his hand after her, struggling to think of what to say.

"It's okay, you don't need to say anything. I'm fine," Nicola said without looking back.

Richard closed his mouth and lowered his arm. She was right. He knew that feeling. He hoped that she'd be able to overcome the obstacle that had suddenly been thrown up in her face as well.

* * *

 _5:49pm, 12_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Did something happen while I was checking our supplies?" James asked as he sat down at the table in the canteen. Both Richard and Nicola looked stony-faced, while Will was remaining silent as well. After they'd arrived back at the pokémon centre and turned over Kipa and Mushy to be healed, they'd gone back to the boys' room to check on James and decide when to have dinner. Nicola had looked like she needed some food, so Richard had insisted that they went down earlier than normal.

"Well, there was something…" Richard began. He quickly brought James up to speed, about Corey, his relationship with Nicola and the results of their battle.

"Ah, so that's what's got you down?" James said. He smiled knowingly.

"I-I'm not upset," Nicola replied, turning away. "Why would I get upset over someone like him?"

"I didn't say 'upset'," James replied. "I said 'down'. And everyone feels down after losing a battle, no matter who it's against."

"It wasn't a total loss," Richard said, trying to sound reassuring. "You did a good job taking down Tsua."

"But it wasn't enough," Nicola muttered.

"Then make it enough." The other three looked around at Will. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table and placed his chin on top of his hands. "You saw how he fought, how he was able to beat you. Use that to plan your next battle."

"Will has the right idea." James nodded, turning back to Nicola. He paused to spear a chip with his fork and put it in his mouth. "You learn more from losing than from winning. The best way to get better at anything, though, is to keep doing it. You need to battle as much as possible."

"Does that mean challenging people while we're walking?" Nicola asked.

"Could do," Richard replied. "Or you could take up our offers of practice."

At that moment, James pulled a crumpled flyer out of his pocket. "On that subject, I found something that might interest you guys…"

* * *

… **I'm now starting to see the disadvantages of relying on Google Maps: everything from the river Onga to Rustboro City is urbanised. And where the group are currently located is technically within the city limits of Kitakyushu (Rustboro City). Still, I don't necessarily need to reflect** _ **everything**_ **accurately…**

 **Anyway, I figured that we were due a rival for the league, so here you are! I'm not sure if it's noticeable in the writing, but I used a new planning method for the battle in this chapter which is based less on "I need to finish this plan quickly" and more on the trainers' ability, personality, mental state etc. It was actually the most satisfying battle I've written in a long time.**

 **Right! I'll leave it at that for now! As ever, feel free to leave any feedback you have for me.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl and Sand Attack.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl and Absorb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Absorb, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	11. The Trainer School

**Hello, everyone, and welcome to Chapter 11 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola fight a losing battle against Corey, another member of the cohort who left Littleroot Town, in Rinshin Town, while we ended on a cliff hanger after James showed the others a flyer for… something.**

 **Upload Date: 14** **th** **May 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Trainer School**

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _10:48am, 13_ _th_ _April 2006_

There had been a brief cheer as James, Richard, Nicola and Will had passed a big sign by the side of the road welcoming them to Rustboro City. The route in from Rinshin Town had become gradually more urbanised as they'd been walking, so there was no doubt that they'd been approaching their goal.

Unfortunately, as James had quickly pointed out to the others, Rustboro City was a big place and they still had a long way to go before they were in the centre.

"I don't suppose they decided to put the gym closer to here, did they?" Nicola had asked.

"No, it's pretty much in the city centre," James had replied. Apparently, that was to make it more accessible to trainers coming from all different directions. And it could have been worse – it could have been located in the far north of the city.

There was another reason why they had to make it to the city centre as well…

* * *

Rinshin Town, Hoenn

5:51pm, 12th April 2006

"… _What is it?" Nicola looked at the flyer James was holding out._

" _Ooh? Some kind of battle tournament?" Richard grinned, reading the words at the top. "Taking place in Rustboro City the day after tomorrow, starting at noon."_

" _I figured this would be a cool way to get in some practice before we challenge the gym in Rustboro," James explained. "It would give us a chance to get to know our pokémon better and to fight all kinds of different trainers from around the Hoenn region."_

" _Sounds like fun!" Nicola nodded. "I'm in!"_

" _So am I!" Richard added enthusiastically._

" _What about you, Will?" James asked._

" _Sure, I guess," Will replied. "It would be nice to get some proper battle experience while I'm here."_

" _That settles it then!" James grinned. "Let's get to Rustboro City as soon as possible tomorrow and register for that tournament!"_

* * *

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _12:23pm, 13_ _th_ _April 2006_

"…Huh? You've already registered the maximum number of participants?"

"That's right," the young woman replied, bowing her head in apology. "I'm really sorry."

The group were standing in the lobby of a large stadium in central Rustboro, talking with one of the receptionists. It turned out that the tournament had been very popular and all the available slots had filled up before they'd arrived. It was disappointing, to say the least.

"Don't worry, it's okay," James sighed as he backed away from the reception desk and turned back to the others. "Sorry, guys, looks like we can't take part after all."

"And they're even out of tickets for spectators as well," Richard added.

"Well, I guess that makes sense, given how many people are around here," Nicola murmured, glancing around. The lobby was pretty busy, but the streets outside were filled with countless other trainers too. The tournament had probably drawn every trainer in the north of Hoenn.

"We couldn't get into the pokémon centre in the city centre either," Will sighed. "We should probably hurry to find another one before it gets filled up as well."

"Yeah, you're right." James took another look around. "I guess we'll have to find something else to do tomorrow."

"We can train by ourselves." Richard assured him. "And with everyone one else focused on the tournament, we'll probably have a clear shot at the gym tomorrow!"

"Don't speak too soon!" James laughed nervously. "The gym might be fully booked as well!"

"It definitely will once all of these trainers are done with the tournament." Nicola shuddered. "I'd hate to be the gym leader right now."

"So, should we head to the gym next?" Will asked. "It'll be worth knowing where it is and the sooner you book slots for gym battles, the sooner we can get to work training."

"Yeah, let's do that." James nodded. As disappointing as it was that they couldn't take part in the tournament, he couldn't let it get him down. These things happened sometimes. Instead, they should focus on the gym battle.

As they stepped out of the lobby and back into the cool April air, James looked around at their surroundings. On the way in, they'd scarcely had time to pay the city any attention. The architecture here was unlike any he'd seen before – virtually all the buildings around them, from tiny stores at street corners to the tall apartment blocks towering over the streets below, were built out of distinctive white stone. Though weathering and pollution often dulled the colour to look more brownish, it was still an impressive sight compared with the bland, typical buildings of Petalburg City.

Like with Petalburg City, it would be easy for them to end up getting lost or, more likely given the large number of trainers in the city centre, getting separated. James didn't want to waste time out on the streets if he could help it. He'd already worked out where they needed to go to get to the other pokémon centre. Though it was a long way from the centre and it would take them a long time to get to and from it. The gym, on the other hand…

Richard, Nicola and Will had stopped walking and were looking back at him expectantly. He let out a sigh. "I get it, give me a moment and I'll work out where the gym is."

His guidebook didn't exactly contain the most detailed maps – he wouldn't be able to find his way around the city using it – but it did highlight areas of key interest for trainers. This usually meant gyms and pokémon centres, though sightseeing spots and, occasionally, other points of interest appeared.

"It should be somewhere close, right?" Nicola asked, looking around.

"Yeah." James nodded, finding the stadium on the map and tracing a route to the gym. It wasn't too far. Hopefully, everyone else would be preoccupied with the tournament and it would be quieter elsewhere in the city centre. Snapping the guidebook shut, James led the way down on the side streets, away from the stadium.

It really didn't take all that long for them reach the spot the guidebook was directing them to. As it turned out, it really was quiet in the area around the gym, but James thought that it was completely understandable given what they found.

"Is this… really the gym?" Richard asked. "You're absolutely sure this is where the guidebook is sending us here?"

"I'm certain," James replied. "We already walked past several times and couldn't see anywhere else, could we?"

The source of their confusion was the fact that the building in front of them was clearly a school, there was no doubt about that. Its simple shape and the sports track to the left were pretty indicative, though the biggest giveaways were the students, all younger kids, running around outside and the sign by the side of the gate which read 'Rustboro City Summer Trainer School'.

Now that they got closer, James could see another sign which read 'Rustboro City Gym'. They must missed it when they passed by before. So, that meant they were definitely in the right place, but none of them felt like waltzing in there to ask about it.

"What should we do?" Nicola asked.

"Should we come back after school finishes?" Will suggested.

"That's probably at least two hours away," James sighed. "And if we leave, someone else might get in ahead of us."

"No, he's got a point," Richard said. "Given how hard it was for us to find this place, I doubt they're going to get lots of challengers."

At that moment, the group, who'd gathered to the right of the entrance behind the brick wall surrounding the school grounds to have their discussion, jumped in surprise at the sound of the gate suddenly opening. A smartly-dressed young woman strode through purposely, her brown pigtails flowing out behind her.

As she started to turn in the direction of the stadium, she suddenly noticed the group and spun around to face them instead.

"Ah!" She spotted the poké balls at their waists. "You four are pokémon trainers, right?"

"Th-That's right." They nodded in response, confused looks on their faces.

"Sorry this is so sudden, but could you guys do me a massive favour?"

"What do you need help with?" James asked cautiously.

"We were supposed to have an exhibition match here at the trainer school this afternoon, but the trainers who were supposed to come now can't make it," the woman explained. "Ah! Sorry for my rudeness – my name's Roxanne, I work as a teacher here."

The four trainers quickly introduced themselves in response.

"So, we just have to fight a battle?" Richard asked.

"That's right." Roxanne nodded. "It only needs to be a short two-on-two battle – nothing major, just something to show the students a proper battle."

"Well, we needed to do some training for our gym battles anyway, and we can't participate in the tournament." James looked around at the others. "What do you guys think?"

"I don't mind," Nicola replied.

"Same here." Will nodded.

"Thank you!" Roxanne cried gratefully. "You've really saved me!"

"Umm, I've got to ask though," Richard began. "Is this place really the Rustboro gym?"

"Oh, yes." Roxanne nodded. "In the evenings and at weekends, the school functions as the Rustboro gym. Did it confuse you?"

"Just a little," James replied with a grin.

"If you're looking to challenge the gym, then I'm afraid we're booked up for this evening, but tomorrow is completely free thanks to the tournament," Roxanne explained. "I can book you in as soon as possible tomorrow, though I wish I could do more…"

"Don't worry!" Richard quickly assured her. "We needed some time to train anyway!"

"Okay." Roxanne turned and started walking back through the gate. "If you'd like to follow me, I'll show you to the arena."

* * *

 _12:31pm, 13_ _th_ _April 2006_

"This place is pretty impressive," Richard said as they settled down in the staff room to wait until the exhibition match. "I didn't know that there were schools specifically for teaching kids how to be trainers."

"You'll usually be able to find at least one in every region," Roxanne explained, sitting down in an armchair opposite him. "Anyone can become a trainer when they turn ten, but there'll always be some kids who just can't wait and want to start learning earlier."

"There's one in Kanto as well," James added. "In Viridian City."

"I didn't know that." Richard frowned.

"And there was one in Violet City in the Johto region too," said Nicola. "My friend and I used to go there every summer!"

"I noticed that some of the students were quite young…" Richard glanced out the window. Though all of the students were younger than them and most were probably about eight or nine, there were some who were barely older than toddlers.

"Some kids like to start early," Roxanne explained. "Or, rather, their parents want them to. There's no harm in having a bit of extra preparation, right?"

"Fair enough, I guess." Richard turned back to face the others. "So, what sort of things do you teach here?"

"Mainly pokémon care," Roxanne replied. "Things like how to keep them properly groomed, how to decide what food to give them, how to treat battle injuries, and so on. We start off simple for the younger kids, but the older kids get a more challenging curriculum."

"There are other things as well," James added. "I attended a short course last summer before we went to the Sevii Islands so that I could learn some basic medical care."

"That's another thing we offer as well." Roxanne nodded. "And then there are other practical skills such as map reading, cooking, pitching tents, and so on."

"That was what it was like for me," Nicola added. "I haven't had a chance to show it yet, but I'm pretty confident with my cooking skills!"

"I've learnt that stuff as well," said Will. He looked over at Richard. "I'm surprised you managed to survive this long without attending a trainer school."

"Well, just learning things in the trainer school isn't the same as experiencing it in real life," Roxanne explained. "And most parts of the region are much safer now than they were fifty years ago, so there aren't really any risks for new trainers, even if they have no formal education."

"Hey! What's with the assuming that I didn't learn anything?" Richard cried indignantly. "Sure, I never went to a trainer school, but I did learn things like basic first aid and putting up a tent!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to assume!" Roxanne smiled apologetically at him.

"Are you open all summer?" Nicola asked.

"Until the end of August, yes." Roxanne nodded. "Why? Are you thinking of enrolling?"

"A-Ah, well, I'll probably still be travelling then," Nicola replied. "I was just curious."

"Well, if you ever change your mind, I can assure you that this is the best trainer school in the Hoenn region. I once studied and graduated from here as well!" Roxanne declared proudly.

"Still, it must be a strange setup, being both a school and a gym," said James. "Does the gym leader work in the school as well, or are the two completely separate?"

"Oh, the school and the gym are very much combined. The gym leader works here as well," Roxanne said smugly. "But I should warn you: she's no pushover!"

"Glad to hear it!" James and Richard both grinned.

"I-I'll try my best!" Nicola cried.

"Oh! Look at the time!" Roxanne suddenly noticed the clock on the wall and jumped up. "I need to help call the kids back to class! Can you guys go and wait by the arena? We'll be along as soon as class ends!"

"No problem! See you in a bit!" Richard called after her as she left.

"…I suddenly feel a lot more nervous," Nicola sighed.

James jumped to his feet. "Well, let's focus on the exhibition match for now! How are we going to do this?"

"You mean who's fighting who?" Richard asked. "Should we draw straws?"

"I was thinking that you and I could battle each other," James replied. "It'll be more interesting for the kids to watch if it's between two experienced trainers."

"Yeah, it'd be boring if we flattened them!" Richard grinned.

"Well, sorry for being weak!" Nicola cried indignantly.

"On the plus side, we can watch and learn." Will shrugged. "Let them make all the mistakes in front of the crowd!"

* * *

 _1:16pm, 13_ _th_ _April 2006_

It was surprisingly tense in the practice arena as Roxanne arrived and led the kids in. James had fought in front of crowds before and he'd done demonstrations for Nicola in the past as well, but for some reason he was feeling particularly conscious of all the eyes on him and Richard as they stood facing each other.

Roxanne introduced them to the kids, telling them where they were from and that they'd kindly agreed to give a battle demonstration. The fact that they'd both competed in leagues before was mentioned too. She then turned back to the two of them and laid out the rules again: two-on-two, no substitutions. The battle would be over when one side had no pokémon left who could battle.

"Are you both ready?" She looked between the two of them.

James and Richard both nodded as they reached for their first poké balls.

"Begin!"

James was quick to throw out his first poké ball. "Go, Nulin!"

The wingull cried loudly as he burst out of the ball and started hovering in the air.

"Go, Chena!" Richard called.

Chena materialised on the ground and adopted a combat stance, watching Nulin warily.

"Start off with Water Gun!" James ordered.

Nulin quickly fired a blast of water towards Chena, the speed and suddenness of the attack catching him off-guard and knocking him back.

"Use Howl!" Richard shouted as Chena regained his composure.

The poochyena nodded and howled loudly. With another prompt from Richard, he suddenly lunged forwards and sank his teeth into Nulin. The latter cried out in pain.

"So that's the attack you were practising earlier!" James grinned. "Nice work on perfecting it!"

"You sure you have time to be complimenting me?" Richard grinned back. "Use Tackle!"

Chena, having let go of Nulin, now surged forwards again and slammed into him directly. The wingull was thrown back, landing on the ground with a crash.

"Is it over already?"

"Wow! That poochyena is strong!"

"I feel sorry for the wingull…"

"Come on, you can keep fighting!"

Various whispers and shouts emerged from the crowd of kids as Nulin picked himself up and took off again. He was a bit battered and bruised, but was otherwise still good to go.

"Guess it's time we got serious too!" James nodded at Nulin. "Use Wing Attack!"

With a cry, Nulin plunged towards Chena, who made a last-minute jump to one side to avoid the attack, landing smoothly. He immediately charged towards Nulin, only for the wingull to sweep around and attack him from the flank. Chena was knocked back, but James and Nulin weren't finished there.

"Use Supersonic!"

Nulin quickly obeyed, emitting a high-pitched noise that echoed around the room. Everyone grabbed their ears, while Chena whimpered as the sound disoriented him.

"Use Bite!" Richard called.

Chena obeyed. Giving himself a shake, he started charging towards Nulin again. However, he misjudged his final leap and ended up crashing to the ground. Nulin, safely above him, fired a blast of water down at the prone poochyena before diving down to finish the job.

"Use Tackle, right above you!" Richard shouted.

Chena, his fur sopping wet, pulled himself up and, with a powerful leap, slammed into the descending wingull. There was a startled cry as the two pokémon toppled back down to the ground, Nulin landing with a thud on his front, while Chena landed softly on all fours.

"Wingull is unable to battle!" Roxanne announced. "Poochyena is the winner!"

The announcement triggered a series of cheers from those kids who were supporting Richard and boos from those supporting James.

"Nulin, return." James held up the wingull's poké ball and recalled him. He reached for his second and last poké ball and hurled it out. "Go, Charka!"

Charka let out a roar as he emerged and swung his flame-tipped tail from side to side impressively. There was a collective gasp of awe from the audience at the sight of a rare pokémon from another region.

"Looks like James will easily win this round," Nicola said to Will as the two of them on the opposite side of the arena to the audience.

"It'll probably be harder than you think," Will replied. "And there's also Naro to worry about as well."

"You don't think Richard will use Dish?" Nicola asked.

"A bit too much of a gamble," Will replied dismissively. "Besides, Richard will probably want to leave a bigger impression on the audience."

"That's… probably true."

Back on the battlefield, Richard grinned over at James. "Don't think that you've already won this round! I've still got some tricks up my sleeve!" He nodded at Chena. "Use Tackle!"

"Don't think that I'll let my guard down!" James called back as Chena started a very unstable-looking run towards Charka. "Use Smokescreen!"

In an instant, Charka had expelled a cloud of thick, black smoke which filled the battlefield. Chena's already unstable charge was completely derailed – as he charged through the smoke, he lost his footing and crashed to the ground.

"It looks like you're still a little wet after the fight with Nulin!" James called over as the smoke cleared. Charka was a short distance away, flames already licking his lips. "How about we dry you off?"

Charka immediately shot a burst of flames at Chena, quickly engulfing him. He managed to stagger to his feet, his fur now sooty and scorched instead of soaked and dripping.

"Finish up with Metal Claw!" James called.

Charka didn't need telling twice. He rushed at Chena with surprising speed, his right claw turning to steel. He slashed from the poochyena's right side, sending him flying back towards Richard. He landed in a heap and groaned helplessly.

"Poochyena is unable to battle!" Roxanne announced. "Charmeleon is the winner!"

There were cheers and boos from the kids, as well comments such as "so that's a charmeleon?" thrown in, as Richard recalled Chena.

"Are you ready for this then, James?" he asked, pulling out his last poké ball. "I'm not going to hold back!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way!" James grinned back.

"Good! Go, Naro!" Richard hurled out the ball. It arced through the air, spinning wildly as it struck the ground. With a pop, it burst open and a ball of shifting energy emerged. It rearranged itself into the hulking shape of a nidoking, attracting even more awed looks from the audience.

Naro let out a loud roar as he finished materialising and stared across the battlefield at Charka.

"Alright, use Horn Attack!" Richard called, not wasting any time.

Naro nodded and raced across the battlefield, lowering his head as his horn glowed a bright white colour. Charka was prepared though and easily dodged the rampaging nidoking.

"Use Fire Spin!" James ordered.

Charka nodded. He fired a jet of flame at Naro, which wrapped itself around him and trapped him in a fiery tornado. As James issued his next order, Charka quickly followed up with a powerful burst of flames that engulfed Naro. Though the combined attacks left plenty of scorch marks, the nidoking apparently shrugged it off and stood ready to receive his next order.

"Use Poison Sting!" Richard called.

Naro roared and charged again, this time his horn glowing a sickly purple colour.

"Use Smokescreen!" James was quick to order a counter strategy.

Charka quickly threw up a cloud of smoke to conceal his position, but delayed too long on moving. Naro ploughed through the smokescreen and Charka along with it, sending the charmeleon flying back. Despite the heavy blow, Charka quickly pulled himself together.

"Use Metal Cl- Wait!" James suddenly changed his order. "Use Flamethrower!"

Charka nodded. He fired another burst of flames towards Naro, who ducked down low to avoid the worst of the flames before shooting forwards with his horn glowing white. This time, Charka was prepared. He knew from years of training against him that the nidoking's right eye was his dominant one. If he went to the left, then he could take advantage of a momentary blind spot as Naro tried to readjust.

Putting this plan into action, he made as if to run to the right before suddenly changing direction at the last second. He narrowly avoided Naro's huge legs and stood directly at his exposed side.

"Use Metal Claw!" James shouted approvingly.

Charka didn't hesitate. He'd already known that James was planning that strategy. He moved as soon as James started speaking. In an instant, he raked Naro's flank with his claws. Naro roared in pain and attempted to swat him away, but Charka had already anticipated it and stepped back out of reach.

"Hang in there, Naro!" Richard called. "Go defensive for a bit!"

A small grin tugged at James' lips. Richard favoured heavy, brute force attacks when fielding Naro and started every battle with a series of these attacks designed to break the opponent quickly. If he couldn't break the foe quickly, then he started to lose confidence and fell back to defensive tactics. Naro was still tough, but wearing him down with quick attacks while he stayed defensive was far less risky than having him charge.

"Use Fire Spin!" he ordered.

Charka quickly obeyed, shooting a jet of flame towards Naro. As his opponent was caught up in the vortex, he raced forwards and slashed with claws, scoring another direct hit.

"Now use Flamethrower!" James called.

Charka jumped back from Naro and fired a burst of flames at him. The nidoking roared in pain again as he was engulfed by the flames.

"It's all or nothing!" Richard called. This was his preferred approach when it was clear that his opponent was overcoming his defences. "Use Double Kick!"

Naro started to storm forwards towards Charka, who glanced quickly back at James for direction.

"Use Molten Claw!" James called.

There was a murmur of anticipation among the crowd of kids. Even Roxanne looked curious. None of them had heard of such an attack before.

Charka nodded and immediately fired a burst of flames at his steel-coated claw, staying remarkably calm as Naro thundered closer to him. The instant the metal was heated enough to turn red-hot, Charka leapt at Naro. However, before he could swing his claw down, Naro stopped himself with one foot and put all his momentum into his other, kicking Charka in the chest with all his might.

With something between a gasp and a choke as the wind was knocked out of him, Charka was thrown back. He landed with a loud thud. Lifting his head and seeing Naro continue his charge for the second kick, he started scrambling at the ground to try and pull himself up again.

"Use Flamethrower!" James yelled.

Charka abandoned his attempts to get up and shot a powerful burst of flames at Naro. The nidoking let out a surprised cry and stumbled backwards. As the flames cleared, he toppled to the ground with a crash. He remained still as Charka uncomfortably pulled himself to his feet.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" Roxanne announced. "Charmeleon is the winner! Both of Richard's pokémon are unable to battle, so the match goes to James!"

"Woo!" James cheered, punching the air in celebration as the audience clapped. "Great work, Charka!"

The charmeleon wearily gave him a thumbs-up in response before collapsing to the ground.

"It's been a while since you've been able to use your full strength, hasn't it, Naro?" Richard sighed. "You almost had him – next time for sure!"

"That was… intense," Nicola gasped.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "One day, I'm going to be strong enough to go head-to-head with them."

James and Richard walked to the centre of the battlefield and shook hands.

"What does that make the score now?" Richard asked as he gripped James' hand.

"I think, 15-12 in my favour?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Looks like I've still got a way to go before I overtake you!"

"I'm ready anytime!"

"Alright!" Roxanne called, turning to the crowd of kids. "Who has a question for our trainers?"

* * *

 _2:04pm, 13_ _th_ _April 2006_

After a lengthy question-and-answer session, the kids had been taken back to class and the four trainers, by this stage pretty exhausted, had been led back to the front gate by Roxanne. James, Richard and Nicola were all relieved that they didn't have gym battles that evening.

"Thank you for today!" Roxanne bowed her head gratefully. "The kids really enjoyed themselves and I'm sure they learned a lot from watching you."

"It wasn't a problem!" James replied with a smile. "It was fun reminding Richard that I'm still the better trainer!"

"Keep believing that if you want!" Richard grinned. "That way it'll be even more satisfying when I next beat you!"

"I guess we should head off and find the pokémon centre," said Nicola. "I'm looking forward to having a rest."

"Yeah, Charka and Naro need a chance to rest as well," James sighed. He pulled out the guidebook and started trying to locate the pokémon centre again.

"Remember to be here on time for your gym battle slots." Roxanne reminded them. Before taking back to the front of the school, Roxanne had taken note of what slots James, Richard and Nicola had wanted for the following evening.

"4 o'clock onwards, right?" Richard double-checked.

"That's right! Make sure that you aren't late!" Roxanne smiled at them.

"We need to make sure that we get as much training done as possible," Richard sighed.

"Yeah, we should get going," said James, finding the pokémon centre on the map. "Thanks for today, Roxanne!"

"No problem!" Roxanne waved as they started walking off down the street. "I look forward to battling you tomorrow!"

"Sure!" The others waved back as Roxanne disappeared back into the school grounds. They continued walking down the street for a few seconds before suddenly looking at each other.

"…Huh?!"

* * *

 **So, no gym battle this week I'm afraid. And no tournament either. Unfortunately, life turns out that way sometimes, but I like to think that the group at least got something out the events of this chapter. Even if James and Richard must be feeling pretty stupid right about now…**

 **I was originally planning on having two exhibition matches (one between James and Richard and the other between Nicola and Will), but timing constraints meant that I had to axe the second battle. Besides, I don't want to overload you with battles before the gym battles against Roxanne.**

 **Anyway, feedback is, as ever, more than welcome. Please let me know if you found any errors or anything you thought could be improved.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl and Absorb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Growl, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Absorb, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	12. A Rock-Hard Attack! (Part 1)

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 12 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **After last chapter saw the protagonists end up at the Rustboro trainer school and James and Richard help out Roxanne, a teacher there, by fighting an exhibition match for the students, they discovered that Roxanne herself was the gym leader they would be fighting the following day.**

 **Upload Date: 21** **st** **May 2017**

 **Chapter 12: A Rock-Hard Attack! (Part 1)**

* * *

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _6:21pm, 13_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Arrgghh! I can't believe this!" James groaned. "I used all my best strategies in front of the gym leader I need to beat tomorrow!"

"Yeah, you're going to have lots of fun with that!" Richard grinned. "Though I suppose you could change things up by using Kacha!"

"Against a rock gym?!"

James, Richard, Nicola and Will were sat at a table in the canteen at one of the pokémon centres in the eastern side of Rustboro. Discovering that Roxanne, the teacher at the trainer school who they'd helped earlier that day, was in fact the Rustboro gym leader had come as a big surprise. Nicola was secretly relieved that James and Richard had been the ones to fight the exhibition match instead of her. Though the fact that her pokémon remained a secret probably wasn't going to be decisive for her.

After arriving at the pokémon centre and booked a couple of rooms for the night, James and Richard had immediately gone to the trainers' lounge to try and find information about the type of pokémon the gym leader used.

"It's only fair, since she knows what pokémon we'll be using!" James had insisted.

Discovering that Roxanne specialised in rock type pokémon had been a disappointing discovery for James, though Richard had been delighted. He had the perfect excuse to give Dish her first taste of combat. And, as he'd pointed out to her shortly afterwards, Nicola's water type Kipa and grass type Mushy meant that she had an excellent advantage.

"We're definitely going out and training as hard as we can tomorrow!" James insisted. "I'm not going to take any chances!"

"What are you worried about?" Richard laughed. "You've already got your first gym badge!"

"Exactly! I've got to stay ahead of you!" James retorted.

"I like the idea of training as well!" Nicola added. "I'm still not that confident…"

"How about we get up nice and early tomorrow and focus the entire morning on training?" Richard suggested. "Then we can rest up and lunchtime and then head over to the gym."

"Well, that suits me, I guess." James nodded. "The sooner we start, the sooner we'll start seeing results."

"Urgh! Do I have to?" Will groaned.

"Well, you could stay in bed all morning if you want," James replied. "But you probably won't become a pokémon master that way."

"Urrrrrrrgh!" Will groaned again, resting his head on the table. "…I'll come."

"So, what sort of time?" Nicola asked, looking between James and Richard.

"Ten?" Will asked.

"I was thinking more like eight," said Richard.

"No, let's be out by seven!" James insisted. "We can manage it!"

"Urrrrrrrrgghh!"

"…Half past seven then, but no later!"

"…Fine."

Nicola twiddled her thumbs nervously. She hadn't really paid much attention to gym battles before, even when James had challenged Norman back in Petalburg City. Now that she was about to fight her first major battle, she couldn't stop her heart from hammering away. Hopefully, she'd feel more at ease after training with the others tomorrow…

* * *

 _9:15am, 14_ _th_ _April 2006_

The morning training session, though not starting as early as they'd originally intended, ended up being productive. Nicola was still nervous, but she felt slightly more confident about her chances now.

James and Richard, of course, seemed full of confidence. Nicola couldn't help but wonder where they got it from. James had successfully beaten Norman back in Petalburg City to earn his first badge, so Nicola supposed that he had already gotten used to it. Richard, despite having challenged gyms in the past, would be fighting his first for quite a while. Wasn't he nervous?

Will, obviously, was the most relaxed of the four of them. He, Toya and Turkey had been leisurely training alongside the rest of them, putting in plenty of effort but never seeming all that bothered by the coming gym battles. While he might say that he was taking his training just as seriously as the rest of them, he still didn't have to face the added pressure of needing to perform.

"What time do you want to train until?" Richard asked, looking around as everyone gathered by the side of the practice arena for a well-earned break.

"We need to be at the gym by 4, don't we?" Nicola asked.

"That's plenty of time to get more training in," James said, glancing at his watch. "I don't think we should train right up until the start of the gym battles though."

"Agreed." Richard nodded. "The pokémon will need a rest before they go up against the gym leader. James and I have already lost the element of surprise – we don't want any more disadvantages!"

"Well, I'm good to keep training until whenever you guys want to stop," Will said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't have a gym battle to worry about."

"I say we stop at around 1 for lunch and then rest from then until the match." James looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes from the sun. "It'll probably be pretty hot by then and we don't want to become dehydrated before a gym battle."

"Sounds good to me!" Richard nodded. "That gives us another four hours, almost."

"I hope it'll be enough," Nicola murmured, taking a swig of water from her water bottle. Having been left in the shade, the water was cool and brought relief to her parched throat. Putting the bottle down and wiping her mouth, she turned back to the others.

"So, Nicola," Will said. "You want to keep working on that new move?"

"Sure!" Nicola nodded.

The two trainers quickly called Toya and Kipa and took to the practice arena again.

"It's good that Nicola has thrown herself into training," said Richard, watching them go.

"Yeah." James nodded. "I hope she isn't too nervous about the gym battle later."

"Alright, Toya, use Water Gun!" Will shouted to Toya.

The squirtle quickly fired a blast of water towards Kipa. It was a simple technique which the latter had already been able to use, but Toya had only just learnt it that morning and both he and Will were eager to continue practising.

"Use Bide!" Nicola called to Kipa.

The little mudkip nodded and immediately tensed himself up, preparing for Toya's strike. The blast of water hit him, but he remained in place, eyes firmly shut in concentration.

Toya fired another couple of water jets at Kipa, but the mudkip withstood all of them. Suddenly opening his eyes, he rushed at Toya and slammed into him with a powerful tackle, unleashing all of the pent-up energy he'd stored while taking attacks. Toya was knocked back and landed with a crash.

"That was good." Will nodded with satisfaction as Toya thrashed around, attempting to get off of his back. "I think Kipa was able to hold onto almost all of the energy he absorbed that time."

"That's great!" Nicola grinned. She bent down and patted Kipa on the head. "Great work, Kipa!"

"It's a pretty bold strategy to use though," Richard said as he wandered over. "If Kipa takes too much damage, then he'll end up getting knocked out without being able to retaliate."

"That's why I'm going to try and be as careful as possible with it," Nicola replied.

"In that case, it's best if you keep practising," James added. "Make sure that Kipa is maximising the amount of power he storing and that he manages to unleash all of it at once."

"Got it!" Nicola nodded. She turned back to Will. "Shall we give it another go?"

"Ready when you are!" Will grinned as Toya finally pulled himself back to his feet.

* * *

 _3:47pm, 14_ _th_ _April 2006_

It felt strange being back at the trainer school. With all the kids running around yesterday, it had felt lively and noisy. Now, though, it felt much more subdued and intimidating.

James, Richard, Nicola and Will walked through the empty corridors, following the signs to the gym. Not too far from the practice arena where James and Richard had fought their exhibition match the previous day, a small doorway led through to the lobby of the Rustboro gym. Just as they'd expected, it was completely empty aside from the receptionist. Every other trainer in the city was preoccupied with the tournament.

"Excuse me." James walked over to the reception desk. "We're here for gym battles."

"Ah, yes! James Burton, Richard Winter and Nicola Hewitt, right?"

"That's right." The three trainers nodded. They really were the only trainers challenging the gym today.

"You're a little bit early, but the gym leader should be ready for you," the receptionist explained. "Which one of you is going first?"

"I will," said James.

"Okay, I'll let them know." The receptionist gestured to the passageway leading through to the main arena. "If you'd like to head down there. The rest of you can either wait here in the lobby, or you can head up to the stands using this staircase here."

"Thanks!" Richard replied. He turned to James. "Good luck out there – hope you've got some backup plans for your normal tactics!"

"Don't worry!" James grinned back. "I'm not planning on letting Roxanne get the upper hand!"

"Good luck, James!" Nicola added.

"Make sure you watch her carefully, Nicola," James replied. "Learn what you can from watching our battle."

"G-Got it!" Nicola nodded.

"Don't embarrass yourself, James," Will said as he walked past on his way to the staircase.

"I won't!" James called after him. "See you later!"

* * *

 _3:54pm, 14_ _th_ _April 2006_

James emerged from the end of the passageway to find himself standing at one end of the main arena. As expected from a rock type gym leader, the battleground his pokémon would be fighting on was littered with countless boulders, making the terrain rough and difficult to move on. On the other hand, the larger boulders would provide handy cover for his pokémon should they need it.

"Good to see you again, James!" Roxanne called from the other end of the arena. "I imagine you spent a lot of time training since yesterday!"

"Of course!" James called back. "Richard and I were holding back when we fought each other yesterday! Now you'll get to see our real strength!" It was a fairly blatant lie, but he didn't want Roxanne going into the battle thinking that she had a psychological edge.

"I look forward to it!" Roxanne grinned. She nodded at the referee stood at the side as Richard, Nicola and Will all took their seats in the stands.

"What do you think his chances are?" Will asked Richard as they sat down.

"Well, James is pretty tied to which pokémon he can use," Richard sighed. "Nulin has a type advantage over rock types, but is also weak to them at the same time. Charka is weak to rock types too, though he has Metal Claw as a counter."

"He could use Kacha though, couldn't he?" Nicola asked.

"Hmm. In theory, as long as he's up against a pokémon that isn't both rock and ground type," Richard replied. "But I don't think that James is willing to take that risk, even if it means using pokémon the gym leader is already aware of."

"James is pretty good at adapting, so he can probably adjust his tactics in the middle of the battle," Will added. "That way it'll be harder for Roxanne to predict what he's going to do."

"Hmm." Nicola turned her attention back to the battlefield below.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Rustboro gym leader, Roxanne, and the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!" the referee announced. "This battle will be fought using a two-on-two single battle format and will be over when both of one side's pokémon are unable to battle! In addition, only the challenger is allowed to substitute pokémon! Are you both ready?"

"Ready!" James and Roxanne both nodded, leaning forwards and pulling out their first poké balls.

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

"Go, Geodude!" Roxanne called, throwing out her poké ball.

There was a shout as what appeared to be a small boulder with arms burst out of the ball and landed with a thud.

"Go, Nulin!" James shouted.

Nulin let out a cry as he materialised from the ball and started gliding above the battlefield.

"Geodude?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at Roxanne's geodude.

" _Geodude, the rock pokémon. When geodude sleep deeply, they bury themselves halfway into the ground. They will not awaken even if hikers step on them unwittingly. In the morning, these pokémon roll downhill in search of food. The longer they live, the more their edges are chipped and worn away, making them more rounded in appearance. However, a geodude's heart will remain hard, craggy, and rough always._ "

"It sounds like a tough opponent," Nicola sighed as she put her Pokédex away.

"It shouldn't be too tough for James to beat it, as long as Nulin can avoid its attacks," Richard replied.

"Use Water Gun!" James immediately launched an attack.

As Nulin fired a blast of water towards Geodude, he dove to one side to avoid before hurling a rock back. Nulin easily avoided it before retreating back to James's end of the arena.

"Use Rock Tomb!" Roxanne ordered.

Geodude quickly hurled a cluster of rocks towards Nulin, with the latter just managing to dodge out of the way of the surprisingly fast attack.

"Stay defensive!" James called out, biting his lip. He needed time to look for Geodude's weaknesses. Rock types were famed for their tough defences, and Nulin didn't have any physical attacks that would be effective anyway, so it made sense to fight the battle from a distance. However, Geodude was much nimbler than James had thought. He may need to get close just to land a hit.

"Use Growl!" he called to Nulin, who was swooping around the battlefield avoiding rocks being thrown by Geodude. Though not technically physical attacks, the power of the rocks was determined by Geodude's physical strength. If they could reduce that, then they'd stand a better chance of surviving any hits. It would also make any attempts to launch a close-range attack less risky.

Nulin growled loudly at Geodude as he flew overhead. Geodude looked up in frustration, but otherwise didn't react.

"Use Defence Curl!" Roxanne shouted.

Geodude obediently tucked himself up into a tight ball.

Now was their chance!

"Nulin, go in for a Water Gun!" James called.

Nulin immediately dove towards Geodude. He fired a blast of water, striking the rock type directly. Despite his obvious pain, he withstood the attack.

"Use your special Rock Throw!" Roxanne ordered.

As Nulin started to bank up, Geodude untucked himself and broke a thin slab of rock off one of the nearby boulders. Focusing his attention on Nulin, he threw the piece of rock like a frisbee. It spun through the air far faster than his previous attacks, striking Nulin directly almost before he'd realised it had been thrown.

With a winded cry, Nulin toppled down to the ground and landed with a soft thud.

"Now use Magnitude!" Roxanne shouted.

Geodude slammed the ground with his fists, sending a moderate shockwave through the ground. Some of the boulders cracked, but none crumbled. Nonetheless, the grounded Nulin was hit severely by the shockwave.

"Are you alright, Nulin!" James called urgently.

Nulin pulled himself painfully up and, with a nod, took off again. Like James, he was spooked by the sudden ferocity of Geodude's attacks.

What would be the best way to counter? James was struggling to think of how best to approach it. He could try having Nulin approach from down low, using the boulders to provide cover. But that also restricted his movement and left him vulnerable to being hit by Magnitude again. He needed to take advantage of Nulin's speed to outmanoeuvre Geodude. An idea formed in his mind.

"Use Supersonic!" he called.

Nulin quickly emitted a high-pitched screech, disorienting Geodude. He thrashed about in pain, smashing into a nearby boulder.

"Get around behind him and use Water Gun!" James ordered.

Nulin nodded and dove down towards the ground. Reaching the tops of the boulders, he pulled up and raced around Geodude, drawing slightly closer with each circuit as the rock type attempted to predict his path and threw rocks wildly off-target. As he got within range and was slightly ahead of Geodude's own spinning, Nulin fired a blast of water.

Geodude cried out in pain as he was hit and blasted back. There was a crash as he slammed into one of the boulders. However, as Nulin lifted his attack, a rock suddenly hurtled through the air and struck him directly.

"What the?!" James cried in alarm as Nulin toppled to the ground with a crash.

Despite being thrown into the boulder, Geodude had still managed to grab hold of sizeable rock and hurled it at Nulin the moment he'd dropped his attack.

"Wingull is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Geodude is the winner!"

"You know, it's a good thing I saw you and Richard battle yesterday!" Roxanne called as James withdrew Nulin. "Otherwise I might have gone easy on you!"

"Ugh." James had no response.

"Roxanne's a lot tougher than she looks," Nicola muttered, her heart hammering. If James was having this much trouble, how was she going to win?

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "I'm going to need to think carefully about how I go about this."

"Nulin isn't built for attritional battles," Will said. "I think he was always going to get knocked out quickly. The question is who James will go with now."

"Indeed." Richard nodded solemnly.

Down the arena, James appeared to be giving instructions to his next pokémon before sending him out. Once he was finished, he looked back over at Roxanne. "You're pretty tough – I can see why you're a gym leader!"

"Thanks for the acknowledgement!" Roxanne called back cheerfully.

"But don't think that you've won yet!" James grinned. He threw out the poké ball. As it popped open and the white ball of energy emerged, a cloud of black smoke suddenly billowed out. It covered James' end of the arena and drifted across the rest of the battlefield as the sound of a pokémon materialising filled the air.

"He's using Charka," Richard muttered. "Must have told him to use Smokescreen the moment he was released."

"That's probably going to be obvious to Roxanne as well, right?" Nicola asked.

"She doesn't know that James only has one pokémon with Smokescreen," Will whispered back.

"Exactly." Richard nodded. "He's bluffing, trying to convince her that he's trying to trick her into thinking he's sent Charka out."

"Why though?" Nicola asked.

"Watch," Richard replied, nodding in the direction of the battlefield.

"Use Rock Tomb!" Roxanne shouted.

Geodude hurled a cluster of boulders towards the smoke cloud. As they sailed through it, the sound of them crashing to the ground filled the air. A brief silence followed.

Suddenly, the smoke lit up as a jet of flames shot out from the darkened depths. The surprised Geodude was caught up in the spiralling vortex. As the smoke cleared, the crimson form of a charmeleon leapt forwards, his eyes focused and driven, one claw turned to steel. With a shout, pounced onto Geodude and raked him viciously with his claw.

Geodude cried in pain and was thrown back. He crashed to the ground in front of Roxanne and lay still.

"G-Geodude is unable to battle!" The referee appeared as stunned by the sudden turn of events as the others. "Charmeleon is the winner!"

"He knocked out Geodude in one hit?!" Nicola gasped.

"Well, Nulin had practically knocked him out already," Richard replied. "Still, I wasn't expecting him to turn things around quite this quickly – must be a new record for him!"

"It isn't over yet though," said Will as Roxanne recalled Geodude and took out another poké ball. "Roxanne still has one more pokémon."

Charka, completely unharmed after dodging Geodude's attack and launching his own, had withdrawn back to James's half of the field. They had no idea what coming next, so he wanted to be ready to probe his opponent from a safe distance.

"That's some impressive power!" Roxanne called. "I guess I should pull out my ace in the hole!" She threw the poké ball. With a pop, it burst open and Roxanne's second pokémon emerged.

"That's an interesting-looking pokémon," James mumbled as it materialised fully. It looked very different to Geodude: in fact, he wasn't even sure if it was a rock type. Its purple body suggested poison, yet the eight tentacles on its head and the yellow stem leading down to the rest of its small body made it look slightly like a flower. He thought that what appeared to be its eyes looked passive, until the yellow orbs in the black opening atop its head blinked at him. It was a very unusual pokémon.

He quickly whipped out his Pokédex and pointed it at his new opponent.

" _Lileep, the sea lily pokémon. Lileep became extinct approximately a hundred million years ago. These ancient pokémon attached themselves to rocks on the seafloor and disguised themselves as seaweed by making their tentacles sway. Unsuspecting prey that came too close were swallowed whole._ "

"An extinct pokémon?!" Nicola cried in alarm. "Then, how is there one here?!"

"Modern technology allows scientists to resurrect pokémon from fossils," Richard explained. "I have a pokémon back home that was once extinct and was restored from a fossil."

"It sounds like a tough one," Will muttered, looking down at the lileep.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "I hope he'll be alright."

Okay, Lileep, use Ingrain!" Roxanne called to start off.

Her head swaying in a way that might be considered a nod, Lileep remained stationary as a series of roots started extending from her lower body and dug into the ground.

This came as both a relief and a worry to James. If a grass type pokémon lay down roots in that way, then they became completely immobile. There'd be no real way for Lileep to fully dodge Charka's attacks and it would be far easier for him to outmanoeuvre her. On the other hand, Ingrain allowed the user to gain strength from the nutrients in the ground. And, above all, if Roxanne had chosen to use the move at the start of the bout, she was confident in Lileep's ability to withstand Charka's attacks.

He'd need to approach this cautiously.

"Use Fire Spin!" he called to Charka.

The charmeleon immediately shot a jet of flame towards Lileep. However, a quick order from Roxanne saw the ancient pokémon hurl a rock to block the flame.

"Use Flamethrower!" James called.

Charka jumped forwards to narrow the gap between them and fired a burst of flames at his opponent. Though Lileep again attempted to block the attack, the shorter distance and wider spread of the flames meant that some of the attack still hit, singing part of the ancient pokémon's body.

"Use Ancient Power!" Roxanne ordered.

Lileep immediately lifted up a cluster of boulders, a regal blue aura surrounding them. She hurled them at Charka, who managed to dodge just in time thanks to his quick reflexes. As the boulders crashed to the ground, the charmeleon shot out a cloud of black smoke.

"Go for the right and use Flamethrower!" James ordered.

"Block it with Ancient Power!" Roxanne shouted.

Lileep immediately grabbed another cluster of rocks, whirling them around to cover her right side. However, Charka erupted from the smoke cloud on her left flank and fired a burst of flames at her.

Lileep attempted to block the attack by rushing the boulders back, but was too late. She emitted a loud cry, the first sound they'd heard from her, as she was engulfed by the flames. Despite the nasty-looking scorch marks left by the attack, the injuries were already starting to heal thanks to Lileep's roots.

"Use Amnesia!" Roxanne called.

Lileep's head lopped to one side, as if deep in thought.

"'Amnesia'?" Nicola looked at Richard in confusion.

"I… don't really know how to explain Amnesia," Richard sighed. "I've heard that it involves either forgetting the damage the user just took or focusing their mind so that they can increase their capacity to resist damage, or something like that."

"What does it do?" Will asked.

"It basically increases a pokémon's resistance to non-physical attacks," Richard replied. "Like Flamethrower, or Fire Spin."

"So, it's really bad for James?" Nicola cried.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "He might have to start going in close instead."

James was thinking the same thing. "Alright, Charka!" he called. "Use Fire Spin to immobilise her, then charge in from behind and use Metal Claw!"

Charka sprang into action immediately. Jumping across the boulders, he shot a jet of flame towards Lileep, who was narrowly too slow to block it with Ancient Power. As his opponent was engulfed by the vortex of fire, Charka jumped around behind her and charged, his claw turning to steel.

"Use Constrict!" Roxanne shouted.

As Charka approached Lileep, his left ankle was suddenly grabbed by one of her pink tentacles. In an instant, another three latched onto him, squeezing him and keeping him from moving.

"Use Flamethrower to break free!" James yelled, reacting quickly despite not having a good view of the situation.

There was a bright flash as Charka fired a jet of flames down at his front, scorching and severing most of the tentacles. He immediately retreated, tearing himself away from the remaining ones.

"Use Ancient Power!" Roxanne shouted.

Lileep immediately hurled a cluster of boulders at Charka as he struggled to recover. Despite a desperate attempt to evade, he was hit and thrown to the ground with a loud thud.

"Charka, hang in there!" James called.

Charka pulled himself back to his feet, his body battered but still capable of continuing. There was a lull as both pokémon watched each other uneasily, attempting to guess their next intentions.

"The perfect defence," Richard sighed.

"Yeah," Will murmured. "Charka's ranged attacks won't do much damage and he can't get close thanks to Constrict."

"I wonder what's going through James' head," Nicola said quietly.

 _Stay calm and think!_ James took a deep breath. Sure, the situation looked pretty tense, and sure, it didn't look like there was any way for him to attack effectively. But there had to be a weakness. Lileep's tentacles could grow back, but slowly. Could that create an opening? And she'd only used tentacles on the side facing Charka in her attack. Did that mean she could only use some of them at a time? He shook his head. Could he afford to gamble on that?

There was a crash as Lileep hurled a cluster of boulders at Charka, who managed to dodge out of the way. He looked back over at James for directions.

 _Come on! Think!_ James gritted his teeth. The moment Charka was tied down by Constrict, Lileep would hurl an Ancient Power at them. There wouldn't be a short delay like last time. He needed a way for Charka to free himself and dodge out of the wat instantly. As Charka dodged another Ancient Power, a plan formed in his mind. He didn't like it. It was too much of a gamble. But Charka was running out of energy. He needed to strike soon, or he'd lose the battle.

"Charka, jump into the air above Lileep and use Metal Claw from above!" he shouted.

Charka, panting from exertion, nodded and rushed across the boulders, jumping into the air as he got close to Lileep.

"Use Constrict and then Ancient Power!" Roxanne called.

James' heart jumped as tentacles shot outwards from around Lileep's body. He'd been wrong.

Charka cried out as he was entangled in the mass of tentacles and held up into air as Lileep prepared to deal the finishing blow.

"Use Fire Spin on yourself!" James suddenly yelled.

Charka opened his mouth fired a jet of flame, engulfing himself in a fiery vortex. The tentacles disintegrated and he fell forwards, down towards Lileep. An instant later, a cluster of rocks ploughed through the spot he'd been held.

"Use Metal Claw!" James shouted his final order even though Charka had already hardened his right claw. With a roar, he slashed downwards, dealing a powerful blow to Lileep's head. Knocked back by the force of the blow, the ancient pokémon crashed to the ground.

"Lileep is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Charmeleon is the winner! Both of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"He...He did it!" Richard, Nicola and Will cheered.

"Great work, Charka!" James grinned, giving the charmeleon a thumbs-up.

Charka, covered in bruises and cuts from the fighting, gave him a weary grin in response.

"Well, looks like I lost," Roxanne sighed as she recalled Lileep to her poké ball. "I was really sure that I had you once Lileep was set up."

"It was a big gamble," James admitted as he recalled Charka and started walking across the battlefield to meet her. "You'd have won if we'd made one wrong move."

"I was interested in the kind of tactics you'd come up with since you knew I'd already seen you battle yesterday," said Roxanne. "I was expecting you to try a knockout blow on Lileep, just as you did with Richard's nidoking yesterday. I didn't expect you to find a way out of my trap."

"Well, it's always good to be full of surprises, right?" James laughed. He shook Roxanne's hand.

"True enough." Roxanne smiled. "I was challenging you to deal with the unexpected and you did well, even when it looked like your plan was about to fall apart. You've earned this." She placed a small, rectangular badge with exaggerated corners into his hand.

"Thanks, Roxanne!" James grinned, holding the badge up.

"That's the Stone Badge," Roxanne explained. "The sign that you managed to overcome the rock-hard defences of the Rustboro gym."

Up in the stands, Richard got to his feet.

"I guess it's time for me to head down."

"Huh? You're going next?" Nicola looked around at him.

"I figured you'd probably want more time to prepare," Richard replied. "And you can learn more about the gym leader by watching my battle."

"Alright. Good luck!" Nicola smiled nervously at him.

"Good luck, Richard," Will added.

"Thanks!" Richard grinned. "I'll try and put on a good show for you!"

He walked back along the stand and disappeared down the staircase.

* * *

 **So begins my ambitious 'back-to-back gym battle' project.**

 **I thought that fitting three battles into the same chapter would make it as tiring for you guys to read as they were to write for me, so each battle has a separate chapter. My original plan was to upload all three gym battle chapters at the same time, but I still think that would be a bit much for one day's reading.**

 **Instead, I'm spreading my uploads out over the next week. Chapter 4 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **will be uploaded on Tuesday (23** **rd** **May), Chapter 13 of** _ **Hoenn**_ **on Wednesday (24** **th** **May), and finally Chapter 14 on Thursday (25** **th** **May), with regular uploads resuming on Sunday (28** **th** **May). The added bonus of this method is that it means** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **stories will be at the front of the archive five times between now and the end of next Sunday!**

 **Anyway, the 'multi gym battle' is still a highly experimental method, so I'd appreciate any feedback you have on it (and it'll be interesting to hear your thoughts** _ **after**_ **reading all three gym battles as well!). I will say this now – I have little intention of making changes to the overall story structure for Hoenn and I'll continue using this method as planned regardless of the reception of these three chapters. However, I want to assure you that everything I hear from you guys will be taken into full consideration when it comes to planning future stories with multiple gym challengers.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl and Absorb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Absorb, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	13. A Rock-Hard Attack! (Part 2)

**Here we are with the second part of the Rustboro gym challenge arc!**

 **Last chapter saw James overcome Roxanne's defensive tactics to emerge victorious. Now it's Richard's turn to step into the challenger's corner.**

 **Upload Date: 24** **th** **May 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: A Rock-Hard Attack! (Part 2)**

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _2:11pm, 14_ _th_ _April 2006_

As Richard entered the passageway leading to the main arena in the Rustboro gym, he spotted James walking back in the opposite direction.

"Great work out there!" He grinned as they got closer, offering his hand for a high-five.

"Thanks." James accepted the gesture. "It was tough going for a while, but we were able to pull through." He lent closer to Richard and spoke in a low voice. "Be careful. She's already got a good handle on our preferred tactics – you saw how she forced me to go on the offensive. She'll have come up with counters for you as well."

"Got it." Richard nodded. "I'll figure something out. Thanks for the tip!"

"No problem. Good luck out there." James continued walking past him and disappeared into the lobby.

"Right!" Richard turned back to look straight ahead. "Guess I'd better not keep everyone waiting!"

* * *

"So, you're next then, Richard?" Roxanne called across the arena as Richard emerged from the passageway.

"Looks that way, yeah!" Richard grinned back. "Sorry you had to tangle with James before the main event!"

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Roxanne assured him. "I'm confident of my strength, even when fighting multiple battles! I promise I won't disappoint you!"

"Glad to hear it!"

"Wow, Richard's really talking big," Nicola sighed. "It's like he isn't nervous at all."

"You should try and go into your battle like that as well," said Will.

"Huh?" Nicola looked at him. "What do you mean? How can I?"

"Well, a trainer is the team leader," Will replied. "If they don't seem confident, then the pokémon will lose confidence as well. And then they're more likely to lose."

"So, is Richard just acting like he's confident?" Nicola wondered, looking back at the arena.

"It's hard to say with Richard!"

Nicola and Will looked around to see James walking along the stand towards them.

"What do you mean?" Nicola asked.

"Richard does tend to act more confident than he actually is," James explained. "But he behaves in the exact same way when he really is confident."

"So, what you're saying is that we don't know how confident he is…" Will summarised.

"It's pretty handy for him." James nodded. "It makes it harder for the opponent to work it out!"

"That's something I should probably do too," Nicola sighed.

"Well, you'll have the benefit of Roxanne not coming up with specific tactics to counter you," James replied. "Not that you shouldn't be careful though."

"I'll keep it in mind." Nicola nodded.

There was a brief pause.

"Oh, yeah! Congratulations on winning!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed.

"Yeah, great work, James," Will added. "I really thought it was over when Charka was trapped by Constrict the second time."

"Yeah, we got lucky there," James replied. "The way Roxanne set up Lileep's defences was flawless – I had no choice but to run the gauntlet and attack up close."

"It's a shame that Nulin went down so quickly."

"Yeah, his endurance isn't that good," James sighed. "But his speed is excellent – as long as we can avoid hits, he's still an excellent fighter!"

"It's a good thing we don't live in a world where speed is a mostly redundant stat that only affects who moves first in battle."

"Yeah, it'd suck trying to use him in battle in a world like that."

The three of them were interrupted as the referee's voice rang out below.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Rustboro City gym leader, Roxanne, and the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!" She continued with her speech, reminding them of the battle rules. "Are you both ready?"

"Ready!" Richard and Roxanne both nodded.

"Begin!"

Both trainers immediately threw out their first poké balls.

"Go, Lileep!"

"Go, Dish!"

Lileep and Dish both materialised on the arena floor. As they oriented themselves, they looked over at each other, trying to size their opponent up. Lileep's intimidating appearance certainly didn't seem to be helping Dish's confidence.

"Don't worry, Dish!" Richard called over, noticing his pokémon's hesitation. "I've got a plan in mind for this!"

"I wonder why she isn't using Geodude first," Nicola said.

"She's changing her order up to confuse Richard," James replied. "She might even use a different pokémon instead of Geodude this time."

"But Richard's just seen Lileep battle!" Nicola cried. "He knows the kind of moves she'll use!"

"Do we even know for sure that it's the same lileep?" Will suddenly asked.

The three of them were silent for a second.

"What do you mean?" Nicola asked uneasily.

"I mean, James just knocked Lileep out – she couldn't have recovered that quickly." He paused. "What if it's a different lileep, with different moves and a different strategy."

"But if that's the case…" Nicola looked down at Richard, her eyes suddenly worried.

"Well, there's nothing we can do to help him," James said. "The aim of a gym battle is to test how we react to different situations. Richard's strong – I'm sure he'll be able to overcome it."

"Let's get started then, Dish!" Richard called eagerly. "Use Astonish!"

Dish scuttled forwards, weaving through the boulders towards Lileep.

"Use Ancient Power!" Roxanne ordered.

Lileep jumped into the air with startling agility and hurled a cluster of boulders down at Dish, who let out a cry of pain as she was struck and thrown back by the impact. Lileep landed on the ground again, returning to her passive appearance.

"You okay, Dish?" Richard called. While he hadn't anticipated a sudden attack from Lileep exactly, he'd been expecting Roxanne to try something different to catch him off-guard. Perhaps he should try something slightly different. "Use Absorb!"

Dish jumped up onto one of the boulders and fired a green beam of energy at Lileep. The latter screeched in pain as she was hit, but the attack didn't drain as much energy as Richard was expecting. Thinking about it, it could use Ingrain and was quite plant-like. Knowing his luck, it was probably part grass type as well.

"Use Ancient Power!" Roxanne ordered.

Lileep quickly fired another cluster of boulders towards Dish.

"Dish, use-" Richard began.

Dish, however, reacted instinctively. In an instant, she was suddenly surrounded by a green aura. A second later, it was gone again. Dish stamped the ground with one of her tiny feet and, much to the shock of the humans, a cluster of boulders cracked from the ground flew up into the air. Dish fired a small blast of water at the boulders, sending them flying forwards. They collided with Lileep's boulders, causing a series of crashes as they smashed into each other and crashed to the ground. Dust and boulder fragments were sent flying everywhere.

"What was that?!" Nicola cried in alarm.

"That was… Rock Slide!" James replied. "I'd recognise it anywhere!"

"Did Richard teach Dish how to use Rock Slide?" Nicola asked.

"No, lotad can't learn Rock Slide," Will replied. "I'm fairly confident of that."

"Wait! I think I've heard about this before!" James exclaimed. "I think there's a move called Nature Power that changes into other moves based on the terrain the user is fighting over!"

"Wow! What a useful move!" Nicola looked down at Dish with an awed expression on her face.

"I'm not sure how useful Rock Slide will be though, given that he's fighting rock types," Will muttered.

"'Nature Power'?" Richard mumbled the name to himself. Will was right, it didn't give him an immediate advantage, but Rock Slide was still powerful on its own. "Alright, use Nature Power again!"

Dish nodded and surrounded herself in a green aura. With another stamp from her small, stubby leg, a cluster of boulders flew into the air. As Dish blasted them with water to send them flying towards the other half of the field, however, Lileep suddenly sprang forwards, darting between the boulders on the ground with shocking agility.

"Use Confuse Ray!" Roxanne shouted.

Easily dodging the boulders flying above her, Lileep's real eyes glowed. A yellow beam shot out from the opening atop her head, which in turn split into five separate yellow orbs as they approached Dish. They circled the lotad rapidly, throwing off her sense of direction.

"Urgh!" Richard groaned. The battle had just gotten a lot harder.

"Constrict, Ancient Power, Amnesia, Ingrain…" James listed Lileep's moves. "…And…Confuse Ray?!"

"You don't think..?" Nicola looked at him.

"It's a different lileep after all!" Will cried.

"Use Absorb!" Richard ordered.

Dish quickly fired a green beam, but the attack went wildly off target and struck a boulder instead before dissipating.

"Use Acid!" Roxanne called.

Lileep immediately fired a clump of acid at Dish, scoring a direct hit and sending her flying back with a cry of pain.

"And now use Ancient Power!" Roxanne wasn't going to give them a chance to recover.

Lileep fired a cluster of boulders down towards Dish.

"Go left! Dodge it!" Richard yelled. He barely had time to form coherent thoughts – all his focus was on getting his pokémon out of danger and getting them some breathing room.

Dish pulled herself up and dove clear just in time, the boulders smashing to the ground a split second later. However, no sooner had Dish jumped clear, she was grabbed as Lileep extended her tentacles.

"Use Acid!" Roxanne shouted.

Lileep spat a spray of acid at Dish. Unable to escape from the tentacles, she was struck directly. Lileep withdrew her tentacles a split second before the acid hit, causing the attack to send the lotad crashing to the ground with a thud.

"Lotad is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Lileep is the winner!"

"Dish, return!" Richard quickly recalled Dish to her poké ball. Things were looking bad, but he still had Naro. Lileep's attacks wouldn't do as much damage against a bulky pokémon and he'd be able to steamroller her without much difficulty. The remaining question was who his other opponent was. For some reason, Richard suspected that it wouldn't be Geodude.

Naro let out a roar as he burst out of the poké ball and landed on the ground with a crash. He smirked confidently at Lileep.

"Let's get started, Naro!" Richard called. "Use Megahorn!"

Naro roared and surged forwards, tossing boulders aside as if they were nothing. Lileep attempted to dodge, but lost her footing and almost fell. As she attempted to stabilise herself, Naro ploughed into her with a powerful attack, sending her flying back with a crash.

Though an impressive sight, Richard quickly realised that he hadn't done as much damage as he'd been hoping. Thinking about it, he seemed to recall that rock types resisted bug type moves. That would explain it. Still, the fact that the move had still done a lot of damage was proof enough that Lileep was partly grass type.

"Use Poison Sting!" he called to Naro.

With a nod, Naro charged forwards again. This time, however, Lileep was waiting for him and jumped clear before he could land his attack. Simultaneously levitating several boulders, she hurled them at her opponent's back, scoring a direct hit.

"Use Poison Sting again!" Richard yelled.

"Looks like Richard's following his normal approach," James sighed as Naro made another lunge for Lileep, this time managing to graze her.

"Should he not attack then?" Nicola asked.

"Well, it's easier for Lileep to dodge and outmanoeuvre heavy attacks like that," James explained. "And Richard and Naro's attacks tend to be more…unrefined."

"If I were him, then I'd hang back and try and lure Lileep in," said Will, watching as Lileep hurled another cluster of boulders towards Naro.

"Roxanne will expect that," James replied, shaking his head. "It's the same thing he did during our battle yesterday."

"So, what's his best option?" Nicola asked. "It sounds like you're saying that he's at a disadvantage on the attack and defence."

"There isn't a concrete strategy that he needs to follow," James replied. "But I think he needs to take advantage of Roxanne's expectations somehow. But Richard tends to be quite bad at adapting new strategies in the middle of a battle."

"Alright, Naro, go defensive!" Richard called. His attacks were only making limited gains. It was time to pull back and look for openings. Hopefully, Lileep would wear herself down in counter attacks.

"Use Constrict!" Roxanne shouted.

Lileep rushed towards Naro, extending her tentacles and grabbing the nidoking's arms and legs.

"Fight it off, Naro!" Richard shouted. Roxanne was trying to prevent him from striking back. They needed to prevent Lileep getting a strong grip.

Naro was already swinging his bulky arms around before Richard's order. With the command, he swung even more violently as he attempted to throw Lileep off. However, Lileep quickly took advantage of Naro's temporary immobility to hurl another cluster of boulders at him, scoring a direct hit.

 _Think, Richard, think!_ Richard gritted his teeth as Lileep darted back out of Naro's reach. Should he attempt an all-out attack to knock Lileep out before she could do any more damage? No, that would just be playing into her hands – he needed to regain the initiative. But how to do that when Lileep was so evasive? If only Naro could get a hold of her lower body when she jumped, or something like that.

Naro let out a roar as Lileep ensnared his arms and legs with her tentacles again.

"Naro-" Richard began to shout. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. "Grab Lileep's tentacles and pull her in!"

Naro immediately wriggled his arms to grip the tentacles and, with all his strength, hauled Lileep towards him. The grass-rock type was caught off-guard by the sudden counter. Her trainer, however, reacted quickly.

"Use Ancient Power!"

Lileep attempted to levitate some boulders as she hurtled towards Naro, but the nidoking simply pulled harder, disrupting her concentration.

"Megahorn!" Richard shouted.

Naro's horn glowed a lime green colour as he lowered it. He flung his head up as Lileep came within range, smashing into her and sending her flying back. As her tentacles untangled, she started toppling towards the ground.

"Finish it up with Double Kick!" Richard yelled.

Naro rushed forwards, hitting the falling Lileep with two swift, powerful kicks. Hurled back, she crashed into a boulder and slumped to the ground.

"Lileep is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Nidoking is the winner!"

"Great work, Naro!" Richard grinned.

"Nice work," Roxanne said as she recalled Lileep. "But you'll have to overcome my last pokémon before I can give you the Stone Badge!" She pulled out another poké ball and threw it.

A blue, rock-like pokémon with angular features and, most distinctively, a large red nose emerged from the ball and stood completely still on Roxanne's side of the field.

"Never seen one of those before," Richard muttered, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Nosepass, the compass pokémon. A nosepass's body emits a powerful magnetism, which is stronger in cold seasons. They feed on prey that is pulled in by the force. Their magnetic noses consistently face north. Travelers check nosepass to get their bearings._ "

"What an interesting pokémon!" Richard grinned. He turned to Naro. "Let's not waste time – use Double Kick!"

Naro nodded and raced forwards, his heavy footsteps reverberating around the room. As he was about to reach Nosepass, however, a cluster of rocks shot up from around his opponent before being hurled straight into him.

"That was fast!" James cried.

"That nosepass is going be a problem," Will sighed.

"You can do it, Richard!" Nicola cheered.

"Use Horn Attack!" Richard ordered.

Naro raced forwards Nosepass again. Once again, a cluster of boulders was hurled towards him. This time, however, he quickly halted his advance and swung out his leg, breaking or knocking aside the boulders. A second kick struck Nosepass directly, knocking him back.

"Tackle!" Roxanne shouted.

Nosepass surged forwards, recovering instantly from the previous attack and slamming into Naro. As the nidoking was forced back, Nosepass threw up another cluster of boulders and sent them crashing into him.

"It's like Nosepass wasn't affected by Naro's attack at all," Nicola whispered in shock as Naro struggled to pull himself to his feet.

"No, you can see the damage there." James pointed at a small, but noticeable, crack on Nosepass's chin. "But Nosepass's defence is pretty impressive and I doubt Roxanne is going to let down her guard after that last attack."

"Yeah, but Nosepass has an obvious weakness," said Will. "It can only face north. That leaves a massive blind spot behind him."

Richard had realised that as well. With a confident grin at Naro, who'd just finished pulling himself back to his feet, he gave his next order. "Get around behind him and use Double Kick!"

Naro roared and rushed around the side of the arena, dodging a rock thrown by Nosepass. As expected, his opponent made no effort to turn and continue tracking him. With a grin, he charged at Nosepass's exposed back.

"How naïve!" Roxanne grinned. "Nosepass, use Rock Tomb, right behind you!"

A cluster of rocks shot out of the ground from directly behind Nosepass, slamming into Naro from below with enough force to lift him into the air. Nosepass slid backwards in an instant and, as Naro descended, slammed into him with another tackle. The nidoking crashed heavily into the boulder field. Covered in cuts and bruises, he nonetheless started pulling himself painfully to his feet.

"It didn't work…" Richard muttered, trying to quell a rising sense of panic. What could he do now? What hadn't he tried? There had to be an opening. Someway of knocking that pokémon off balance. He gritted his teeth. An idea came to him, but would be a gamble. He almost laughed at the irony that the only way for him to win his battle was the same way James had won his.

Naro, panting heavily but now fully upright again, turned back and looked at him. They held eye contact for a couple of seconds before both nodding.

"Alright, use Double Kick!" Richard yelled, pointing aggressively at Nosepass.

Naro roared and stormed forwards.

"Too easy!" Roxanne grinned. "Use Rock Tomb!"

Nosepass caused a cluster of boulders to erupt from the ground and hurled them towards Naro.

"Dodge to the right!" Richard yelled.

Naro made the last-minute dodge, the outermost boulders grazing his left shoulder as they passed. In a second movement, he closed the gap between him and Nosepass. There was a loud crunch as he kicked the rock type directly on the left side of his big, red nose.

"A hit!" Nicola cheered.

"That's not all!" Will cried. "Look!"

The momentum of Naro's kick pushed Nosepass's nose to the right, causing the compass pokémon to spin around. As he spun around almost completely, his magnetic nose snapped him back to facing forwards.

Where Naro's second kick was waiting.

There was another crunch. Nosepass was sent flying back, landing on the ground on his back with a crash. As seconds passed without him attempting to get back up again, the referee stood to attention and announced the result.

"Nosepass is unable to battle! Nidoking is the winner! Both of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!"

"Yes!" Richard raised a fist in the air in triumph.

Naro let out a sigh of relief and finally allowed himself to slump to the ground.

"Wow!" Roxanne gasped. "I was expecting you to go for an all-out attack, but I wasn't expecting you to do that much damage."

"Did you see where Naro's second kick landed?" Richard pointed. "It was right where we'd hit Nosepass in our earlier attack."

"So, you took advantage of the weakness in his rock armour there to score a critical hit," Roxanne sighed. "I was sure I was prepared to deal with your expected attack too!"

"I'm not _all_ brawn and no brain!" Richard grinned. He walked out into the middle of the arena, recalling Naro as he did.

"I can't deny that now!" Roxanne replied. She walked out to meet him and shook his hand. "Great work out there." She handed him a Stone Badge.

"Thanks!" Richard placed the badge into his badge case. "The first of many!"

"After what you just did, I wouldn't be surprised!" Roxanne grinned.

"Looks like you're finally up," James said as Nicola stood up. "Make sure you give it your best shot, whatever happens!"

"Don't forget that Roxanne doesn't know anything about your battle style, but you know lots about hers!"

"Thanks, guys." Nicola flashed a nervous smile at them before turning and heading off towards the staircase.

* * *

 **Two down, one to go! I don't have anything that I particularly wanted to mention this chapter, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow for Nicola's gym battle!**

 **As ever, I welcome any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Absorb, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	14. A Rock-Hard Attack! (Part 3)

**The final part of the Rustboro gym challenge.**

 **Last chapter saw Richard defeat Roxanne and earn himself the Stone Badge. It's now finally Nicola's turn to have a crack at defeating the gym leader.**

 **Upload Date: 25** **th** **May 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: A Rock-Hard Attack! (Part 3)**

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _2:32pm, 14_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Stay calm. Stay calm. There's nothing to worry about."

As she reached the bottom of the stairs down from the stands, Nicola took a deep breath before continuing to mutter reassurances to herself. She rubbed the tip of her left thumb against the side of her left index finger – an old habit that she'd picked up when she was younger that helped to reassure her when she was nervous or upset.

She rounded the corner into the passageway leading towards the arena and immediately bumped into something.

"Ah!"

"Oh, sorry, Nicola!"

Nicola looked up to see Richard smiling apologetically.

"Try watching where you're going," she muttered, her mind elsewhere.

"Same to you," Richard replied, raising an eyebrow, though his smile remained. He placed his hand on her shoulder as he moved past her. "I know that you're nervous. Try not to think of it as a gym battle – imagine it's a practice battle like the ones you have with James and me all the time." He lifted his hand as he reached the lobby and turned the corner. "Good luck!"

Nicola glanced over her shoulder as he disappeared from sight. She let out a long sigh.

"But…I always lose our practice battles…"

* * *

Richard's useless reassurances aside, Nicola walked up to the main arena feeling marginally more comfortable than she had in the lobby. After having seen the scale of the battles James and Richard had fought, she didn't think she'd be able to overcome Roxanne on her first try. But she already knew that the other three would help her train for a rematch. She didn't need to be afraid of losing.

She took a deep breath to steady herself as she looked across the battlefield at the gym leader. How had James and Richard felt as they'd stood in this same spot, looking over at the same person. Did they get nervous as well? From the way they'd been talking, the fact that Roxanne had known their strategies beforehand seemed like more of an inconvenience than a major threat. Privately, she hoped she'd become as impervious to nerves someday.

"Good to see you again, Nicola!" Roxanne called over cheerfully. "You're the one I've been looking forward to battling the most!"

"Huh? Really?" Nicola cried in surprise. "Why?"

"You're the one I know the least about," Roxanne replied with a grin. "That means I've got to learn how you fight while we're battling. It's much more interesting that way!"

"Hey! We didn't force you to watch us battle yesterday!" James shouted from the stands.

"Touché!" Roxanne grinned. "You know, I would have gone easy on you if you'd asked!"

"That jab would have annoyed me if I didn't already have this!" James waved his Stone Badge in the air.

"Anyway." Roxanne turned back to look at Nicola. "There's no records of any previous gym victories on your trainer card. Is this your first gym battle?"

"Yes." Nicola nodded.

"Then don't worry about what you saw in the last two battles!" Roxanne grinned reassuringly. "A gym leader's job is to help trainers improve, so I won't be as hard on you as I was on those wannabe veterans!"

"She's insulting us again," James sighed as Roxanne started explaining the gym rules to Nicola. He looked over to his right to see Richard approaching. "What was _that_ , Richard?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Richard asked, giving him a confused look.

"Your strategy in that battle was _exactly_ the same as the one you used against me yesterday!"

"It was?!"

"You attacked. Then you defended. Then you went for an all-or-nothing attack," James replied. "You're lucky Naro was able to dodge that last attack."

"Hah! You're one to talk!" Richard grinned as he sat down next to him. "I seem to recall Charka having a lucky escape at the end of your battle!"

"Well, wouldn't you say luck is a part of being a trainer as well?" Will asked, looking around at the two of them. "I mean, you can't always predict every factor in a battle."

"Fair point." James shrugged. "But you still need to diversify your tactics, Richard."

"I'll be in your hands, Master!" Richard laughed. He looked down at the battlefield. It appeared that Roxanne was finished with her explanation and the battle could finally begin.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the gym leader, Roxanne, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!" the referee announced.

Richard wondered what pokémon Roxanne was going to use this time. If they were following her current 'pattern', then she'd start with a nosepass (but not the same one as he'd fought) and follow with a second, unknown pokémon. Mind you, it was going to be a completely different battle to the ones he and James had fought anyway, so they might see something completely different.

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

"Go, Geodude!" Roxanne called, throwing out her first poké ball.

"This seems familiar," James murmured as Geodude burst out of the ball.

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola threw her poké ball.

Mushy let out a cry as she materialised. A scattering of spores puffed out from the top of her head.

"Alright, use Rock Tomb!" Roxanne called.

Geodude reacted instantly, hauling up a cluster of boulders and hurling them towards Mushy. Though Nicola was inexperienced and was slow to react to the incoming attack, the shroomish proved adept enough to predict the impact area and darted clear before the attack landed.

"U-Use Leech Seed!" Nicola cried as soon as she'd processed what had happened. She gave her head a shake as Mushy fired a cluster of seeds towards Geodude. She needed to focus. Mushy was counting on her leadership!

Geodude was hit by the seeds, which immediately sprouted and started leeching the rock type's energy. He quickly retaliated though, firing himself forwards and ploughing into Mushy directly.

"Are you alright, Mushy?" Nicola cried as the shroomish landed with a crash.

With a determined cry, Mushy flipped herself back up and glanced over at Nicola, waiting for her next order.

"Got it!" Nicola nodded. "Use Absorb!"

Mushy fired a green beam of energy towards Geodude, only for him to leap up into the air to avoid it. As he landed, he kicked up another cluster of boulders and hurled them at Mushy, this time scoring a direct hit.

 _Okay, stay calm, Nicola_. Nicola bit her lip as she thought. Mushy was already picking herself up, but she needed a new plan. At the moment, she was just throwing attacks around and that wasn't going to win a battle against an experienced pokémon like Geodude. If only there was a way to stop him from bouncing out of the way of Mushy's attacks…

"Great work, Geodude!" Roxanne grinned. "Now use Tackle!"

Geodude shouted in approval and charged towards Mushy.

"That's it!" Nicola cried. She looked over at Mushy and nodded. "Use Stun Spore!" she shouted the instant Geodude was within range.

The rock pokémon immediately tried to change course, but Mushy had already sprung forwards. There was a small sound, not unlike that of a piston, as the shroomish fired a cloud of spores from the top of her head. Geodude was engulfed by the spores. Coughing, he dropped to the ground.

"Use Absorb!" Nicola ordered.

Mushy fired a green beam at Geodude as he attempted to get away. There was a loud cry as he was hit directly and more of his energy had been drained.

"Geodude, use Rock Tomb!" Roxanne shouted.

Geodude, fighting through his paralysis, fired a cluster of boulders towards Mushy, who was caught off-guard by the sudden counter attack. Though she was thrown back by the force of the impact, she was quickly back up again.

Feeling confident, Nicola issued her next order. "Finish up with Absorb!"

Mushy fired a final green beam of energy at Geodude, who made a feeble attempt to dodge before being struck. He cried out as more of his energy was drained out before slumping to the ground.

"Geodude is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Shroomish is the winner!"

"We did it, Mushy!" Nicola cheered.

"Great work so far, Nicola!" James called down from the stands.

"Yeah, keep up the good work!" Richard added.

"Geodude, return!" Roxanne recalled her fallen pokémon. She pulled out her next poké ball and threw it. "Go, Nosepass!"

"I knew it," Richard sighed as the ball popped open and Nosepass materialised. "Reckon it's a different one again?"

"No, I think it's the same one you fought," James replied.

"Roxanne healed him up with a potion while you and Nicola were switching," Will explained.

"Is that part of her going easy on Nicola, I wonder?" Richard frowned.

"It could be," Will replied. "But don't forget that even you had trouble dealing with him. Nicola's going to have to fight hard if she wants to win."

"Use Stun Spore!" Nicola called.

Mushy immediately charged towards her new opponent, lowering her head to prepare to fire. As she got close, however, Nosepass quickly hurled a cluster of boulders in her direction, sending her flying back.

"Are you okay, Mushy?" Nicola cried.

Mushy pulled herself unsteadily back to her feet and nodded.

 _Okay, I need to think this through_. Nicola frowned as she looked across the battlefield. She'd let herself get too carried away after beating Geodude. For Nosepass, it was going to be a case of trying to get around his defences. Stun Spore was too short-ranged and Tackle would be useless. That left her with Leech Seed and Absorb.

"Use Tackle!" Roxanne called.

Nosepass surged forwards, almost mechanically, and slammed into Mushy.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola shouted as she registered what was happening.

Mushy, as she was flung back from Nosepass, fired a cluster of seeds which attached themselves to the rock type and started sprouting to drain his energy.

"Now use Absorb!" Nicola called.

While Nosepass was distracted by the seeds, Mushy regained her composure and fired a green beam at him, scoring a direct hit. Suddenly, the beam flashed an even deeper shade of green, Nosepass letting out a metallic groan in pain.

"A critical hit?" Will wondered aloud.

"No, it's a different move," James replied.

"Mega Drain, right?" Richard asked him.

"I think so." James nodded. "It looks different to Giga Drain."

"Still, this is good – Nicola might be able to win this after all!" Richard grinned.

Nosepass, however, recovered from the attack. Following Roxanne's orders, he fired a cluster of boulders towards Mushy, who dodged them by scurrying to one side.

"Use Block!" Roxanne ordered.

Nosepass quickly took aim. With several precise throws, he hurled large rocks at Mushy, two catching either side of her and a third trapping her from the front. As she attempted to back out, a fourth boulder landed behind her. As she struggled to try and break free, Nosepass hurled another cluster of boulders at her.

"Mushy!" Nicola cried in alarm as she was buried under the cascade of debris.

"Finish up with Tackle!" Roxanne called.

Nosepass nodded and dove towards the pile of rocks, smashing into them with a loud crash that sent debris flying everywhere. Mushy was flung helplessly out of the chaos, landing with a thud.

"Shroomish is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Nosepass is the winner!"

"Guess you spoke too soon," said Will.

"She's still got Kipa left," Richard replied. "I'm sure she'll do fine."

"At least Mushy was able to set up Leech Seed," James added, watching as Nicola recalled the shroomish. "It'll continue draining Nosepass's energy for the rest of the battle. All Kipa really needs to do is hold out."

"I suspect that that thought hasn't crossed her mind!" Richard grinned.

"She'll try and win by defeating Nosepass outright with Kipa." Will nodded. "Still, it'll be more skilful that simply holding out for an attritional victory."

"Yeah, and I guess Roxanne's not going to take defeat lying down either," James sighed as Nicola sent out Kipa. "Either way, it should be good."

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa immediately fired a blast of water towards Nosepass, only for him to nimbly dodge to the side and charge forwards to use Tackle. Standing his ground, Kipa kicked up spray of mud, covering Nosepass' face and obscuring his vision. However, the mudkip was still struck and thrown back.

"Use Water Gun again!" Nicola called.

Kipa fired another jet of water at Nosepass, just managing to score a hit. As Nosepass was forced back, He kicked up a cluster of boulders and hurled them back towards Kipa. Reacting to Nicola's warning, he darted clear just in time.

A third jet of water went wildly off target, only managing to provoke Nosepass into launching another attack, slamming into Kipa once again.

Nicola gritted her teeth, subconsciously rubbing her left thumb against the side of her index finger as Kipa once again pulled himself to his feet. Nosepass was proving to be a tough opponent. She could've sworn that he hadn't been that fast during the battle with Richard. Though the fact he was continuing to dodge Kipa's attacks was frustrating, she was reassured to remember that Leech Seed was still at work. If she could just get in another good hit…

"Use Water Gun!" she ordered.

Kipa, some of his injuries starting to heal thanks to Leech Seed, fired a jet of water towards Nosepass. However, the compass pokémon raced clear, easily avoiding it.

"Use Block!" Roxanne called.

Nosepass immediately threw a smaller cluster of rocks, pinning Kipa in place before he or Nicola could react.

"Ah!" An idea popped into Nicola's head as she tried to think of what to do next. "Kipa!" She attracted his attention and quickly and discreetly mimed what she wanted him to do.

Kipa, his eyes lighting up in understanding, nodded. Nosepass's attack smashed into him, but he stood his ground valiantly.

"Not going to strike back?" Roxanne had a puzzled look on her face. "Well, that's your choice I guess." She nodded at Nosepass. "Use Tackle!"

Nosepass charged forwards and slammed into Kipa again. Once again, though, Kipa stood his ground. He grimaced in pain as he held on.

"What's she…oh!" Richard exclaimed.

"You've worked it out too?" James grinned at him.

"That's a pretty good tactic." Will nodded with approval.

"Yeah, but it's not one I'd have expected from Nicola!" Richard replied. "She's doing pretty well after all."

As Nosepass dove in to tackle Kipa again, the mudkip's body suddenly lit up with a blue, watery aura. With a shout, he shot forwards and slammed into Nosepass with all his might, striking back with all the energy he'd stored up while taking his attacks.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola shouted as Nosepass was thrown back.

Kipa fired a powerful jet of water from his mouth, the watery aura still surrounding him. It struck Nosepass on the nose and blasted him down to the rocky arena below. There was a crash as he landed, throwing a cloud of dust into the air. Kipa landed softly, staggering slightly as he did. The dust cleared tantalisingly slowly. Nosepass was lying flat on his back. He was out of the battle.

James, Richard and Will cheered as the referee made her announcement. "Nosepass is unable to battle! Mudkip is the winner! Both of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"We won, Kipa! We won!" Nicola gasped. She walked slowly over to him, the relief of the end of the battle making her legs feel a little weak.

"That was a great battle," Roxanne said, walking over to meet her, recalling Nosepass on her way. "I could really see the bond between you and your mudkip in that fight."

"Th-Thanks!" Nicola replied as she returned Kipa to his poké ball.

"Here." Roxanne placed the Stone Badge in her hand. "You're not a greenhorn trainer anymore!"

"My first gym badge…" Nicola marvelled at it for a couple of seconds. She pulled out her badge case and tucked the badge safely inside. "Umm, is it okay if I ask you something?" She turned back to Roxanne.

"Sure. Fire away!"

"This more out of curiosity, but why don't you nickname your pokémon?" Nicola asked.

"Huh?" Roxanne seemed surprised by the question. "Where did that come from?"

"It was something I was thinking about after James' gym battle in Petalburg City," Nicola replied. "It just felt a bit…odd."

"I can't speak for all gym leaders, but I _do_ nickname my pokémon," Roxanne replied. "We just have to be a bit more impersonal and professional when we're acting as gym leaders."

"I see." Nicola nodded in satisfaction. "Thanks for the battle. I really learned a lot from it!"

"So did I!" Roxanne grinned. "Good luck in your remaining gym battles!"

* * *

 _2:49pm, 14_ _th_ _April 2006_

Nicola felt like she could finally let out a sigh of relief and let her victory sink in as she walked back out into the lobby.

"Great work, Nicola!"

"Yeah, congratulations!"

She looked around to see James, Richard and Will walking down the stairs from the stands to join her.

"Thanks, guys," she replied. "I still can't quite believe that I actually won!"

"It was pretty tense for a while, but I'd say you handled yourself pretty well!" James grinned.

"The way you used Bide at the end of the battle was brilliant," Richard said, sounding genuinely impressed. "The way you were able to communicate it to Kipa without speaking really showed how well you've bonded!"

"And the way you used Bide to take Nosepass's attacks to allow you to launch a powerful counter-attack while simultaneously activating Torrent to power up your last attack was amazing!" Even Will sounded impressed. "I'm going to take note of it so I can use it in the future!"

"Th-Thanks!" Nicola grinned awkwardly. _I actually wanted him to use Water Gun…_

"So, what now?" Richard asked, looking around at the others.

"We need to work out where the next gym is," James replied. "It's a bit late to set off today, so how about we head back to the pokémon centre and heal our pokémon. We can spend the afternoon discussing where to go next."

"Sounds good to me." Richard nodded.

"Same!" Nicola agreed.

"Let's get moving then." Will started walking towards the door.

The other three followed him, each reflecting on the badges they'd just earned and the battles that had gotten them there.

* * *

 **So, here we are then – the end of the first 'back-to-back' gym battle project. If you have any feedback on how this went, then feel free to let me know.**

 **Anyway, other than that I hope that these last three chapters have been enjoyable and that each individual battle still felt unique. Regular uploads resume on Sunday with Chapter 15.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	15. The Secret Evolution

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 15 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **After the three-chapter marathon that saw James, Richard and Nicola all win their first gym badges, the group now turns their attention to their next target.**

 **Upload Date: 29** **th** **May 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: The Secret Evolution**

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _10:32am, 15_ _th_ _April 2006_

Mornings always tended to devolve into a mad rush to get everything packed before departure. Surprisingly, Will, despite his preference for lie-ins, wasn't usually the principal culprit. James had found that he tended to get up when needed and was generally good at making sure all of his stuff was packed up and ready on time.

No, the blame for their current delay lay with their other two companions. Nicola tended to take far longer to prepare than she predicted. Quite what she was doing in all that unscheduled preparation time was a mystery to James. He knew better than to ask though, and knowing wouldn't help speed her up either. Despite this, it had become expected and James usually factored it into their morning plans.

The real issue was Richard. Though usually the quickest to pack up, he often forgot things in inconvenient places and had to virtually turn the entire room upside down to look for them. He'd occasionally decide that he needed to empty out his entire bag to make sure that he had everything, which, as well as delaying their departure, usually caused a scene in the trainers' lounge. Fortunately, he'd started taking to doing that in the room before heading down, though the delay remained.

It was for this reason that James and Will were sat in the trainers' lounge, bags packed yet unable to depart. They'd already been there for almost half-an-hour and there was still no sign of the others. It was frustrating – given the distance they'd been hoping to travel that day, they'd all agreed at dinner the previous night that they'd try and set off as early as possible and walk for as long as possible.

"Should we go and check on them again?" Will asked.

"No point," James replied with a sigh. "It won't make them any faster."

"Do you think we'll make it to Tanero Town? You said it would take us a long time, didn't you?"

"If they were to arrive right now, then perhaps," James replied. "But it'd probably be after dark by the time we arrived."

"Is Route 116 going to be a tough walk?"

"A little bit." James nodded. "In places."

The conclusion of the gym battles against Roxanne had left open the question of where to head next. While going back to Petalburg had seemed like the obvious choice given that Richard and Nicola hadn't fought in the gym there, they'd ultimately decided to head elsewhere first. That had led them to consider Mauville City, close to the middle of Hoenn. The quickest route there was along Route 116, through a shortcut through the mountains called 'Rusturf Tunnel' and then south from there via Verdanturf Town. Even if they really pushed themselves, it would still take them almost a week to get there.

"Sorry I'm late!" Nicola raced into the trainers' lounge, her bag hanging off her back. "Huh? Richard isn't here?"

"He wanted to double-check that he'd packed everything," James explained. "We're probably going to be here for a while."

"Well, at least it's not just me!" Nicola laughed awkwardly as she sat down opposite James and Will. A troubled look crossed her face. "You said that today's walk is going to be a tough one, right?"

"In theory," James replied. "But I don't think we'll have the time to make the whole way. Given how often we stop, we're probably going to finish for the day in one of the villages along the route."

"That's a shame," Nicola sighed. "I hope Richard hurries up!"

Fortunately for the three of them, Richard arrived a short while after she'd said that and they were finally able to set off.

* * *

 _Route 116, Hoenn_

 _12:35pm, 15_ _th_ _April 2006_

It had taken a long time before it started feeling as though they were actually making progress. Such was the size of Rustboro City that they'd still been in the city limits after almost an hour of walking. It had felt as though they weren't advancing at all at times.

However, they'd finally escaped from the clutches of the metropolis and found themselves walking along a quiet road in a green valley surrounded by tree-covered hills and mountains. It felt as though they were on their way to the next town. The atmosphere had become more cheerful and the conversation more animated. In fact, they'd felt comfortable enough to stop for lunch by the side of the road not long after that.

"It was my first gym battle! Of course, some of my tactics were going to be sloppy!" Nicola scowled at Richard.

"Sloppy tactics are sloppy tactics," Richard replied, firmly sticking to his guns. "You can't use your inexperience as an excuse forever."

"I wasn't going to!" Nicola cried.

"In fairness, your tactics weren't exactly imaginative!" James pointed out, glancing between the two of them with an amused expression on his face.

"How about we have a battle right now then?" Richard grinned. "I welcome an opportunity to even the score!"

"Today's probably not the best day," James replied. "We've still got a long way to go. And besides, the pokémon are still tired after yesterday."

"They look pretty busy themselves anyway," Will added, nodding in the direction of the pokémon. Most were flaked out on the grass, enjoying the warm sunshine. Chena, Kacha and Toya, on the other hand, were chasing each other around close to the road. None of them had fought in battles yesterday, so they were full of energy when most of the others were still nursing their aches and pains.

"Ah! Watch out!" Nicola suddenly cried.

Chena had run out into the road just as someone else was walking along.

"Whoa!" The boy had to stop suddenly, almost tripping over the poochyena. However, he remained upright, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that!" Richard called, jumping up and running over. "You need to be more careful in the future, Chena!"

The poochyena put his ears down as he was scolded, his tail drooping.

"Don't worry about it! I'm fine!" The boy was quick to assure him. "The name's Matt, by the way!"

"Pleased to meet you." Richard quickly introduced himself, as did the other three.

"So, you guys are trainers too?" Matt looked between the assembled pokémon with interest. Once he'd looked at them all, however, he appeared to let out a sigh of disappointment.

"Is something wrong?" Nicola asked, picking up on it.

"No, nothing," Matt replied. "I was just hoping that one of you might have a pokémon known as a shedinja."

"Shedinja?" Richard glanced between his companions, a confused look on his face. "I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"Is it a rare pokémon?" James asked.

"It's kind of an odd one," Matt replied. "You see, I have a pokémon here, Niny, who's a nincada." He pulled out a poké ball and released a small, whitish-coloured insectoid pokémon with tiny, green wings.

"I don't think I've seen one of these either," Richard said as he pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Nincada, the trainee pokémon. Nincada live underground. They use their sharp claws to carve the roots of trees and absorb moisture and nutrients. These pokémon can't withstand bright sunlight so avoid it. Using their whisker-like antennae, they probe their surroundings in the pitch-black darkness of soil._ "

"Nincada evolve into a pokémon named 'ninjask'." Matt continued. "This is Nica." He released another pokémon, this time black insectoid with white wings, golden head and two sinister red eyes.

"Ninjask, eh?" Richard pointed his Pokédex at it.

" _Ninjask, the ninja pokémon and the evolved form of nincada. Because they dart about vigorously at high speed, ninjask are very difficult to see. Hearing their distinctive cries for too long induces a headache. If a ninjask is not trained properly, they will refuse to obey their trainer and cry loudly continuously. Because of this quality, these pokémon are said to be among those that most put a trainer's abilities to the test._ "

"Sounds like a handful," Richard muttered as he put his Pokédex away.

"So, how does this 'shedinja' come into this?" James asked.

"I've heard rumours that it's possible for nincada to evolve into another pokémon," Matt explained. "That's what shedinja are – the secret evolution of nincada!"

"I'm guessing that you don't know how to get a nincada to evolve into a shedinja, right?" Will said.

"Yeah," Matt sighed. "I wanted Niny to evolve into a shedinja, so I'm travelling around trying to figure it out."

"That sounds pretty interesting." Richard looked between the others. "Why don't we tag along and see if we can help?"

"Well, we weren't going to make it to Tanero Town today anyway." James shrugged. "You're heading in that direction, right?"

"That's right." Matt nodded. "If you want to come along, then you're more than welcome to."

"I must admit, I'm kind of curious about this 'secret' evolution," said Will.

"Let's tag along then!" Nicola grinned.

"Glad to have you!" Matt grinned back.

* * *

 _12:51pm, 15_ _th_ _April 2006_

"On the face of it, there's nothing unusual about a nincada's evolution into ninjask, but I'm sure that there's something I'm missing."

While they were walking along Route 116, Matt had started explaining what he already knew about nincada and its evolution chain. Though he knew a lot in terms of facts, it struck James that he might not have had a full grasp on how they all linked together. That being said, James himself knew nothing about nincada, so he was still in a better position than he was.

"So, every time you manage to get a nincada to evolve, it always evolves into a ninjask?" Richard asked.

"That's right." Matt nodded. "It's been frustrating process so far."

"Is it one of those pokémon that evolve when they come into contact with evolution stones?" Will asked.

"I already looked up every reference I could find," Matt sighed, shaking his head. "I can't find anything that says an evolutionary stone would help."

"Evolutionary stone?" Nicola looked between them in confusion.

"Oh yeah, you're still new," Richard sighed. "I guess you wouldn't know."

"How about you tell me then?" Nicola asked impatiently.

"First up, you know that pokémon evolve, right?"

"Everyone knows that."

"Good. Do you know much about the process itself?"

"…Not much, no."

"For most pokémon, evolution is the result of accumulating energy through battling." James stepped in to explain. "Just like how your muscles become stronger if you spend a lot of time in the gym."

"Once they've accumulated enough, they'll evolve," Richard added. "It's more like metamorphosis than evolution really. A pokémon changes into a stronger form that's better suited to fighting."

"Evolving is still a pokémon's choice though," James said. "It's a scary experience, so there are some pokémon who never go through it."

"I see." Nicola nodded. "So, what are evolution stones?"

"No one… really knows," Richard replied with a shrug. "They're basically rocks filled with the energy pokémon need to evolve. No one knows where they come from though."

"So, if I found one of these stones, would I be able to make one of my pokémon evolve?" Nicola asked.

"That's the next mystery," Richard replied. "Only certain pokémon can 'access' the energy stored within certain stones."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, a Leaf Stone would only evolve a grass type pokémon," James explained. "But only certain grass types are able to access them."

"Pokémon that can't gather enough energy to evolve by themselves," Matt added. "The stones give them the turbo-boost they need to evolve, then they disappear."

"Wow! I kind of wish I could see one of these stones now!" Nicola grinned.

"Who knows, maybe we'll end up finding one!" Richard replied.

"So, what about shedinja?" Will asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "Is there any other way of evolving pokémon that you can think of?"

"Hmm." James pondered for a couple of seconds. "Well, could it be that ninjask evolves into shedinja?"

"Then why haven't any of my ninjask evolved then?"

"Good point."

"I have an idea," Richard said. "I heard a rumour somewhere that there are pokémon that can only evolve in certain environments, such as ice types that can only evolve in freezing conditions."

"So, you think shedinja might be a pokémon that can only evolve in a specific place?" Matt asked.

"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Richard shrugged.

"So, what kind of place do you think might allow a nincada to evolve into a shedinja?" James asked.

"Well, if the evolution chain is similar to ninjas, then do you think a dark place might help?" Will asked.

"Yeah, like a cave or a dark forest?" Nicola added.

"Possibly." Richard nodded. "It's worth a try, right?"

"Why not?" Matt shrugged. "I think that there's a tunnel somewhere along this route, so we can stop by there and see."

"Is Niny ready to evolve then?" James asked.

"Pretty much," Matt replied.

"How far to this tunnel?" Nicola asked.

"It shouldn't be too far," said Matt. "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

 _1:24pm, 15_ _th_ _April 2006_

After trekking from some time, the group had finally found the tunnel Matt had been talking about. It wasn't the only way forwards, but it surprised the others to learn that this was still the main road along Route 116.

The cave itself was completely dark inside – no lights whatsoever. There must have been a curve in the road as well, since they couldn't see the other end of the tunnel. In short, it didn't look like the most appealing of places.

"Right! Let's go!" Matt grinned. He released Niny from her poké ball and pulled out a torch.

"Do we have to go in there?" Nicola whined as they started walking.

"Well, it's a faster route than going outside," Richard replied.

"Do you really think that this'll help Niny evolve though?" Nicola looked around cautiously as they stepped into the gloom.

"There's only one way to find out," Matt replied. He glanced over at Richard. "Know anything else about this kind of evolution method?"

"I can't remember exactly," Richard replied. "But I think that Niny probably needs to finish gathering energy in here."

"So you mean we need to battle something," Matt sighed. "Any of you up for a battle?"

"Wouldn't that be a little dangerous inside a tunnel?" Nicola asked nervously.

"Yeah, we couldn't battle that fiercely," James replied. "And using a pokémon like Charka would be out of the question."

"A small-scale battle, then?" Richard suggested. "If Niny is ready to evolve, then a quick fight with Chena or Dish might be enough."

"We'd still be blocking the road," said Will. "And are you guys really sure that you want to fight in the dark?"

They'd gotten quite far into the tunnel. Now that he looked around, Richard realised just how dark it was. The entrance seemed very small and far off now. And it was cold too – a hollow cold that completely covered them. Every step they took echoed along the tunnel, eerily filling the darkness.

"What if I sent out Charka?" James asked. "The flame on his tail would provide a bit more light."

"Let's try it." Matt nodded.

James released the charmeleon from his poké ball. Their immediate surroundings were lit up by the orange flame. The flickering light distorted their shadows. In a way, it was more eerie now than it was before.

"What do you think?" James asked. "Is this enough, do you reckon?"

"Hmm." Will pondered for a second. "Probably. If you guys are sure about this, then I guess it's best to try and get it over with straight away."

"That's fine by me!" Richard grinned, pulling out Chena's poké ball.

"I'm not going to hold back!" Matt grinned back. He nodded at Niny. "I hope you'll give us a good battle!"

As the two trainers squared off against each other while James, Charka, Nicola and Will moved off to the side, there was a sudden, quiet noise above them. If not for the brief gap in the conversation, James probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. He glanced up.

"Ah."

"What is it?" Nicola looked up as well and immediately froze.

"Huh?" Richard also looked up. "That's not good."

The noises were getting louder as countless blue and purple wings started flapping. Eyeless, but well aware of where the trainers were thanks to their ultrasonic waves, a colony of the bat pokémon, zubat, swooped down from above.

"Use Flamethrower!" James quickly shouted.

Charka immediately shot a jet of flame into the air, scattering the zubat. As they reformed for another attack, the others were quick to send out their own pokémon.

"Niny, use Fury Swipes!" Matt ordered.

"Chena, use Bite!" Richard added.

"Water Gun!" Nicola and Will both called.

Their pokémon leapt into action. The fight was chaotic, dependent on the limited light from Charka's tail and Matt's torch. The zubat were tenacious and fast, though they didn't use the shadows to their advantage. It had quickly become clear that they weren't going to be able to fully fight them off and instead decided to fight their way along the tunnel until they were far enough away from the zubat's roost.

"I can see the end of the tunnel!" Nicola cried, pointing at the white light that was just visible beyond the next corner.

"I don't think they'll follow us out into the open!" Richard called as Toya blasted a nearby zubat with jet of water.

"One final effort!" James yelled. "Use Fire Spin!"

Charka, taking up the rear, shot a jet of flames back towards the zubat. As a swirling vortex of flame engulfed the width and height of the tunnel, the rest of the group continued running until they finally emerged into the sunlight.

"Ow!" Richard had to shield his eyes after being in the dark for so long. As Charka and James joined them, it was apparent that the zubat had no intention of following them any further.

"Oh!"

Over by the cave entrance, Matt had cried out in surprise as Niny suddenly started glowing white. Her body morphed, her wings growing larger and extending outwards. However, there was also a curious cracking and crunching sound. As the light surrounding Niny burst and the newly-evolved ninjask was revealed, a pale brown coloured shell was cast aside.

"How disappointing!" James groaned.

"Do you think it's because we weren't inside the cave at the time?" Matt asked, walking over and patting Niny on the head.

"Maybe caves aren't what cause nincada to evolve into shedinja," Richard sighed.

"I can't be the only one wondering about this!" Will pointed at the discarded shell.

"Oh, nincada always shed their shells when they evolve. That's normal."

"It looks pretty gross," Nicola muttered, drawing slightly closer. Her foot suddenly caught on a rough patch and she accidentally stumbled into Matt.

"Whoa! You okay?" Matt asked.

"I'm fine! Sorry!" Nicola replied.

"You dropped a poké ball, Matt," said Richard, pointing to a poké ball that had dropped to the ground and started rolling.

"Oh, thanks." As Matt reached down to pick it up, the ball bumped into the shell. To the surprise of everyone, it suddenly popped open and sucked the shell inside. It rolled around for a couple of seconds before clicking and emitting a burst of sparks.

Everyone looked at each other.

"You don't think…"

"No, it couldn't be!"

"But if it is…"

"Wait! You can store items in poké balls, can't you?" Richard suddenly said. "So, it probably just stored the shell inside."

"Yeah, but poké balls only roll and click like that if they're capturing something," James replied. "You can't 'catch' an item."

"L-Let's try sending it out!" Nicola suggested.

"Sure!" Matt picked up the poké ball and threw it.

The ball of energy rearranged itself and burst. A light brown pokémon with a pair of tattered wings divided into three wingtips, a small white halo above its head and two narrow slits for eyes materialised and hovered vacantly in front of them.

"Is it..?"

"I think it is."

Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

" _Shedinja, the shed pokémon and the evolved form of nincada. A shedinja's hard body doesn't move - not even a twitch. In fact, their bodies appear to be merely hollow shells. It is believed that these pokémon will steal the spirit of anyone peering into their hollow body from their back._ "

"Scary." James shuddered. He grinned at Matt. "Still, you finally managed to get a shedinja!"

"It feels kind of anticlimactic," Matt sighed. He grinned as well. "It's good to have you on the team though!" He addressed the shedinja. "From now on, your name is 'Nije'!"

* * *

 _2:15pm, 15_ _th_ _April 2006_

Not long after departing from the tunnel, the group had been consumed by their most pressing question: this 'secret' pokémon that Matt had been so desperate to evolve – what was it like in battle?

Fortunately, Matt had been just as enthusiastic about the prospect of battling with his new pokémon. They quickly found themselves a nice open patch of grass by the side of the road, surrounded by the tree-lined valley. Though everyone was keen to see what Nije was capable of, Nicola wasn't so enthusiastic about actually fighting it. In the end, it was decided that Will would go first.

"Use Water Gun!" he called to Toya.

Toya nodded, quickly firing a blast of water towards the shedinja. The attack scored a direct hit, but, much to their shock, it simply bounced off, leaving Nije completely unharmed.

"What kind of move is that?" James cried. "Did you use Protect or Detect?"

"I-I didn't do anything!" Matt called back.

"Try using it again!" Richard called to Will. "See if you can break through this time!"

"Got it!" Will nodded. "Use Water Gun!"

Toya fired another blast of water, only for it to bounce off again.

"In that case, try Tackle!" Will ordered.

Toya rushed forwards and attempted to slam into Nije, only to sail straight through it. The shedinja made no reaction to Toya's antics.

"My turn now!" Matt grinned. "Use Shadow Ball!"

Nije summoned up a ball of shadows and hurled it at Toya, hitting him and sending him flying back.

"Use Water Gun again!" Will called desperately as Toya pulled himself back up again.

The squirtle obediently charged forwards and fired another blast of water at Nije. Once again, it simply bounced off.

"Use Confuse Ray!" Matt yelled, almost giddy with glee. None of them had ever seen a battle this one-sided!

Nije fired a cluster of yellow orbs which encircled Toya, disorienting him and throwing off his balance.

"Now finish up with Shadow Ball!" Matt shouted.

Nije fired another ball of shadows at Toya, striking him directly and sending him flying back with a crash.

"Looks like that's over," James sighed as Toya came to rest.

"What kind of defences does it have?" Will wondered as he recalled Toya.

"I guess you're up next, James!" Richard grinned.

"Huh? What?" James gave him a startled look. "I'm not so sure…"

"Come on! I'm sure you'll stand a better chance than Will did!" Richard laughed. "After all, he'll have softened it up!"

"Ugh, fine." James took Will's place and threw out Charka's poké ball.

"I'll let you go first!" Matt grinned at him.

"Alright." James nodded at Charka. "Use Flamethrower!"

Charka immediately fired a blast of flames at Nije. The flames engulfed him and burned brightly. As Charka lifted the attack, the blackened shell of the shedinja dropped to the ground with a soft thud…

* * *

 _3:24pm, 15_ _th_ _April 2006_

The world of pokémon is full of mysteries. That much had been instilled into the five trainers since long before they'd received their first pokémon. Yet Nije's apparent strength against Toya and his weakness against Charka wasn't something they were willing to let be. James' initial argument that Charka had just been that much more powerful than Nije had been dismissed out of hand – there had to be a deeper mystery behind this.

Having spent a good twenty minutes after the battle reading through the limited number of books they had between them and finding nothing, they'd decided to keep moving towards the nearest village, which, according to Matt, was home to a former trainer who was very knowledgeable about rare pokémon like shedinja.

"I can't believe that the Pokédex doesn't have any information about this," Nicola had said in disappointment.

James agreed with her. There had been no data about Nije's abilities in the Pokédex at all. The fact that it was almost impervious one minute and completely helpless the next seemed like quite a notable trait for researchers to document. Mind you, he'd seen other Pokédex entries that had greatly exaggerated a pokémon's abilities or otherwise hadn't given him useful information. He hoped that this former trainer would have some answers for them.

After what felt like a very long walk, they finally trekked into the village. Asking around, Matt had quickly tracked down the home of this former trainer and it hadn't taken them long to be standing on the doorstep. After introducing themselves and explaining what they wanted to her confused husband, they'd been invited inside to speak with her.

"Ah, a shedinja, is it?" The old woman adjusted her glasses as she squinted at Nije. "Yes, I can see where it was hit by a fire type attack."

"So, why is it that Nije was able to withstand Water Gun completely, but couldn't survive one Flamethrower?" Matt asked.

"Ah, yes. I can see where it was hit by Water Gun." The old woman nodded sagely.

That seemed odd, given that Toya's attacks hadn't really hit at all and Charka's flames would have eradicated all traces of the water attack. Still, they didn't want to anger the person whose help they needed.

"So, why was Nije able to survive that attack, but not the other?" Matt asked again, his tone clearly starting to grow a little impatient.

"Oh, that's easy to explain," the old woman said. "Can I get any of you some tea?"

The others all shook their heads quickly.

"So, what is it?" Matt asked, his tone slightly more forceful.

"Now, what was it?" The old woman paused and then called over her shoulder to her husband. "Can you get that book – Bug Pokémon of the Hoenn Region?"

The group waited with bated breath as her husband peeled himself out of his armchair and disappeared off. After a short while, he returned and handed a large book to his wife. She opened it and started flicking through.

 _I thought she said it was easy to explain_ , Richard grumbled to himself. It felt like they'd already been there longer than they'd needed to be.

Finally, the old woman found the page she was looking for. After reading it, she looked up at the expectant faces surrounding her.

"Shedinja is a unique pokémon that has an ability called 'Wonder Guard'. It's a mysterious power that protects a shedinja from all but the most grievous of blows."

"So, it can only be hurt by attacks which it's weak to?" Matt asked.

"That's correct." The old woman nodded, shutting the book. "As for why your shedinja was defeated so easily by a Flamethrower attack, shedinja aren't known for their endurance – their bodies are hollow after all. While they are strong against most other pokémon, they don't stand a chance against their weaknesses. Keep that in mind as you go forwards, young man."

"I will! Thank you!" Matt grinned. He recalled Nije and they all thanked the old couple before they left.

"So, what now?" Richard asked as they walked back out onto the street.

"I'm probably going head in the direction of home," said Matt. "Now that I've finally managed to evolve a shedinja, I want to train with it and become stronger."

"Which way is home?" James asked.

"Back in the direction of Rustboro City," Matt replied. "I guess you guys are heading off in the other direction?"

"Yeah, we need to get to Verdanturf Town," James said.

"I guess this is goodbye then," Matt sighed. "Thanks for your help today, guys!"

"No problem!" Richard grinned.

"Hope to see you around some time," Will added. "Next time we battle will be different!"

"I look forward to it!" Matt grinned. He waved as he set off down the road back in the direction they'd come.

The remaining four watched him go until he was out of sight before starting to walk south, resuming their journey towards Verdanturf Town.

* * *

 **I was originally hoping to get this chapter out yesterday, but circumstances conspired against me and I still only had about half the chapter finished when I went to bed last night.**

 **After all the battles of the last three chapters, I wanted to do something slightly more low-key this time – hence a filler chapter which I hope was interesting nonetheless. I've never extensively used a shedinja in the games, but I've always been intrigued by it, both its unique ability and evolution method. Maybe I can go more into the fact that you'll lose your soul if you peek into the hold in its back next time!**

 **Anyway, the group are now solidly on their way towards Verdanturf Town, and I'm sure that there'll be nothing to distract them along the way…**

 **As ever, if you'd be willing to leave any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	16. A Different Type of Competition

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group set off from Rustboro City and encounter Matt, a trainer looking to evolve his nincada into a shedinja.**

 **Upload Date: 4** **th** **June 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: A Different Type of Competition**

 _Route 116, Hoenn_

 _11:45am, 16_ _th_ _April 2006_

Journeys always had their fair share of ups and downs. One of the most common factors influencing that was the state of the weather.

There was no escaping it.

While some trainers might choose to travel to Alola or the southern reaches of Hoenn rather than northern Kalos or Sinnoh on the basis of climate, a sudden tropical downpour would still ruin a traveller's day.

So, of course, it didn't matter exactly where you went – there was still the chance of bad weather, and that bad weather would still cause all manner of trouble for a group of travelling trainers.

As James, Richard, Nicola and Will ran along the street looking for shelter from the cascade of rain dropping from the gloomy sky overhead, however, they couldn't help but long to be somewhere hot and sunny.

Fortunately, they were able to find a small bus shelter built into the outer side of a large wall around someone's property and quickly dove beneath it. Though they'd only been in the rain for maybe a minute or so, their hair and clothes were already wet. Not soaked through, but damp enough to make them feel uncomfortable.

"How much further until we reach Tanero Town?" Nicola gasped, dropping down onto the wooden bench and tipping her head back.

"Maybe an hour or two?" James replied, pulling out his guidebook. "I don't think there's a pokémon centre in this town."

"Ugh," Nicola groaned. "So, we have to keep going? In this weather?"

"Well, that's the way things work sometimes." Richard shrugged. He was rapidly rubbing his hair to try and get it slightly drier. "Even if the weather's bad, we still need to get to the next town."

"Couldn't we get the bus?" Nicola asked hopefully, eyeing up the bus timetable attached to one of the shelter's supports.

"This stop isn't on the route we need to get to Tanero Town," Will replied. "It'll just take us east through the mountains or west, in the direction of Petalburg City."

"We really do have to walk through this, don't we?" Nicola sighed. It wasn't just the wetness of the rain. It was still April and the temperature could still drop rapidly and, now that she was cooling down after running to the shelter, she was beginning to shiver uncontrollably.

"I think it's going to be a little bit stop-start all day," James sighed. "Our best bet is to wait until this shower passes before heading out again. We'll probably end up getting caught in another shower later on though."

"Is it worth seeing if we can find a general store?" Richard asked. "Umbrellas might be a good investment."

"We can have a look once the rain stops," James replied. They weren't in a particular hurry, and if they could keep at least some of the rain off, then they could keep going when the next shower hit.

This town probably did have a shop that sold umbrellas, though it didn't look like it was exactly the busiest of places. Perhaps that was just because the rain was forcing everyone under cover. Once the rain stopped, or at least eased off, they could head out and see what they could find.

The four of them sighed in disappointment as the rain started coming down even harder, drowning out their thoughts as raindrops hammered to the ground.

* * *

 _Tanero Town, Hoenn_

 _1:45pm, 16_ _th_ _April 2006_

"What a relief!" Nicola exclaimed.

The group had finally made their way into the outskirts of Tanero Town. The rain had scarcely let up at all since setting off from the bus shelter and, despite finding some umbrellas, they were still cold and wet. The only saving grace was that it wasn't particularly windy.

Tanero Town itself seemed typical of the smaller towns that dotted the interior of Hoenn. The small buildings lined the sides of rice paddies and the roads leading south in the direction of the Rusturf Tunnel and Verdanturf Town beyond.

The town sat on the eastern side of a larger valley, with the deep green mountains clearly visible on the group's left as they walked into town. On the far side of the valley, they could just make out the mountains enclosing that side. However, it felt as though they were in a much wider area than they had previously.

What stood out the most in the otherwise unremarkable town was the larger than expected number of trainers outside in any open space they could find, practising with their pokémon despite the rain pouring down.

"Is there something going on here?" Richard wondered aloud as they walked in the direction of the pokémon centre. "There wasn't anything in the guidebook, was there?"

"Nothing specific." James shook his head. "Though I seem to remember it mentioning that there was some kind of exhibition hall or something here – pretty much the only remarkable building."

"You think there might be some kind of tournament going on?" Will asked. "I mean, there are tons of people out training their pokémon."

"Hmm." James frowned. That was his instinctive reaction as well, but there was something odd about the way that these trainers seemed to be training. They seemed to be practising unnecessarily flashy moves, not focused enough to cause the maximum amount of damage.

Well, each to their own.

Not paying any more attention to the other trainers, the group continued on towards the pokémon centre. As the automatic doors whirred open, they walked into the welcoming warm air of the lobby.

Stopping off at the reception desk, they booked two rooms for the night and, out of interest, decided to ask the receptionist if there was something going on in the town.

"Oh, yes." She nodded. "There's a pokémon contest in the contest hall this evening." She then directed them to a poster on the wall of the lobby. They felt a little bit stupid for having missed it.

"Pokémon contest?" James studied the poster. "I've never heard of these before."

"Me neither," Richard added. "It looks kind of 'showy' though."

"Yeah, I get that." Nicola nodded. "I think I remember hearing about some stuff like this before I set off from Littleroot Town. I've never actually seen a contest though."

"Want to go and watch it?" James asked. "It's not like we've got anything planned for the afternoon and we can still make it there in time."

"It's in the evening, right? Then we should have some time to dry out, right?" Will asked.

"That's right," Richard replied. "How about we go up to our rooms and get changed into dry clothes. Then we can explore Tanero Town or something to kill time."

"Sure!" Nicola nodded.

"I guess," Will added.

* * *

 _6:59pm, 16_ _th_ _April 2006_

Though the lobby of the contest hall in Tanero Town had been packed with people, the group had been surprised by how comparatively few people were gathered in the stands. Perhaps half of the seats were filled, and the fact that the hall wasn't all that big in the first place made the sparsity of spectators particularly obvious.

James supposed that it was the inevitable result of hosting a competition in a small town like this. Another check of the guidebook and a quick walk around the town had shown them that this was the only notable building in the place.

Still, it must be a disappointment for the hosts, as well as the competitors. There were few more demoralising feelings than the thought that people didn't think you were worth watching. In fact, James had resolved himself to sit through the whole thing regardless of what he thought – he didn't want to make the competitors feel worse by leaving midway through.

"Hello everyone and welcome to this Tanero Town pokémon contest!" The MC emerged from backstage and enthusiastically greeted the audience. "We're lucky enough to have tons of up-and-coming coordinators and their pokémon performing here for us this evening!"

She started explaining how the contest would work. First, they'd have the 'appeals' round, where the competitors and their pokémon would do a solo performance to show off their appeal – hence the name. After the round was over, most of the coordinators would be eliminated from the competition, leaving only eight to move on to the next round. It seemed very harsh when James first heard it, but it ultimately wasn't that different from the process of qualifying for the league. Most trainers failed to even get through the qualifying rounds there.

And in both cases, ultimately there could only be one winner anyway. Whether you got knocked out at the start or at the end didn't actually make much difference.

The eight coordinators who successfully passed the appeals round moved on to the 'battle' round. This would involve coordinators and their pokémon going head-to-head with each other. From this point on, it was a standard knock-out tournament until only a single coordinator was left.

"I was expecting it to be completely different to regular battling," Richard said, turning to the others as the MC finished her introduction and moved to the side. "Aside from the appeals round, it sounds exactly the same."

"Well, there _are_ judges," said James, nodding in the direction of three smartly-dressed people sat down at the front of the audience. The MC had introduced them before she moved off. "But it'll be interesting to see how they handle battles."

"It might still be different." Will nodded.

The first competitor, a boy named Ed, had stepped out onto the stage.

"Go, Apple!" he called, throwing out a poké ball.

A small, pink, cat-like pokémon with a comparatively large tail emerged from the ball and beamed around the room as she materialised.

"What pokémon is that?" Will pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Skitty, the kitten pokémon. Skitty have a habit of becoming fascinated by moving objects and chasing them around. These pokémon are known to chase after their own tails and become dizzy. In the wild, they live in holes in the trees of forests. Skitty are very popular as pets because of their adorable appearance._ "

Apple the skitty had started chasing her tail, occasionally grabbing it and rolling around. She occasionally let out a little mew or squeak, much to the delight of the audience.

"So, that's how he's showing off his pokémon's appeal," James murmured, watching with interest. He tried to act indifferent, but the skitty really was cute.

"Using a skitty seems a bit like cheating," Richard whispered. "It's just doing what it normally does, right?"

"I guess that's what draws the audience in?" Will, sat next to him, gave a shrug.

"Alright, use Assist!" Ed ordered.

Apple jumped up from weaving across the stage while chasing her tail and jumped to attention. She briefly lit up with a white light. A second later, she suddenly fired a freezing beam forwards, freezing the centre of the stage and creating a block of ice.

With a nod from Ed, Apple jumped into the air. Her tail suddenly turned to steel as she started rolling through the air. She smashed her tail into the block of ice, shattering it into pieces that scattered everywhere. Each shard glittered as it caught the light from above the stage.

"Wow!" Nicola gasped as she watched. "That looked really impressive!"

"I guess?" Richard didn't seem convinced as Apple returned to chasing her tail, her performance concluding.

There was a loud cheer from the crowd.

"An excellent performance," the head judge said. "You took full advantage of your skitty's natural habits and abilities and made a dazzling performance out of it."

"I particularly liked the way you had her weaving around while she was playing with her tail," one of the other judges added. "At first glance, it looked like she was just playing, but it was actually a very elaborate dance!"

"And I must commend you on your use of Assist," the final judge said. "While no Metronome, it meant that you had to alter your performance depending on what came out. You did that splendidly."

"Thank you very much!" Ed grinned proudly as he recalled Apple to her poké ball. He waved to the audience as he walked off the stage.

"So that's a contest appeal?" James said as he watched the coordinator go. "It seemed quite interesting. I was expecting it to just be some moves thrown around – I hadn't thought that they put that much effort into it."

"Yeah!" Nicola nodded eagerly. "He made it look like Apple was just doing what came naturally, but there was actually a plan behind it! I think that's really cool!"

"I can see the appeal," Richard sighed. "But it seems like a pain to me. I'd rather just hurl moves at my opponent until they fall down – having to try and make them look pretty? Not for me."

"I know what you mean." Will nodded.

Down below, the MC spoke up to announce the next competitor. "Next up, we have Sophie Gould from Mauville City!"

The next coordinator had stepped out onto the stage: a girl about the same age as them. Despite her youth, she seemed confident.

"Go, Luma!" she called as she threw out a poké ball.

A shroomish burst out of the ball and landed on the ground.

"She has a shroomish, just like you, Nicola!" Richard grinned at her.

"Yeah!" Nicola nodded. She kept her eyes fixed on the stage. "I wonder what kinds of things she's going to do…"

Shroomish weren't as visually appealing as skitty were, but it looked like Luma and Sophie had a plan in mind. As he jumped forwards, Luma used Absorb, or Mega Drain, but instead of firing out a beam of energy, he turned more towards himself. The result was a lush, green glow around him.

Now that he was looking for it, James noticed that, just like Apple had, Luma also appeared to be following a choreographed routine rather than just stepping all over the place. He fired out small puffs of different coloured spores and then spun around to send them wafting in all directions. With a powerful push forwards, he sent the descending spores scattering again.

"Keep it up, Luma!" Sophie called enthusiastically. "Just like we planned!"

Luma nodded cheerfully. He took a deep breath and suddenly expelled a stream of spores from the top of his head. The spores glittered in the light as they gently floated down to the ground around him. It was a more low-key performance than the previous one, but that didn't make it any less impressive. In fact, there was something relaxing about it…

"The spores…" James muttered.

"Huh?" Nicola snapped her head away from the performance and glanced at him.

"I worked it out!" James grinned. "She's got him mixing different types of spores to make the audience feel nice!"

"Wow!" Nicola gasped, realising that there was a nice scent in the air around them. "That's really impressive!"

"I'd never have thought to use a pokémon move that way before," James replied. "This has been really helpful!"

There was a round of applause as Sophie and Luma finished their performance.

"Well, though your performance was somewhat lacking visually, I was impressed by the different ways you used your shroomish's limited move set to come up with something original and interesting to watch," the head judge said.

"I agree." One of his co-judges nodded. "I could tell that your shroomish's condition is exceptional!"

"For me, it lacked impact," the third judge began. "But it was a very well-thought out performance and one that I can tell you poured a lot of time and effort into."

"Thank you!" Sophie smiled at the judges, visibly relieved now that her performance was over. She smiled and waved at the cheering crowd as she disappeared off-stage.

"I imagine it's probably best to be in one of these slots," Will said as she left.

"You mean early on?" James asked.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "I mean, we're going to be pretty bored by the end of the appeals round, right?"

"Speak for yourself!" Nicola retorted.

"It _is_ true that going first means you get to make the first impression on the crowd," James sighed.

"But if the judges decide who goes through, then whoever goes last will be freshest in their memory," Richard added.

"That could be a good thing or a bad thing!" James grinned.

* * *

The remaining coordinators all came out in turn and gave their performances. By the end of it, James had to admit that he was starting to get a little tired of watching. Not that it wasn't interesting seeing the inventive ways they'd interpreted their moves.

Both Ed and Sophie made it through to the battle round, the latter being much to Nicola's relief. James thought that it was the fact that they had a shared pokémon, though he also instinctively felt inclined to support her – she seemed like an underdog to him.

The set-up for the battle round felt very familiar to James and Richard, though it differed in the finer details. A big screen above the stage displayed a picture of both of the coordinators taking part in that battle, a picture of each of their pokémon, two yellow rings around each coordinator's picture and a digital timer at the top. The rings represented how many points each coordinator had. As they lost points during the battle, their ring would slowly empty. The timer was set for five minutes. That was how long they had to finish their battle.

Though the first battle they'd seen had ended when one side knocked out their opponent, James got the feeling that that wasn't the aim. It had still counted as a victory, but the applause from the crowd had been somewhat more subdued.

The second battle was between Sophie and Ed. It was one that they'd been looking forwards to, given the difference between the two of them during the appeals round. That, and Nicola was actively supporting Sophie by this stage.

"Begin!" the MC called.

Ed and Sophie both threw out their poké balls. This time, however, they were using different pokémon to before.

A poochyena emerged from Ed's ball, while a small, pudgy, blue pokémon materialised in front of Sophie.

"Oh! A marill!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Marill?" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Marill, the aqua mouse pokémon and the evolved form of azurill. A marill's body is covered with water-repellent fur, meaning that they can swim through water at high speed without being slowed by the water's resistance. The ends of their tails serve as buoys that keep them from drowning, even in a vicious current_."

"Water type attacks have been popular so far," Richard noted. "I guess a marill is a pretty good choice."

"That poochyena looks quite impressive as well though," said Will. "It looks even smarter than Chena."

"Hey!" Richard exclaimed.

Down on stage, the timer had started ticking down. Both coordinators had to race against time.

"Pochy, use Howl!" Ed immediately ordered.

Sitting back and raising his muzzle towards the ceiling, Pochy the poochyena let out a loud howl. The sound echoed around the contest hall. He did look impressive.

Despite the fact that Pochy wasn't attacking his opponent, Sophie's points had started trickling down.

"Huh?! Why's it going down?" Nicola demanded.

"I guess you lose points if your opponent looks cool?" Richard suggested.

"This really is different to what we're used to," James sighed.

"Riri, use Water Gun!" Sophie ordered.

Riri the marill nodded and fired a jet of water towards Pochy. However, the poochyena deftly avoided the attacks, often just by a hair's width. Despite the closeness of the dodges (or maybe because of them), Pochy seemed to be in complete control of the situation. Sophie's points continued dropping.

"It's already been a minute!" Nicola cried. "There's only four to go!"

"Use Water Gun!" Sophie ordered again.

Riri continued firing, only for Pochy to continue dodging. As Sophie's points continued dropping, however, she suddenly changed course.  
"Use Rollout!"

Riri immediately rolled up and torpedoed her way towards Pochy. Though the poochyena was momentarily stunned by the sudden change in attack, he still managed to avoid the attack without much trouble.

However, Riri jumped out of her ball, pivoted on one foot and rolled up again while retaining her momentum. She slammed into Pochy before he could react and sent him flying.

"Use Rolling Water Tackle!" Sophie shouted.

"…What?" Richard and James shared an odd look. Was that some kind of attack that they hadn't heard of?

Riri, however, understood completely. She fired a series of jets of water into the air. As they descended, glittering in the light, James suddenly realised that each blast had been carefully timed and aimed so that they fell directly into the path Riri was going to be taking. She started rolling forwards, the bulk of each jet of water falling directly into her path just as she reached it. As the water splashed everywhere, disorienting Pochy while simultaneously creating a spectacle, Riri slammed into her opponent and sent him flying back again.

Ed had lost a lot of points. Suddenly, he was the one losing and needing to recover.

There were just two minutes left on the clock.

James could feel himself moving closer to the edge of his seat as he watched the exchange of attacks. Pochy and Ed had switched over onto the attack. As he charged towards Riri, the marill fired a blast of water at him. However, instead of scoring a direct hit, she had targeted the ground just in front of him. Poshy slipped on the now-wet surface and started skidding towards Riri. The marill suddenly curled up and powered forwards, knocking into her opponent. Once again, he was hurled back.

The final minute ticked away as Sophie and Ed yelled desperate orders to their pokémon. Though Pochy became even fiercer on the attack, James couldn't help but notice that Sophie hadn't repeated that many of her previous attack combinations. She and Riri didn't attempt to make the floor slippery again, nor was there a second appearance of the 'Rolling Water Tackle' attack. He realised that she must be doing that so that the audience didn't get bored.

And it was certainly true that Pochy's increasingly desperate, yet repetitive attacks weren't particularly inspiring to watch. What was keeping James interested was the thrill of battle.

The timer ticked down to zero and the MC announced the end of the match.

"Congratulations to Sophie" she called. "She'll be moving on to the next round!"

"What a relief!" Nicola sighed.

"Yeah, I really didn't know which way it was going to go at times," James added.

Richard and Will didn't look as impressed.

"Obviously Sophie was going to win," Will replied. "It was clear that her marill was stronger all through the battle."

"Yeah, it kind of feels a bit… I don't know." Richard frowned. "I mean, Ed's poochyena just dodged the whole time and then completely failed on the attack. You can't win battles without that."

"I guess that's the difference," James said. "Contests really are something completely apart from regular battles."

And it was clear to him that Sophie was someone who understood exactly what she needed to do in order to succeed in contest battles. It was both interesting and fun to watch her.

It didn't surprise him that she went on to win the contest.

* * *

 _8:56pm, 16_ _th_ _April 2006_

Despite their limited expectations went they'd set off to the contest hall, James, Richard, Nicola and, to a lesser extent, Will had been buzzing when they'd arrived back at the pokémon centre. In fact, the whole pokémon centre was buzzing slightly since all the competing co-ordinators had returned there for the night.

Nicola had immediately gone to the trainers' lounge to track down and congratulate Sophie. It looked like they were having quite an animated conversation. The fact that she was also staying at the pokémon centre, while perfectly reasonable, seemed strange given that she'd been up on the stage earlier that evening. It had given her the air of being a celebrity.

"I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would," Richard admitted. "I don't think I could ever get up onto a stage like that with my pokémon though – can you imagine what it would be like trying to do an appeal alongside Naro?"

"If you make it funny enough, then you might win!" James grinned.

"You never know, the judges might take pity on you," Will added.

"Exactly." Richard nodded. "I'm going to stick to battling. It's simpler that way."

"Yeah, I'm the same," Will said. "It was a bit more impressive than I thought it would be, but I still want to become the strongest trainer. I don't need my pokémon dancing around a stage."

At that moment, Nicola returned to them, clearly enthusiastic after speaking to Sophie.

"I think I'd like to give contests a try at some point," she said, butting into their conversation. "It looked like lots of fun and I'm sure it'd help me come up with some awesome tactics to use in my gym battles as well! What are you guys thinking?"

"Nah." Richard and Will reiterated their decisions.

"Hmm, I can see where you're coming from with battle tactics," said James. "I guess I could tag along if you decide to compete in a contest. Are there any more around here, do you know?"

"There's nothing in this area for a while." Nicola shook her head. "But we can register any time, so for now I think we should stay on track to Mauville City."

"That sounds like a good idea to me." Richard nodded.

"Right! Should we head back to our rooms and start getting ready for bed?" James asked. "We've got a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we don't want to be tired!"

It had certainly been an interesting evening. As the group started heading in the direction of bed, they continued discussing pokémon contests, exchanging their thoughts and proposing tactics and theories.

Much to the disappointment of James, Richard and Will, their discussion ended up keeping them awake for some time. It wasn't going to be an easy morning for them.

* * *

 **So, those who were demanding it finally have their token contest introduction chapter. Who knows, maybe we'll have more contest chapters further down the line.**

 **I don't really have much more to say on this chapter. I hope that everything surrounding the contest was clear and that this chapter was mostly error free (this chapter was completed late at night and uploaded almost as soon as it was finished).**

 **As ever, feel free to leave any feedback you have for me.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	17. Zigzag Across Route 116

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group witness a contest for the first time on their way along Route 116.**

 **Upload Date: 12** **th** **June 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Zigzag Across Route 116**

 _Route 116, Hoenn_

 _12:22pm, 17_ _th_ _April 2006_

All hopes for an improvement in the weather had been dashed when James, Richard, Nicola and Will had woken up that morning. Though the rain wasn't as heavy as it had been the previous day, it still meant they'd be wet and cold for most of the day. It was almost tempting to just stay put in Tanero Town and wait for it to blow over.

Still, there was always the chance that the following day would be just as bad, or maybe even worse. At least they'd be closer to the Rusturf Tunnel if they managed to make some progress today. And part of being a trainer was having to brave the elements on their travels. They'd never make it to the Hoenn League if they let a bit of rain stop them in their tracks.

So, it was this logic which had led the four of them out of the Tanero Town pokémon centre and back onto the long road through the valleys of Route 116. Having already been walking for over 90 minutes, they were already feeling cold as the wind blew past and the rain wet their legs.

"How much further is it to go?" Nicola asked glumly as they trudged along the road. Even with all the extra layers she'd bundled herself up with, the cold was still seeping into her bones.

"It's still a long way to get to Gharnot Town," James replied, looking at the map in his guidebook for the next town and frowning. "I don't think we'll make it there in one day."

"Is there anywhere else along the way?" Richard asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Not really." James shook his head. "There are a couple of small villages, but nothing with a pokémon centre."

"What about that one there?" Will pointed to a red poké ball symbol on the map, indicating a town with a pokémon centre.

"We could go there," James replied. "But it means leaving the main road and heading through the mountains."

"It's a pretty straight road, right?" Richard asked. "We should be fine as long as we just follow it."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Nicola added. "If we can get somewhere with a pokémon centre, then that's better."

"It would be a pain trying to find a campsite in the mountains, I guess," James mused thoughtfully. "Well, we've got a while to go before we reach the turning point, so we can discuss it again when we get there."

"I wonder how far the railway goes," Nicola muttered, turning her attention to the train tracks running alongside the road on the far side of a ditch. She found the short distance both baffling and slightly alarming.

"Ah, well that…" James began.

Before he could finish, though, Nicola suddenly spotted a furry brown pokémon slightly further along, sniffing at the rails and clambering over them. She immediately let out a startled cry. "That zigzagoon might get run over if a train comes along!"

"Nicola! Wait!" Richard yelled as she dumped her bag and umbrella on him and jumped down into the ditch.

She quickly climbed up the other side and ran along to the zigzagoon.

"Don't worry! I've got you!" She reached out and grabbed the startled pokémon. Pulling herself back, she lost her balance on the embankment and landed with a thud in the ditch. She found herself meeting the eyes of the zigzagoon she held in her still-outstretched arms.

It would have been a touching moment… if the zigzagoon hadn't then bitten her left thumb and started scratching her hands with its sharp claws.

"Oww!" Nicola yelped in pain. She dropped the zigzagoon, which promptly scampered off into the undergrowth.

"Are you alright, Nicola?" Richard called, jumping down into the ditch to join her.

"I think so," Nicola replied. The scratch marks on her hands stung, but weren't very deep. Her thumb, on the contrary, had started bleeding. A dark red drop threatened to drip down and stain the front of her jumper as she cautiously lowered the affected hand to her side. "Talk about ungrateful," she grumbled as Richard helped her up.

"I don't mean to ruin your big moment," James began. "But this is actually a disused railway."

"Huh?"

"It means that there aren't any trains using it," Will added. "That zigzagoon was never in any danger."

"So, you ended up getting yourself bitten for no reason!" Richard grinned at her.

"T-Tell me that first next time!" Nicola stuttered, her face turning red. She spun around to face away from them.

"I did try," James replied. "You were just too worried."

"Let's get that thumb cleaned up," said Richard, reaching out to grab her hand. He quickly cleaned and disinfected the injury on her thumb, before tying some dressing around it.

"Thanks," Nicola muttered. Aside from getting herself injured, she'd abandoned her umbrella and had gotten wet in the rain. It was going to be a tough day from now on.

* * *

 _1:08pm, 17_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Well, here we are," James said as they reached a right turn in the road. They'd arrived in a small village along the route towards Gharnot Town. And 'small' was the right word for it. There probably weren't much more than twenty houses and nothing else beyond the surrounding rice paddies and fields. There was certainly no place for them to stop and rest.

Though the rain had eased off, they still needed their umbrellas up to keep dry or, in Nicola's case, avoid getting wetter. It was still cold and dark and, true be told, James was convinced that it would be very dark if they went under the cover of the tall, sinister pine trees covering the mountain paths to their right.

"What do you think then?" Richard asked, turning to look at the others.

"I'm still not sure," James replied, deciding to voice his concerns.

The others listened, but they seemed unconvinced.

"If we can get through quicker that way, then I don't see any problems," Nicola said. "We have torches anyway, so it won't matter too much."

"Yeah, and it means getting to rest in a pokémon centre rather than having to pitch the tent," Will added.

"How long do you think it'll take to get through there?" Richard asked.

"Maybe a couple of hours," James replied. "It could take longer if it's tough terrain."

"Well, as long as we're careful, I say we go with this route," Richard said, reaching his conclusion.

"Alright." James put the guidebook away. "It'll probably be fine, but make sure that you're careful, guys."

"Got it!" the others replied as they set off down the road to their right. They immediately found themselves in an enclosed road, with walls surrounding people's properties. The village sat at the point where a smaller valley met the main one, which added to this effect.

It was clear that this wasn't the kind of place where an awful lot happened. Aside from the trainers travelling along Route 116, the village probably didn't have any visitors at all.

As they walked along the street, they suddenly heard a crash from further up. Upon reaching it, they discovered that a bin put out by the side of the road had fallen over. A brown, spikey tail was sticking out of the overturned bin. Alerted by the sound of their footsteps, the pokémon backed out of the bin with some scraps in its mouth.

"Ah!" Nicola suddenly cried.

"What?" James asked.

"It's that zigzagoon from before!" she cried, pointing at it.

"Huh?" Richard gave her a confused look. "We've been walking for almost an hour. How can it be the same one?"

"It is!" Nicola insisted. "I recognise the pattern in its fur!"

The zigzagoon seemed to recognise Nicola too. It watched her with curious eyes, the scraps of food still in its mouth.

"You shouldn't steal food from bins!" Nicola called to it, running forwards. "You'll get into trouble!"

The zigzagoon suddenly jumped back. With a powerful kick, it sent the bin rolling in Nicola's direction.

There was a cry and a thud as Nicola tripped over the bin and crashed to the ground.

"Nicola!" The others ran forwards to help her as the zigzagoon meandered up the street, occasionally casting a mischievous look over its shoulder.

* * *

 _1:41pm, 17_ _th_ _April 2006_

"I told you – I can walk by myself!" Nicola protested loudly.

"Yeah, yeah," Richard, carrying her on his back, replied dismissively.

Though Nicola had tried to play down her earlier fall, the others had noticed that she was limping immediately. If they were going to follow a path through the mountains and the forests covering the route ahead, it would be risky for her on unsteady feet. This was their attempt to avoid that problem by giving her ankles time to recover.

The valley had narrowed considerably since they'd entered it. The slopes were steep and covered with thick vegetation, while the small but densely packed village had given way to rice paddies and the occasional house or farm building. With the sky still darkened by the clouds and rain continuing to steadily fall, there was no one about. Even the wild pokémon seemed to be sheltering from the weather.

All they could really think about was the road through the forests and mountains beyond. It would be tough walking and they'd need to make it through in one go. If it was anything like the gloom beneath the trees lining the sides of the valley, it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Should we stop for lunch?" Will asked.

"Could do," James sighed. He didn't like the idea of stopping when they needed all the time they had to get through the forest, but it had been a while since breakfast. Perhaps it would make things easier if they were rested and on a full stomach.

"Let's do it then," said Richard. Clearly, he agreed.

The four of them sat down by the side of the road, a rice paddy behind them. There were no benches around, so they were going to have to make do. Thankfully, the rain wasn't too heavy and it was comparatively easy to keep dry using the umbrellas. The pokémon stayed in their poké balls so that they could avoid any unnecessary delays.

They passed the meal mostly in silence. No one really felt much like talking. It was still cold and, by this stage, no one had escaped getting wet. As necessary as the stop for lunch might have been, James got the feeling that all of them were silently wishing that they were already at the pokémon centre.

"…I guess we should get going again," he said as they finished eating.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "Got to get through it sooner or later."

"Huh? Where's my bag?" Nicola had reached behind her to pick up her bag, only to find herself grasping at empty air.

"Did you lose it?" James asked, a confused look crossing his face.

"No, she had it when she sat down," Richard replied.

"Over there!" Will suddenly exclaimed.

Wandering along the narrow ridge that separated two rice paddies, Nicola's backpack clasped firmly in its mouth, was the zigzagoon from earlier.

"Get back here!" Nicola shouted, immediately jumping up and running over to the ridge.

The zigzagoon glanced back at her and blinked a couple of times dismissively before continuing to saunter up the ridge.

Nicola pursued it, walking quickly up the narrow ridge as quickly as she could. That zigzagoon had already made a fool out of her twice – she wasn't going to let it happen again!

The zigzagoon suddenly stopped walking. Nicola watched in horror as it swung its head to the side and released her bag. She instinctively reached out for it as it flew through the air, only for her foot to slip on the wet grass.

There was a cry, followed by a splat, as Nicola and her bag landed in the shallow, muddy water of the rice paddy.

"Nicola!" James and Richard ran along the ridge cautiously to reach her.

"Grrr!" Nicola pulled herself slowly up onto her hands and knees, her front covered in mud. She wiped her face and looked around just in time to see the zigzagoon disappear from sight.

"Are you alright?" James asked as they reached her. He offered her a hand up.

"I'm fine," Nicola replied as she stood up, picking up her backpack as she did. "Ugh! It's all wet!"

"I wonder why it did that?" Richard sighed as he and James helped Nicola back to the road.

"It probably just likes the way she reacts to it," James replied. "Pokémon can be quite fickle sometimes."

"I'm annoyed it got away." Nicola frowned. She attempted to wipe her face with her sleeve, but succeeded only in getting her face dirtier. "I wanted to try and catch it."

"Huh?" James and Richard, joined by Will, gave her stunned looks.

"Why?" Will asked. "What part of its behaviour made you want to try training it?"

"Don't tell me that you _like_ the fact that it's been hurting you?!" Richard added.

"No, nothing like that!"

"Then why _do_ you want to catch it?" James asked. "Is it the challenge of trying to tame a badly-behaved pokémon?"

"It's not that either!" Nicola shook her head firmly. "Remember when we first encountered it? How I tried to help it?"

"It wasn't much help, but go on."

"Well, if it started following me and causing trouble because I did something like that, then it'll do the same thing to someone else travelling along that route," Nicola explained. "But if I catch it, then it can't cause any more trouble."

"Well, I can't deny that that man was angry when he thought we'd knocked over his bin," Richard said, shuddering at the memory.

"If it's following me, then we should run into it again, right?" Nicola looked between the three of them. "That means we can keep moving towards the pokémon centre and I can catch him when he next shows up. I promise I won't slow you guys down!"

"Well, it's your choice," James sighed.

"Thanks!" Nicola grinned. Her front, most of her sleeves and her ponytail were covered in muddy water, while the rest of her clothes were soaked through from the rain. Perhaps she was also thinking about getting back at the pokémon that had caused her so much trouble.

"By the way, I'm not going to carry you from here on," Richard said quickly.

"I never asked you to in the first place!" Nicola snapped. "I can walk just fine by myself!" To prove it, she shouldered her backpack and started marching off up the road in the direction of the forest.

The other three shared a concerned look before setting off after her. It hadn't been a particularly good day so far and none of them wanted Nicola's quest to catch the zigzagoon to make it any worse.

* * *

 _2:32pm, 17_ _th_ _April 2006_

Almost all of the last vestiges of civilisation had disappeared. All that was left was the asphalt road the group was following, and electricity wires running along overhead. They were otherwise surrounded by nature; the tall coniferous trees stood alongside the road, though the forest still wasn't that thick.

However, it was still difficult to navigate. Having come across a fork in the road, they'd opted to head right, which they believed would lead them in the direction of the next town. After about twenty minutes of walking, they'd found that the road was leading them in a completely different direction.

Though they'd been able to find their way back easily enough, it was the lost time that bothered them. The thick rain clouds meant that it would get darker quicker and they couldn't really afford to delay getting through the mountains.

That, however, had been when Nicola had spotted a small brown pokémon with a familiar fur pattern.

"There it is!" she shouted.

The zigzagoon was meandering along the road they'd been supposed to take before. A part of James wondered if it had been waiting for them.

The moment it saw Nicola, it flashed a mischievous grin and started running along the road. Interestingly, it didn't flee into the surrounding forest. James guessed that it probably wanted to be chased – perhaps this was all a game to it.

"Come on, guys!" Nicola called as she started running after it. She made for a very unusual sight as she ran. Her clothes and hair were still a mess after her fall in the rice paddy, while her ankle was still injured after the incident with the bin and was causing her to run in a slightly weird way.

The other three all looked at each other and shrugged. They needed to head in this direction anyway, and someone needed to be on hand in case Nicola ended up hurting herself again.

* * *

 _2:47pm, 17_ _th_ _April 2006_

Following the winding path between the forested peaks, the four trainers lost track of time as they pursued the zigzagoon. Despite constantly being distracted by interesting things on either side of the road, it had still managed to remain ahead of them.

As they all started to get tired, however, Nicola was finally able to get in range.

"Go, Kipa!" she called, throwing out the mudkip's poké ball.

As Kipa burst out of the ball, the zigzagoon finally came to a halt and spun around to face its opponent.

"Make sure you sort this out quickly, Nicola!" James called. "We still need to get to the pokémon centre, remember!"

"Got it!" Nicola nodded. She paused for a second to regain her breath before straightening up and looking at Kipa. "Use Water Gun!"

Kipa immediately fired a blast of water at the zigzagoon, who nimbly dodged it and charged back. Kipa let out a yelp as he was struck and thrown back.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa quickly recovered and slammed back into the zigzagoon, knocking it back.

"Looks like an exciting battle so far," Will mumbled sarcastically as the two pokémon exchanged tackles.

"As long as it's quick…" James shrugged.

"Try using Bide!" Richard called.

"Use Mud Slap!" Nicola shouted, ignoring Richard's advice.

Kipa kicked some mud into the zigzagoon's face, causing it to cry out in pain and alarm. It frantically rubbed its face with its paws before attempting to kick sand into Kipa's face. The mudkip easily avoided it, but was unprepared for the zigzagoon's next attack. It charged forwards and slammed into him with a powerful headbutt. Kipa was thrown back, but quickly pulled himself back to his feet.

"It's quite resourceful!" Nicola couldn't help but grin. The zigzagoon was tougher than it looked.

Kipa was able to dodge its next attack and hit it with a blast of water. However, the zigzagoon toughed it out and charged back at the mudkip, smashing into him. This time, however, Kipa stood his ground.

"Use Water Gun, once more!" Nicola called.

Kipa promptly blasted the zigzagoon back with a jet of water. Another attempt by the zigzagoon to charge at Kipa was easily dodged and the latter countered with a tackle of his own.

"Now's your opportunity!" Richard called.

"Right!" Nicola pulled out an empty poké ball and threw it at the zigzagoon as it stumbled about, trying to recover from Kipa's attack. The ball spun through the air and struck it on the head. As it was sucked inside, the poké ball dropped to the ground and started shaking. After rolling for a few seconds, there was a click and a small burst of sparks.

"I did it!" Nicola gasped.

"Oh, yeah. That was your first time properly catching a pokémon, wasn't it?" Richard grinned.

"I'm more worried about what that zigzagoon is going to do," Will sighed.

"Same." James nodded.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine!" Nicola grinned. She walked over and picked up the poké ball. She sent out the zigzagoon. "I'm going to call you 'Zaggy'," she said. "Let's try and get along from now on!"

Zaggy seemed to contemplate her words for a few seconds. Then he grinned. Mischievously.

"Hey!" Nicola cried in alarm as he jumped up and grabbed his own poké ball in his mouth. As he landed, he started running along the road for a while before stopping and returning himself to the poké ball.

"Yeah, good luck with that, Nicola!" Richard grinned.

"I don't envy you," Will added.

"I-It'll get better!" Nicola insisted as she walked over and picked up the poké ball. "I'll be able to win him over!"

"Let's hope so," James sighed. "Anyway, we need to get back to walking if we want to get to the pokémon centre before dark."

The group set off once again through the gloomy, wet afternoon. Despite the poor weather, dark surroundings and the fact that they still had a long way to go before she could change out of her wet and muddy clothes, Nicola remained upbeat. Her newest pokémon might be a handful, but she was still thrilled to have made a successful capture.

* * *

 **For the record, Zaggy isn't the same zigzagoon the group ran into on Route 102. They were some 67km away from where they met that zigzagoon and I doubt it would have travelled that far.**

 **Aside from that, I don't really have much to say about this chapter. I had fun messing with Nicola. The poor girl – she did mean well! There wasn't much happening this chapter for the others, but hopefully they'll get more action next time.**

 **Moving on from that, I feel the need to answer for Chapter 16 here. Most reviews were mixed and, quite frankly, I feel that's completely justified. There were weaknesses I was aware of even as I was writing it and I submitted it knowing that it wasn't my finest work. The main issues were that a) I wrote most of the chapter late last Sunday evening with an early start the following morning hanging over me, hence the chapter was rushed and didn't receive the same level of attention as normal, and b) repeated calls for and mentions of contests in reviews of earlier chapters sapped my enthusiasm for it.**

 **With hindsight, I would have combined the plot of chapter 16 with another chapter I have planned for later on, which would have solved most of the problems. One of the main issues readers appeared to have was the fact that the winning co-ordinator didn't (and still doesn't) have a name. This is partly because I never intended to insert the co-ordinators as characters in Chapter 16 and partly because none of them will reappear in the story later. I feared that if I gave this co-ordinator a name, then people would be calling for her return at some point further down the line. Based on the reviews, I may go onto the random name generator I normally use and grab a name from there, but for the time being, I want to focus on future chapters rather than any kind of overhaul of previous ones. If I get some free time, then I'll probably revisit Chapter 16 and make changes.**

 **Above all, I want to thank those who did leave reviews expressing their thoughts. I know it isn't easy telling someone when you think they've done something wrong, but you did and I'll be able to improve because of it. So, again, thank you for taking the time to give me your thoughts on Chapter 16. I hope to hear how you feel about Chapter 17 as well! :P**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Sand Attack.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Focus Energy and Quick Attack.


	18. A Voice in the Night

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola tangling with a mischievous zigzagoon which just wouldn't stop causing trouble for her. Vowing to put his antics to an end, she captured the zigzagoon and named him 'Zaggy'. The easy part for her is now over…**

 **Upload Date: 18** **th** **June 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: A Voice in the Night**

 _Route 116, Hoenn_

 _2:58pm, 18_ _th_ _April 2006_

The valley beyond the forested paths leading away from the main road along Route 116 had felt surprisingly calm and peaceful. Though there were several big roads leading into it from different directions, it felt very cut off from the rest of the area. Not as many trainers used this route, though the main town at the centre of the valley was equipped with the usual amenities to deal with them.

Certainly, the local pokémon centre had been a welcome sight after James, Richard, Nicola and Will had finally trudged out of the forest and into the valley. Nicola, in particular, had been suffering from the injuries sustained during the day's activities.

"We'll take it easier tomorrow," James had said once they reached the pokémon centre. It was pointless for her to keep pushing herself when her injuries would heal up faster otherwise.

Nicola had been reluctant at first. Perhaps she had been worried that they'd see her as slowing them down. But she'd eventually agreed with them.

So, the day had been fairly relaxed so far. Setting off later than normal, they'd been walking at a slower pace and enjoying the scenery around them. Gently enclosed by hills and mountains thick with deep green vegetation, the valley leading south-east towards the main road felt as tranquil as the rest of the area. The road they'd been walking along followed a river as it wound its way down the valley. There was no sign of the dark clouds and rain from the previous few days, though the ground remained wet and the air felt fresh and clean.

After a few hours, they'd reached the main route along towards the Rusturf Tunnel again, walking into a town that straddled the roads as they connected.

"Do you think she's okay?" James asked Richard as the two of them watched Nicola.

"Come on! Give it back!" Nicola whined. She was chasing after Zaggy, who had her jumper clasped firmly in his mouth as he ran.

"…I'm sure she'll be fine," Richard replied. "She said she'd be the one to tame him, didn't she?"

"What are we going to do now?" Will asked. "We could probably keep walking for another couple of hours."

"I'm not sure," James replied, noting that, despite her determined pursuit of the zigzagoon, Nicola still had a slight limp. In fact, it had become more pronounced than it had been at the start of the day.

"Well, it's not like we're in any rush." Richard shrugged. "If we want to rest, then we should probably try and find a pokémon centre instead of camping out."

"Are there many between here and Gharnot Town?" Will asked.

"I think there's one in this town," James replied.

Nicola finally caught up with Zaggy and grabbed her jumper by one of its sleeves. The zigzagoon let out a playful growl and tugged back.

"Let go!" Nicola grimaced as she dug in her heels and pulled with all her might. All of a sudden, Zaggy let go of the jumper. Nicola let out a surprised cry as she fell to the ground.

As she pulled herself up, rubbing her backside, Zaggy grinned at her, wagging his tail.

"I think that's enough for today," she said wearily, holding out Zaggy's poké ball. However, the zigzagoon simply dodged the recall beam and started running along the road, weaving from side to side as various objects caught his attention.

"You know, stopping early seems like a pretty good idea," James said, turning to look at the other two.

* * *

 _12:02pm, 19_ _th_ _April 2006_

James had been worried that Nicola might have insisted that they keep going and camp out further along the valley instead of stopping early for her sake, but she'd been worn out after chasing and successfully returning Zaggy to his poké ball and had accepted the decision without a fuss.

They'd paid the price for stopping early the following morning, however, when they'd awoken to find that the rainclouds were back and they'd inevitably end the day a lot wetter than when they started out.

"At least we didn't have to put the tent away when it was wet," Richard had said when Will had reported the state of the weather. It was a fair point, though it still meant that they had further to go in the rain.

Still, James felt that, by this stage, he was used to feeling his wet jeans clinging to his legs and hearing the rain hammering on top of his umbrella. The thought of reaching the pokémon centre in Gharnot Town pushed him on.

"Are you sure this is a shortcut?" Nicola asked uneasily.

James had chosen to take them along another forest path that led east towards Gharnot Town. It cut the corner off of the regular route, though the winding nature of the path meant that they often felt like they were walking back in the direction they'd come. That was probably what was worrying Nicola.

"Don't worry," James said. "It's much quicker to go this way than to go around."

"At least the road is nice and easy to follow!" Richard grinned. "Anyway, what do you know about Gharnot Town, James?"

"It's a fairly major town," James replied. "It sits on the main route through central Hoenn towards places like Mauville City and Verdanturf Town. There are quicker routes down by the coast, but the fact that there's lots of untamed wilderness around here make it popular for trainers."

"Any idea what kind of pokémon we can find around here?" Richard asked.

"Nincada, and zigzagoon, obviously." James pulled out his guidebook and flicked open the page for Gharnot Town. "There's a few that I haven't seen before as well."

"Sounds exciting," said Nicola. "I'd say 'let's look for some' if it weren't raining."

"We don't need to look hard," said Will.

The others followed where he was pointing.

Hanging from a tree branch not far ahead, a small, round, brown pokémon was watching them.

"What's that?" Richard pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Seedot, the acorn pokémon. Seedot attach themselves to tree branches using the tops of their heads. They suck moisture from the tree while hanging off the branch. The more water they drink, the glossier their bodies become. Seedot startle other pokémon by suddenly moving. They polish their bodies once a day using leaves._ "

"There seem to be a lot of pokémon that set themselves up somewhere and then don't move," Nicola said, gazing at the seedot. It stared back at them, watching carefully as they walked past. "Wouldn't they get attacked?"

"Most pokémon can still defend themselves in some way, even if they're immobile," Richard explained. "Take silcoon and cascoon, for example. They might stay motionless, but they can harden their bodies to resist attackers."  
"Don't forget about the poison," James added.

"So, that seedot could still defend itself effectively even if it's staying motionless?"

"I'm pretty sure it could."

"Shall we test it?" Will asked.

The other three looked at him.

"You're thinking of battling it?" James asked.

"Not really," Will replied with a shrug. "I was just thinking of making a small attack to see how it would react."

"That sounds like it has the potential to escalate!" Richard grinned. "But it could be interesting to see how seedot fight."

"I'm kinda curious now as well…" Nicola added.

"Alright, I won't take a second." Will pulled out a poké ball and threw it.

It popped open and Turkey let out a cry as he burst out. He brought himself to a halt and started hovering, looking back at Will for orders.

"Use Quick Attack!" Will ordered.

Turkey burst forwards with a flash of light. He struck the seedot, causing it to rock but not to fall. It suddenly surrounded itself with a green aura before firing a cluster of leaves out around it.

"That was Nature Power," said Richard, recognising the start of the attack. "I guess it becomes Razor Leaf in forests."

"Dodge it, Turkey!" Will called.

Turkey darted around quickly using the momentum, so quick that it almost looked as though there was more than one of him. As he successfully avoided the seedot's attack, he dove back towards Will, who was waiting with his poké ball held out in front of him.

"Let's get going," said James, watching the seedot carefully as Will recalled Turkey to his poké ball. "We don't want it trying to attack us."

"Did that answer your question?" Richard asked Nicola as they walked hurriedly along the path.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "Remind me not to get too close to one in the future…"

"It only attacked because Will attacked it first," James said. "I don't think you need to worry too much!"

"Let's focus on getting to Gharnot Town," said Will. "I want to get out of this rai as soon as possible."

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to stop and attack that seedot!" James grinned at him.

"It was only a soft hit…" Will muttered in response.

* * *

 _Gharnot Town, Hoenn_

 _1:17pm, 19_ _th_ _April 2006_

The rain had eased off by the time the four of them finally arrived in Gharnot Town. Unfortunately, it turned out that the nearest pokémon centre was on the far side of town and on the opposite side of the river. The extra time spent in the wet and cold didn't do much to improve their spirits.

And, unfortunately, there was more bad news to come.

"Huh? It's closed?" James asked the receptionist.

"I'm afraid so," the receptionist replied solemnly. "Rusturf Tunnel has been hit by a couple of cave-ins recently and work has been delayed even further by some kind of hold-up a couple of days ago."

"A hold-up?"

"Some hooligan attempting to kidnap a pokémon, according to the reports," the receptionist explained. "Apparently, they were stopped by a young trainer and the kidnapped pokémon was safely recovered."

"That's a relief."

"Work is set to resume on the tunnel soon, but it'll be a while before they can clear the collapse and make the tunnel safe again."

"I see," James sighed.

"Oh, that reminds me…" The receptionist started sorting through a pile of papers on her desk. "We've been told to warn trainers that, due to the construction work and other disturbances in the area around Rusturf Tunnel, a number of the wild pokémon living in the area have been riled up and are more likely to cause disruption in the nearby area."

"Thanks for letting us know," Richard replied.

"Is it possible to get to Verdanturf Town any other way?" James asked.

"The main route is through Rusturf Tunnel," the receptionist replied, creasing her brow as she thought. "You could try taking a less direct road further north, but it would add days onto your journey. Plus, there's the fact that all other traffic will be using it and the recent problems with wild pokémon…"

"Alright, thanks for telling us," James said gratefully. He picked up their room keys and the four of them stepped away from the reception desk. Deciding to discuss what to do next together, they briefly glanced in the trainers' lounge.

Unfortunately, the disruption with Rusturf Tunnel meant that countless other trainers who'd come looking to cross through the mountains to Verdanturf Town were stuck here with nothing to do. The trainers' lounge was packed and it didn't seem like that would change anytime soon. James made a mental note to make sure they were down for dinner early that evening.

Turning away from the trainers' lounge, they instead went up to the boys' room to hold their discussions. The pokémon were let out of their poké balls as well, though they weren't expected to play much of a role in the decision-making.

"So, what should we do now?" James asked the obvious question. He was sat on what was now his bunk, scratching Kacha, who was lying on the ned next to him, behind the ears. The pikachu squeaked happily in response.

"Yeah, it's a tough choice," Richard sighed. "We could go the long way around, but that would take forever."

"Where else can we go?" Nicola asked. She was keeping a careful watch on Zaggy out of the corner of her eye as he and Chena sniffed about in the corner of the room.

"Do we know where else we could find a pokémon gym?" Will looked between the others.

"I'm looking," James said as he pulled out his guidebook.

"We could go back to Petalburg," Richard added. "We know there's a gym there and now that Nicola and I both have three pokémon each, we should be able to challenge Norman."

"Doesn't that just bring us in a full circle though?" Nicola asked.

"I guess so…"

"Not necessarily." James interrupted them as Turkey and Nulin perched on the top bunk above him. "There's a gym in Dewford Town, on Dewford Island. We can get a ferry there from Petalburg City."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Will. He briefly reached down to separate Toya and Kipa, who seemed to be about to come to blows.

"I like it too!" Richard nodded with approval. "That means we won't have to wait long between battles!"

"Will we have to go back via Rustboro?" Nicola didn't seem convinced.

"No." James shook his head. He held up the map and pointed out a line. "This is Route 116(a). It leads north-west from Gharnot Town to Petalburg City through a different valley. It'll probably only take us a couple of days or so to get there."

"Alright, let's go with that then." Nicola nodded. Having seen the battle between James and Norman before, she felt nervous at the prospect of fighting him so soon. But she was always going to have to fight him eventually, and she'd at least proved that she could win a gym battle after fighting Roxanne.

"Great!" James snapped his guidebook shut. "I guess we get change into something dry now and relax until dinner time!"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "We're going to need plenty of energy for tomorrow!"

* * *

 _Mylos Town, Hoenn_

 _3:47pm, 20_ _th_ _April 2006_

"There it is! Finally!" Richard gasped. Ahead of them on their left was the welcoming sight of a pokémon centre.

"Good," Will murmured wearily. "I can't wait to get dry again."

The bad weather had continued again that day. The ceaseless rain had made for an unpleasant, if uneventful, trip down from Gharnot Town.

It had been decided that they would head for Mylos Town, a small settlement in the eastern part of Route 116(a). It was a mostly unremarkable town. The guidebook hadn't had any real information about it beyond the location of the pokémon centre. Still, there was something welcoming about it in spite (or perhaps because of) the rain.

"I can't wait to have a warm shower!" Nicola groaned as the automatic doors whirred open and she stepped into the pokémon centre.

"Same," Richard sighed as he followed her in.

As Will walked through the doors as well, he felt James' hand on his shoulder.

"You got a minute?"

"Need something?"

"Just something I've been thinking about since yesterday," said James. "You remember when Turkey was dodging that seedot's attacks?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"It looked me like he was almost using Double Team."

"Well, he was moving quite quickly," Will said thoughtfully. He looked at James. "So, are you saying you think he can learn it?"

"I get the feeling it's the kind of move he could probably master on his own," James replied. "But we've got some free time now, so I wondered if you wanted to practise it?"

"Sure, why not." Will nodded.

The two of them wandered over to join Richard and Nicola to oversee them booking rooms. After checking the room number on Richard's key, they made their excuses and headed for the indoor arenas. Thankfully, they weren't busy.

"How do you teach a pokémon to make copies of itself?" Will asked as pulled out Turkey's poké ball.

"They aren't actually copies," James replied. "More like afterimages."

"But how do they work?" Will asked. "You're not telling me that pokémon can more so fast that they're physically in multiple places at once."

"That's not it." James shook his head. "It's essentially a mind trick. You know how an attack on a 'double' simply makes it disappear, right?"

"Yeah."

"What's happening is that the pokémon is moving fast and leaving the impression that there are more than one of it. It's basically a massive bluff."

"Then is it possible for a pokémon to see through that 'bluff'?" Will asked as he sent out Turkey.

"Who knows?" James grinned. He released Kacha from his poké ball. "I guess you could try and train your pokémon to see through it."

With both pokémon out, they started work. Though Kacha no longer knew Double Team, he was still familiar enough with how it worked to help instruct Turkey. As James had predicted though, it was just a case of pushing him in the right direction.

"That's looking good!" James grinned. "Have him weave a little more!"

Kacha squeaked his approval, nodding with satisfaction. Turkey, having started out unsure, looked much more confident now.

"You heard him, Turkey!" Will nodded at him.

With a confident cry and a grin over his shoulder, Turkey dove towards Kacha again, weaving and rolling from side to side.

"There!" James suddenly shouted, pointing.

A faint double had appeared, flying alongside Turkey. Almost as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again.

"Let's try it again!" Will called.

Turkey was equally determined to get it right now that he was so close. Shooting over Kacha's head, he circled around and dove again. Though his weaving wasn't as strong as before, a couple of faint doubles appeared and stayed for a couple of seconds.

"I think Turkey has more or less picked up on the technique," James said as Turkey landed on the ground to rest. Kacha immediately scurried over to congratulate him. "As long as you keep practising it, he'll get the hang of it in no time."

"Great work, Turkey!" Will called. "You're getting stronger every day!"

Turkey gave him a proud look in response. Clearly, he was as keen on getting stronger as his trainer was.

"Right!" James gestured for Kacha to climb onto his shoulder. "I'm going to head up and have a shower! You can stay here and practise some more if you want."

"I'll come later," Will replied. "No point in heading up now if I have to fight you for the shower."

"A wise move!" James grinned.

Now that he was finished helping Will and Turkey, he was hoping to have a relaxed evening and a good night's sleep ready for the next day.

* * *

 _2:35am, 21_ _st_ _April 2006_

"…"

James emerged blearily from his sleep. It took him a couple of seconds to even register the fact that he'd woken up. Briefly worried about the time, he fumbled around for his watch.

2:35am.

It was that early?!

Almost relieved, James put down his watch and turned over. At that point, he heard a loud noise from outside. And not just something small like the sound of a poochyena barking or a door being slammed – it was as if a plane was flying just above the pokémon centre!

"What's going on?" Will asked, sitting up in the bunk opposite and looking around. He seemed dazed and confused as well.

As James pulled himself up from his bunk, the noise came again. Now that he listened to it, it sounded almost like a creature in some kind of distress. The noise was still ridiculously loud though.

He wandered over to the window and pulled the curtain back slightly so that he could look out.

"See anything?" Richard had jumped down from his bunk. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he joined James.

"Nothing," James replied. It was too dark outside to be able to see anything.

Yet there was another cry. It did sound distinctly upset, though it come over as more lonely or sad than angry. It came from somewhere out in the darkness, which was by this stage lighting up as countless people woken by the noise turned on their lights.

"Ugh. What a pain," Will grumbled. He was still lying in bed, face buried in his pillow, which he also tried to wrap around his head to cover his ears.

James was inclined to agree. He was tempted to climb back into bed, but the cry returned. It was no good – they were never going to get any sleep as long as it was still loud.

"You going somewhere?" Richard asked as James quickly started pulling some clothes on.

"I'm going to head out there and see if there's anything I can do," James replied.

"Now that you mention it, it _does_ sound kind of like a pokémon," Richard muttered. He started pulling some clothes on too. "I'll back you up!"

The two of them quickly finished getting dressed and left the room. As they started walking in the direction of the stairs, they heard buried footsteps from behind them.

"Ah! You're up!"

James and Richard turned to see Nicola running along the corridor towards them.

"That noise woke you up as well?" James asked.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

They paused as the cry rang out again.

"I've never heard anything like it before," said Richard.

"Are you two heading outside?" Nicola asked, looking between the two of them.

"Yeah." James nodded. "I thought it was better to try and get to the bottom of it. Otherwise it's going to keep us up all night."

"I'll come along as well," said Nicola. "I want to find out what it is too!"

The three of them made their way down to the lobby, where a number of other dazed trainers awoken by the noise had gathered.

"Any idea what it is?" one asked.

"Dunno," another responded. "I've never heard anything that ridiculously loud."

"It'll be a whismur or a loudred, most likely!" someone else called across the room. "They're the only pokémon that would make this much noise."

"If I can get everyone's attention!" the night receptionist called to get everyone's attention. "Apparently, there have been reports of whismur displaced by the work at Rusturf Tunnel making it as far down as here. The source of this noise is most likely a whismur that's been separated from the others. It's upset and startled. The town hall is asking for help from trainer to locate and capture it."

"Why us?"

"Yeah, surely the local authorities can handle this!"

"A whismur can become quite destructive if frightened. Trainers such as yourselves have a better knowledge of calming and capturing pokémon in this state."

"Sounds like a pain."

"I just want to get back to bed…"

The receptionist looked out across the lobby. "Any of you who want to help out, come and see me so we can all exchange numbers!"

Most of the trainers didn't feel inclined to do anything and started leaving the room. Another cry caused a handful to pause, though only two came back. With only six trainers left including James, Richard and Nicola, the receptionist had them gather around so that they could exchange phone numbers.

"The police are out looking for the whismur too, so make sure you assist them as much as you can," he said. "Aside from that, it's a wild pokémon like any other, so if you catch it then it's yours. If manage to find and capture it, then text me so that I can get the message out to the rest of you. Good luck!"

* * *

 _3:01am, 20_ _th_ _April 2006_

So it was that James, Richard and Nicola found themselves cautiously walking along a cold, dark street in Mylos Town in the middle of the night. The one saving grace was that it had stopped raining.

"Any ideas on what we're looking for?" Richard asked.

"I think I remember hearing about whismur when I was at school," Nicola replied. "They're small, light purple pokémon. They have these big yellow ears as well – it shouldn't be too difficult to spot."

"I don't think finding it will be the hard part," Richard mumbled. The whismur was still periodically crying out, with the noise becomes louder and more painful as they moved closer. It was easy to follow – they just didn't know what to do once they found it.

"I'm assuming that attempting to battle it won't go down well," Richard sighed as he shone his torch down on of the streets.

"That sounds like a really bad idea," James replied.

"I'm kinda scared to get close to it," Nicola admitted. "My ears keep ringing after every time it shouts, even though we're still far away."

"Make sure you're keeping your ears as covered as you can," said James. "If it's scared, then I'm sure we can win it over by reassuring it."

"I hope you're right," Richard sighed.

They continued moving. The silence between the whismur's shouts was filled with the echoing of their footsteps. They'd occasionally hear brief splashes if they stepped in puddles left over from the rain. After each shout finished, they privately wished that they'd receive a message from the receptionist telling them that someone had finally caught the whismur.

Instead, they drew ever closer to the source of the shouts.

"Aggh!" Nicola screwed her eyes shut and clutched her ears as a particularly loud cry hit them. For a moment, it even seemed like the ground was shaking from the force of it. Their ears were ringing and they momentarily found it difficult to balance, as if the ground was spinning beneath their feet.

They were getting close.

As they approached a turn in the road, they spotted a middle-aged man in his dressing gown standing in front of his property. As they reached him, he pointed them down the next road, claiming that he'd seen something in the shadows.

"Do you think we've found it?" Nicola asked quietly.

"We'll see," James replied.

They crept down the road, slowly moving the beams of their torches across the street. All of a sudden, Nicola's beam picked out a small shape wandering near some bins. The small, purple pokémon jumped as it realised it was being watched. It let out a shout.

It felt as though they were being physically blasted by something. Even with their hands pressed firmly over their ears, it was still deafening.

"I think we found it," Richard said, taking a dazed step back.

"So, this is a whismur?" James winced in pain and tried to clear the ringing in his ears as he pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Whismur, the whisper pokémon. Normally, a whismur's voice is very quiet - it is barely audible even if one is paying close attention. However, if these pokémon sense danger, they start crying at an ear-splitting volume. Whismur are very timid. If they start to cry loudly, they become startled by their own crying and cry even harder. When they finally stop crying, these pokémon go to sleep, all tired out._ "

"So, what's our plan?" Richard asked loudly as James put his Pokédex away. "I'm guessing that waiting until it tires itself out isn't a good idea!"

"I think I've got an idea!" James replied, speaking loudly to try and make himself heard over the whismur. He started to slowly, but surely approach the wild pokémon. It backed away slightly as he approached, its wailing never ceasing.

"What's he doing?" Nicola asked.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see," Richard replied.

James kept up his cautious advance, taking care not to make any sudden movements. Though the whismur was still backing away, it had slowed down. After all the shouting and crying it had been doing that evening, it wasn't surprising that it was running out of energy.

James quickly started rummaging through his bag, which he'd had the good sense to bring with him. He dug out a pokémon treat and held it out in front of him.

The whismur watched him cautiously as he gently placed it on the ground between them.

"You're probably hungry after all that crying," he said kindly, keeping his voice as non-threatening as he could. "You can have this."

This had clearly gotten its attention. Though it seemed hesitant to approach, the offer of food was too good to pass up.

James backed up slightly to encourage the whismur to come forwards. The wild pokémon's crying stopped as it advanced and scooped up the pokémon treat. As it munched on it, James pulled out another treat and held it out. After another moment's hesitation, the whismur slowly approached him and took the treat directly from his hand.

"Wow! He's really managing to calm it down," Nicola whispered.

"Well, the quickest way to the heart is through the stomach," Richard replied. "Or something like that anyway."

"You must have been lonely after being separated from your friends," James sighed as he offered the whismur another pokémon treat. He very slowly reached out his hand and rested it gently on the whismur's head. It reacted to his warmth and drew closer to him.

Reaching back into his bag, he pulled out a poké ball and gently pressed it against its ear. The ball popped open and sucked the whismur in before snapping shut again. It shook three times before clicking and emitting a small burst of sparks.

"…You did it!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Looks like our work out here is down," James replied tiredly. He smiled at the poké ball he held in his hand. "I'll call you 'Muro'. I promise you won't be lonely as long as you're with me and my team!"

"Guess we'd better call the pokémon centre," said Richard. He stifled a yawn. "And then get back to bed!"

"Yeah." James nodded as he stood up. "After all this, I think we've earned it!"

* * *

 **I was quite pleased with how this chapter turned out in the end, though I'd ideally have liked to have spent more time with James and his new pokémon. The group now turn their attention down towards Petalburg City again. Let's hope that Richard and Nicola aren't disappointed…**

 **I've already made a note of this in the 'News' section on my profile, but I'll put it here as well: Starting from tomorrow, I'll be on a teaching English as a foreign language course for five weeks (finishing on 20** **th** **July). The course is going to be pretty intensive and I'm not going to have anywhere near as much free time as before. As such, uploads may slow down or even stop completely at some point during the next five weeks. On the other hand, I find that I tend to be more productive in my writing when I have a busier schedule during the day, so maybe this'll be good for** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **and** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **!**

 **Anyway, any feedback you have on this chapter is more than welcome.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Sand Attack.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	19. Obstacle Battle

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group turn west from Gharnot Town after learning that Rusturf Tunnel was closed. On the road back to Petalburg City, James caught a wild whismur that was causing a disturbance in Mylos Town. Their journey back towards Petalburg City now continues.**

 **Upload Date: 26** **th** **June 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: Obstacle Battle**

 _Kurias Town, Hoenn_

 _2:19pm, 21_ _st_ _April 2006_

"This is..?"

"Some kind of obstacle course?"

A young boy and girl exchanged words as they beheld the sight that lay before them.

At first glance, it seemed like a tangled mess of wooden posts, tree trunks and pools of water, yet a closer look revealed the border markings which defined an arena. This was a battlefield, and a challenging one at that. The idea of pokémon fighting across it seemed a little incredible – it was more than just a handful of boulders scattered around.

"It'd be like trying to find in a dense jungle," the boy sighed.

"Imagine if you were trying to fight across those stepping stones with a fire type," the girl added.

"I'm getting excited just looking at this!"

"Honestly, you always have too much energy, Dan." The girl frowned at him.

"Nothing wrong with being energetic, Suzy!" Dan grinned cheerfully. "Anyway, you want to have a battle or what?"

"Hang on, what about…" Suzy started looking around.

"Don't worry, he'll be in a sec anyway!" Dan reassured her. "You know he never stays far from the battlefield!"

"Well, that _is_ true," Suzy sighed.

The two of them heard footsteps approaching from behind them.

"See, what did I tell you?" Dan grinned, turning to look back at the boy walking towards them.

"We were starting to wonder where you were," Suzy added. "I think Dan's desperate to have a battle here."

"Yeah, the sooner the better." Dan nodded. "You up for it, Corey?"

"Sure!" Corey Sanderson grinned as he reached them. "I'm always up for a battle!"

* * *

 _2:38pm, 21_ _st_ _April 2006_

"I'm just saying that it doesn't seem like you're the one in control."

"And I told you that I'm working on it! I'll get Zaggy to stop misbehaving – just you watch!"

"Umm, it looks like Zaggy has found another pool of mud…"

"Zaggy!"

Nicola immediately ran forwards as she too spotted the zigzagoon diving off the side of the road and into a nearby quagmire. There was a loud splat as he landed.

The other three sighed. They sympathised with Nicola's determination to tame him, but the fact that Zaggy was always out of his poké ball and always causing mischief was starting to wear down their patience.

"Zaggy should take a leaf out of Muro's book," Richard sighed, looking over at the whismur, who was perched contently on James' shoulder.

"I don't know," James replied with a grin, patting Muro's head. "He tends to eat a lot. I'm kind of worried about our supplies!"

"No! Don't splash it around!" Nicola cried in horror. She'd been trying to reach out to grab Zaggy, only for the zigzagoon to start rolling around energetically and sending mud flying everywhere.

"Perhaps it would be best to return him to his poké ball?" Will suggested.

"I can handle this!" Nicola insisted. Her clothes covered in specks of mud, she reached out and finally managed to grab the muddy zigzagoon. She hauled him out and returned to the road.

"So, where are we now, anyway?" she asked, trying to change the subject as Zaggy squirmed around to try and escape from her grip.

"Umm…" James quickly pulled out his guidebook. "I think this is Kurias Town."

"Anything significant here?" Richard asked, looking around at the buildings lying ahead of them. It seemed like a pretty small place.

"Mostly just a stopping off point," James replied. "I think there's a Poké Mart and a pokémon centre. Aside from that…"

"There doesn't seem to be all that much along this route at all," Richard sighed.

"Not many people use it," Will said. "Hence why it's just a 'sub-route' of Route 116."

"Ah, there is something else in this town!" James called out to them to get their attention again.

"There is?" Nicola asked as she walked back over to them. She was holding Zaggy firmly with one arm while she dabbed at the mud with her handkerchief.

"Apparently, there are some interesting battlefields set up in the park at the centre of town," James explained. "The guidebook calls them 'assault courses' – there are all kinds of obstacles on the arena that your pokémon have to deal with in the middle of battle."

"Sounds like fun," said Richard. "Should we go there?"

"Wouldn't that take a while?" Nicola asked. "I thought the plan was to grab lunch here and then head on towards Petalburg City."

"Plans were made to be changed!" Richard insisted.

"I think it might be a good idea as well," James added, putting his guidebook away. "You'll get an opportunity to wash Zaggy as well!"

"…I guess you've got a point."

The journey from Mylos Town had taken longer than they had been expecting anyway, so everyone was secretly a little bit worried about what would happen in the afternoon. It wasn't raining anymore, but the skies still seemed gloomy. It wasn't the kind of weather they wanted to take any chances with.

And, though she wouldn't admit it, chasing after Zaggy all morning had drained a lot of Nicola's energy. She was going to have a tough time in the afternoon if they decided to continue on.

"So, how do we get to this park?" Richard asked.

"Straight to the centre of the town," James replied. "The pokémon centre is nearby, so we can't miss it."

"I wonder what these battlefields will look like," said Nicola. "The image in my head is a load of boxes that the pokémon have to jump between."

"That sounds pretty tame to me," Richard replied. "I'm hoping for something much more exciting."

"Is there a reason why they set it up?" Will asked. "I mean, most trainers don't fight battles on obstacle courses…"

"Training, probably," James explained. "If you can find in really tough conditions, then you're more than capable of fighting in regular conditions."

"Some people like this kind of challenge as well!" Richard nodded.

The four of them continued chatting as they walked into town.

* * *

 _3:17pm, 21_ _st_ _April 2006_

The obstacle battlefields, as it turned out, were quite the popular attraction in town. The group had arrived at the park to find a number of other trainers staging battles on the tangled arenas. Each one seemed unique, though they shared the same general themes, mixing rocks, wooden beams, stepping stones across water obstacles, and others.

Still, most of the people at the park were simply observing battles instead of fighting them. James guessed that this was because Kurias Town wasn't on the main routes, meaning fewer trainers visited it on their journeys. And, as tricky as the obstacles would be to battle across, it would be an exciting spectacle for anyone watching.

There was a small entrance fee which they'd paid once they'd entered the park, which applied equally for trainers and spectators. That explained how they were able to keep the place running even when there weren't many trainers stopping by.

"So, who wants to find an arena and start battling?" Richard grinned, looking between the others.

"An opportunity to do some training with Muro?" James grinned back. "Count me in!"

"What about you two?" Richard asked.

"I guess we'll head off and find an arena as well," Nicola replied. "Wouldn't want to waste that entrance fee!"

"Alright." James nodded. "Shall we meet up back here in an hour?"

"Sounds good to me." Will nodded.

"See you later!" Nicola called as James and Richard headed off to find an arena.

For a moment, she and Will just watched them go. As they disappeared from sight, they turned to each other.

"So, you wanted to find an arena too?"

"It might be a struggle," Nicola sighed. Her enthusiasm in front of James and Richard hadn't been a lie. But now that she was looking around at the large number of people and the sight of arena after arena with trainers already squaring off against each other, it seemed like it was going to be a while.

"There are arenas all over the park," Will said. "Just because all the ones here are being used doesn't mean that there's nowhere for us to go."

"That's true."

"I say we just set off and see what we can find."

"Let's do that then."

Will started walking off along one of the paths leading deeper into the park. Nicola quickly ran up to walk alongside him.

The fact that James and Richard tended to train together whenever an opportunity to practise came up meant that Nicola and Will had been left to train together most of the time. Nicola was much more comfortable around him now than she had been when they'd first met, but she still found his rather curt attitude and tendency to give his honest opinions on her performance somewhat difficult. Though she didn't mind going off with him, a part of her wished that James and Richard had stuck around.

As she was wondering what he was thinking about, her eyes were suddenly drawn to a figure looming out of the surrounding people, directly into her path.

"Whoa!" she cried in alarm, immediately stopping as a boy her age almost crashed into her.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" The boy quickly apologised. "I wasn't looking where I was going!"

"Don't worry about it," Nicola sighed. He hadn't actually crashed into her, so there was no harm done.

Now that they'd gotten over the near-collision, Nicola suddenly realised that the boy was staring at her.

"Umm, are you okay?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" the boy replied quickly.

"What are you up to now, Dan?"

There was a call from beyond the nearby group of people. Another boy emerged, accompanied by a girl. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Nicola.

"Small Fry?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Nicola immediately snapped, her own surprised expression quickly turning to hostility.

"Well, who'd have guessed that you'd show up here." Corey shrugged. "Don't you know? This place is for fighting advanced battles!"

"Is that why you're wandering around here instead of fighting battles?" Nicola shot back.

"I-Is this someone you know?" the boy who'd almost collided with Nicola asked, turning to look back at Corey.

"Just someone from my class at school," Corey replied dismissively. "I think she's trying to collect badges as well, but she can't hold a candle to me."

"Yeah, yeah." The girl standing next to him rolled her eyes. She turned to Nicola. "My name's Suzy. Sorry my two friends are causing trouble for you."

"I'm Nicola," Nicola replied. "Sorry you've had to put up with Corey."

"The name's Daniel Toriz, but you can call me 'Dan' for short." The boy swiftly jumped in. "If you don't mind my saying, I think 'Nicola' is a really pretty name," he added, scratching his cheek.

Nicola blinked a couple of times in surprise. "Umm, thanks, I guess."

"Bleeeegh!" Corey made a face. "Dan, don't tell me that you're going misty-eyed over small fry like her."

"Th-That's not what-"

"You're practically at the same level as me!" Nicola protested loudly.

"Oh yeah?" Corey smirked. "I bet you still haven't even earned your first gym badge!"

"Guess again!" Nicola whipped out her badge case, proudly displaying her Stone Badge.

"I-Is that so?" Corey responded awkwardly. He cleared his throat. "I guess it _is_ pretty easy to earn one gym badge, after all!"

"How about I prove how much stronger I've become then?" Nicola put her badge case away and glared at Corey. "I'm challenging you to a rematch!"

"Ha! I guess I can play with you just this once!" Corey replied loudly. "How about we find an arena and get started?"

"Music to my ears!"

Corey and Nicola started stomping off to look for an arena. Dan, Suzy and Will stood in silence looking after them for a couple of moments.

"I guess we'd better go after them," Suzy sighed. "For some reason, I get the feeling they might end up hurting each other if we leave them on their own."

"Yeah…" Will nodded.

* * *

 _3:27pm, 21_ _st_ _April 2006_

"How's three-on-three sound?" Corey called across the battlefield to Nicola.

"Fine by me!" Nicola shouted back.

After wandering deeper into the park, they'd eventually reached an area with far fewer people. The arena they were now standing in looked as challenging as the ones they'd seen back at the entrance to the park. Wooden beams, rope bridges, stepping stones – the arena felt a little bit like a children's playpark. The countless crisscrossing beams above ground level made Nicola wary – she remembered how agile Koret had been in her last battle with Corey.

"Try not to hurt each other too much!" Suzy called from the side lines.

"It's just a pokémon battle!" both Corey and Nicola shouted back at her.

"A-Alright! Begin!"

"Go, Tsua!" Corey called.

Tsua materialised on grassy arena floor.

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola threw out her first poké ball.

Mushy let out a cry as she materialised.

It was going to be a tough battle. With all of the extra terrain around, it was going to be harder for Mushy to stay mobile, while Tsua could dodge around by teleporting. Nicola as going to have to think of something new.

"Use Tackle!" she called.

Mushy charged forwards, though her progress was slowed by the need to go around obstacles. She reached a rope bridges and started to carefully cross it.

"Mushy! Wait!" Nicola yelled.

It was too late.

Tsua teleported behind her and, with a gentle tap, sent her toppling down into the pond below.

"Use Confusion!" Corey shouted as Mushy landed with a splash.

Tsua immediately lifted Mushy out of the pond with his psychic power. However, before he had a chance to hurl her to one side, the shroomish fired a cluster of seeds down at him. The seeds sprouted as they hit, causing him to lose balance.

"Use Teleport!" Corey quickly called as Tsua began to topple over.

"Use Mega Drain!" Nicola yelled.

"Mushy dove down towards Tsua, firing a green beam as she did. However, the ralts disappeared an instant before her attack hit.

"Use Confusion again!" Corey shouted as Mushy landed in the pond again.

Tsua, having teleported up to a branch far above the battlefield, made another quick move to get closer. As he appeared on one of the wooden beams close to the pond, he looked around for Mushy.

The shroomish, however, had disappeared from sight. As Tsua continued looking, there was suddenly a rustling in the bushes behind him. With a shout, Mushy burst out and fired a green beam of energy at her opponent.

Tsua cried out in pain as he was struck. His muscles tensed up as his energy was sucked out. The parasitic seeds, meanwhile, continued to impede him.

"Get back into the bushes!" Nicola called.

Mushy immediately withdrew before Tsua could recover and retaliate.

"Skulking in the shadows, huh?" Corey gritted his teeth. "Exactly the kind of tactics I'd expect from a small fry like you!"

"Use Mega Drain again!" Nicola shouted, rising to the challenge.

Mushy charged out from the bushes again, only for Tsua to teleport out of sight. He reappeared on top of a tree trunk that was pointing diagonally into the air.

"Use Confusion!" Corey ordered.

"Who's the one running and hiding now?" Nicola grinned. "Dodge it and get up onto the tree trunk!"

Mushy dove out of sight to avoid Tsua's attack before rushing to the ground end of the trunk. As she ran frantically up, Tsua stood his ground.

"Use Double Team!" Corey shouted.

Immediately, a cluster of doubles appeared around Tsua. Mushy charged towards them, but the target she struck simply disappeared.

"Now use Confusion!" Corey yelled.

Tsua's eyes lit up. Mushy was lifted into the air and moved over the side.

"Use Stun Spore!" Nicola shouted.

Mushy cried out, firing a cluster of spores at Tsua as he began to throw her down to the ground. There was a loud thud as she hit the ground.

"M-Mushy is unable to battle!" Suzy called uncertainly, peering around the side of a tree trunk to get a good look. "Tsua is the winner!"

"Alright! Great work, Tsua!" Corey cheered.

His weary pokémon returned his smile, though he was starting to look worse for wear. Mushy's last attack had happened too fast for him to dodge, and those seeds were still eating into him.

"You put up a great fight, Mushy," Nicola said as she recalled the shroomish.

"Your friend's pretty good."

Will glanced to his right as Dan drew alongside him. He was watching Nicola with an admiring look on his face.

"Corey's well above average, so I don't often see that many people who can go head-to-head with him."

"Yeah, she's pretty good," Will replied, his tone disinterested. He wanted to focus on watching the battle, not talking.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the battle." Dan grinned. "I can't decide who I want to cheer for!"

"Your choice," Will replied dismissively. He blanked Dan out as he noticed Nicola pulling out her next poké ball.

"Go, Kipa!"

The mudkip burst out of his poké ball and landed softly on the grass. Spreading his weight out, he looked up at Tsua with a determined look on his face.

"Use Confusion!" Corey didn't waste any time in going back on the offensive.

Tsua's eyes lit up with a blue glow. As Kipa was lifted into the air, however, Nicola immediately issued an order of her own.

"Use Water Gun!"

Kipa fired a blast of water towards Tsua, catching the ralts unawares. As he was hit, he toppled backwards off the tree trunk. Teleporting at the last moment, he saved himself from impact. Of greater concern, Kipa had vanished from sight. A sudden splash indicated that he'd jumped into the pond.

"Stay alert! Wait for them to attack!" Corey called.

Tsua nodded. He scanned the water's surface intently, watching for Kipa's next attack.

Yet none came.

Minutes passed without any sign of action. Tsua continued watching for an attack that just didn't seem to be coming.

Suddenly, Corey realised what was going on.

"Get closer and find Kipa!" he called to Tsua. He looked over at Nicola. "That's a dirty trick!"

"Well, I'm up against the future Hoenn Champion, aren't I?" Nicola replied sarcastically. "It pays to have a few tricks up my sleeve!"

Tsua, of course, was having more and more energy drained as the battle dragged on. Privately, Corey realised that he'd already left it too late. If he could just get one more attack in.

"Water Gun!" Nicola suddenly shouted.

Kipa suddenly leapt up – not out of the water as Corey and Tsua had been expecting, but out of the long grass. Before the ralts could react, he was struck hard by a jet of water that sent him crashing to the ground.

"Tsua is unable to battle!" Suzy announced. "Kipa is the winner!"

"Great work, Kipa!" Nicola grinned confidently at the mudkip. He returned the grin as he backed up into the grass to wait for Corey's next pokémon.

"Whoa!" Dan gasped as he watched. "That was some seriously impressive stuff."

"Yeah, she's gotten much better than she was before," Will added. "It's practically even now."

"Go, Meri!" Corey yelled, throwing out his next poké ball.

A purple moth with green wings that sported a red, circular pattern emerged from the ball and started hovering above the battlefield, crying out confidently as he surveyed the scene.

"Meri, huh?" Dan sighed. "Looks like it's going to be a tough fight for Nicola."

"What is that?" Nicola murmured, pulling out her Pokédex.

" _Dustox, the poison moth pokémon and the evolved form of cascoon. Dustox are instinctively drawn to light. Swarms of these pokémon are attracted by the bright light of cities, where they wreak havoc by stripping the leaves off roadside trees for food. When dustox flap their wings, a fine dust is scattered all over. This dust is actually a powerful poison that will even make a pro wrestler sick. These pokémon search for food using their antennae like radar._ "

"Great," Nicola muttered as she put her Pokédex away. Hiding and ambushing was going to be difficult against this pokémon. Still, Kipa was on near-full strength. They could do this!

"Use Gust!" Corey called.

Meri immediately started flapping his wings, sending a powerful gust of wind flying towards Kipa. The mudkip instinctively drew back into the grass, which provided some shelter for him.

"Break out and loop around to the right!" Nicola shouted.

As Meri lifted his attack, Kipa shot clear of the grass and jumped up onto one of the wooden beams, following it along to the right. He then jumped along some short wooden posts functioning like stepping stones.

"Use Confusion!" Corey called.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola shouted.

Both pokémon reacted instantly. Kipa's jet of water was already flying through the air befoe Meri could begin focusing his psychic power. Yet, the dustox was able to dart to the side to avoid the attack and Kipa was lifted into the air.

"And again!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa managed to fire off another jet of water, this time managing to clip Meri's left wing. He retained his concentration, however, and hurled Kipa to the ground with a thud.

"Now use Poison Sting!" Corey shouted.

Meri fired a volley of deep purple stingers towards the prone Kipa, who pulled himself to his feet but couldn't get out of the way before the attack hit.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola called as he stumbled back.

Kipa nodded painfully and fired another jet of water towards Meri.

"Use Protect!" Corey shouted.

Meri brought his wings forward sharply, a thick, light blue aura appearing around him. The jet of water struck him, but simply bounced off.

Nicola wasn't finished there though. "Use Mud Slap!" she ordered.

Kipa darted forwards, weaving through shrubs and grass. Finding a nice patch of mud, he kicked it up. Meri let out a cry of surprise as he was struck by the incoming mud.

"And now use Tackle!"

Kipa jumped onto the rope bridge and charged across as Meri drifted down towards the ground. He slammed into his opponent as he was still recovering and sent him flying back.

"Use Gust!" Corey shouted, noticing that Kipa was out in the open.

"Bide!" Nicola yelled quickly as Meri started whipping up a gust of wind.

Kipa nodded and dug in his heels. He successfully held his position.

"And now use Confusion!" Corey called.

Meri's eyes lit up with psychic energy. Kipa was lifted into the air and hurled back. He landed right by the rope bridge, just managing to stop himself from falling off.

"And Gust again!" Corey shouted.

Meri whipped up another gust of wind. Kipa, once again, dug in his heels. He was blown back slightly, but just managed to stay on the land.

"Now!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa let out an angry cry and surged forwards, the pent-up energy threatening to boil over. Corey fumbled to order Protect, but Kipa was upon Meri before he had the chance.

The dustox cried out in pain as he was slammed viciously to the ground. Both pokémon were, by this stage, exhausted. Yet both were just about still standing.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola yelled desperately.

"Gust!" Corey shouted, equally desperately.

Both pokémon summoned up the last of their energy and fired their attacks at each other. Kipa was lifted into the air and hurled into the pond, while Meri took a jet of water directly and was thrown back into a nearby tree.

As Meri slumped to the ground and Kipa bobbed listlessly back to the water's surface, the trainers were stunned by the sudden double-knockout.

"Both Kipa and Meri are unable to battle!" Suzy announced.

"This is getting intense!" Dan said, his voice quivering slightly from excitement. Will noticed that his left leg was jigging. He guessed that was down to his excitement as well.

"I wonder how the last round will go," he muttered as both trainers withdrew their fallen pokémon.

"You did great out there! I'm so proud of you!" Nicola smiled at Kipa's poké ball.

"Thanks for your hard work, Meri! You put up a good fight!" Corey grinned at the dustox's poké ball. He looked over at Nicola as he pulled out his final poké ball. "Looks like I'm going to have to actually get serious – I'll give you that at least, Small Fry!"

"Stop calling me that!" Nicola snapped.

"Yeah, it does seem pretty harsh, Corey!" Dan added loudly.

"Ha! You'll see, Dan!" Corey grinned. "Once I've wiped the floor with her!"

"We'll see about that!" Though Nicola was trying to sound confident, she couldn't help but feel her stomach knot uncomfortably knowing which pokémon her hopes for victory now rested on.

"Let's go then!" Corey threw out his poké ball. "You're up, Koret!"

A green, reptilian pokémon emerged from the ball, though it looked very different to the Koret Nicola remembered.

"It evolved?" Will looked impressed as he watched the new pokémon whip its arms around to warm up.

"Treecko's evolution…" Nicola held up her Pokédex.

" _Grovyle, the wood gecko pokémon and the evolved form of treecko. The leaves growing out of a grovyle's body are convenient for camouflaging them from enemies in the forest. These pokémon are masters at climbing trees in jungles. Their strongly developed thigh muscles give them astounding agility and jumping performance._ "

"This is going to be a tough battle for Nicola," Will sighed.

"Sure, Koret is tough and especially suited to this kind of battlefield," Dan began. "But Nicola did a great job against Corey's other pokémon. I think she has a chance!"

"Go, Zaggy!" Nicola called, throwing out her last poké ball.

Zaggy burst out of the poké ball and landed on the ground, wagging his tail in excitement.

"Use Headbutt!" Nicola immediately ordered.

Zaggy charged forwards, weaving slightly as he was momentarily distracted by things along the way. Koret, however, easily dodged the attack by jumping up into the trees. He darted along the side of the tree trunk like it was no different to walking normally on the ground.

"Use Absorb!" Corey shouted.

Diving down and darting from branch to branch, Koret suddenly appeared behind Zaggy and fired a green beam of energy towards him. The zigzagoon let out a cry of pain as he was struck. He wriggled and pulled away before jumping back.

"Use Tail Whip!" Nicola called.

Zaggy, however, completely ignored her and dove into a nearby patch of wet, sticky mud.

There was silence around the battlefield, with only the squelching sound of Zaggy rolling around in the mud.

"Seriously?!" Corey cried, more due to his own surprise than to mock Nicola.

"Why now?!" Nicola wailed in despair. "Zaggy! Listen to me!"

"This is the third time today," Will sighed.

"Huh?" Dan looked over at him. "You mean you didn't realise?"

"Realise what?"

"That's a move," Dan explained. He raised his voice so that Nicola could hear him as well. "It's called Mud Sport – it makes electric type moves weaker against the user!"

"Wow! That sounds like it could be quite a hand move!" Will replied.

"Except that it's useless in this battle!" Nicola cried. "C'mon, Zaggy! Get out of the mud and use Headbutt!"

This time, Zaggy reluctantly listened to her and charged at Koret. Once again, the grovyle darted clear and vanished from sight. Only the occasional shadow leaping between branches proved his presence.

"Use Fury Cutter!" Corey shouted.

As Zaggy frantically looked around to locate his foe, Koret loomed out of the darkness and slashed viciously at him. The zigzagoon was thrown back and hit a nearby tree trunk with a thud.

"And again!" Corey shouted.

"Get out of the way!" Nicola yelled.

Zaggy made a desperate attempt to recover and dodge the attack, but was too slow. Koret slashed at him again, this time with even more power. The mud-coated zigzagoon was thrown to the side and landed heavily on his side.

"Finish this up with Pursuit!" Corey called confidently.

Koret grinned at he jumped up into the air again. Briefly surrounded by a dark aura, he dove towards Zaggy as he struggled back up.

"Use Headbutt!" Nicola yelled desperately.

Gritting his teeth and fixing Koret with a determined look, Zaggy suddenly propelled himself into the air. Koret, taken by surprise, had no time to prepare a defence and took the hit directly to the stomach.

"Now use Tackle!" Nicola yelled. If she and Zaggy didn't use this chance to regain the initiative, then they never would.

Zaggy charged forwards again as Koret stumbled back. He smashed into Koret with another powerful blow, knocking the wind out of the larger pokémon. He crumpled forwards over the smaller pokémon.

Nicola dared to let a smile tug at her lips. Her heart was hammering uncontrollably. Had they managed to finish the job?

Before anyone else could react, the two pokémon lit up with a green aura. It took them a split second to recognise it as one of Koret's attacks.

The grovyle straightened his back and jumped up to a nearby tree branch. His opponent slumped to the ground, the last of his energy leaving him.

"Zaggy is unable to battle!" Suzy announced. "Koret is the winner! I guess that means Corey is the winner!"

"Alright!" Corey punched the air in delight. He grinned over as Koret jumped back towards him. The grovyle returned the grin. He shot a cocky smirk over his shoulder at the fallen Zaggy as Nicola trudged wearily over and scooped him up into her arms.

"You did a good job, Zaggy," she said warmly, biting her lip to try and hold back her feelings. "I didn't realise you were this good at battling."

The zigzagoon let out a tired, dismissive grunt. What was the point of being a good fighter if you didn't win?

"Looks like I'm still on top!" Corey yelled over to her as he patted Koret on the head. "You've got a long way to go, Small Fry!"

"Hey! I thought she did pretty well!" Dan called over.

"Whose side are you on, Dan?" Corey frowned at him.

"Well, I guess beating Zaggy and me in our first battle together is fair enough!" Nicola declared loudly. "Not exactly proof that you're the next Hoenn League Champion though!"

"Sure, keep saying that!" Corey laughed. "I don't need you to believe it for it to happen!" He nodded at Dan and Suzy. "Come on, guys, let's get moving!"

As Corey started moving off, Dan and Suzy quickly turned to Nicola.

"Sorry about Corey," Suzy said apologetically. "He always takes this whole challenging the league thing a bit too far."

"Don't worry, I know," Nicola replied bitterly as she returned Zaggy to his poké ball.

"I thought you put up a great fight!" Dan added earnestly. "I was really impressed!"

"Guys!" Corey shouted.

"We'd better get going," Suzy sighed. "Sorry again."

"Hope to see you again sometime." Dan smiled at her.

"Good luck with Corey," Nicola murmured as the two of them walked off to join their friend. She let out a sigh as they disappeared from sight.

"You alright?"

She looked around to see Will standing nearby.

"Do I look it?"

"It was only a question. No need to get angry at me."

"…Sorry."

"It's fine." Will turned and looked off in the direction of the park entrance. "Should we go and find James and Richard?"

"I guess so."

* * *

 _4:01pm, 21_ _st_ _April 2006_

"Alright, Dish, use Absorb!" Richard shouted.

Dish, perched atop a short wooden post, fired a green beam of energy towards her opponent.

Muro, however, was quick to dart to one side. He quickly climbed onto a higher wooden beam, taking careful steps to avoid losing his balance.

"Use Uproar!" James called.

With a brief cry to show he understood, Muro opened his mouth and emitted an ear-splitting shriek. Dish was struck by the shockwave and, despite desperately trying to hold her position, was blasted back and struck a nearby tree.

"Looks like that's over," Richard sighed, noticing that Dish was completely worn out from the fighting. "You've picked up a pretty tough pokémon there, James!"

"I guess you can say goodbye to ever overtaking me then!" James grinned as Muro ran back over towards him.

"Well, I mean, I could have used Naro." Richard raised his eyebrow. "I just felt like going easy on you!"

"Sure you did!" James replied. He patted Muro on the head before offering him a pokémon treat. The whismur immediately scoffed it down eagerly.

"Well, that arena was pretty fun," Richard said as he recalled Dish to her poké ball. "I don't think I'd want to fight on one of them all that often though."

"Yeah, it would be a pain to practise on," James sighed. "You can't focus on moves if you're busy thinking about the terrain."

The two of them left the arena and started wandering back in the direction of the entrance. They'd had some fun, but it was time to let someone else have a go.

"I wonder where the others are," Richard said. "Do you think they found another arena to fight on?"

"Maybe," James replied. "I guess we'll head back to the entrance and wait to see if they show up."

Though it was starting to get late, there was no sign that the park was getting any quieter. If anything, it seemed like it had gotten even busier now that the school day had ended. Yet the atmosphere felt festive and joyous rather than cramped. The spectators had come to see the interesting ways that trainers adapted to fighting in tough conditions, though James wondered how often they really saw that. He'd been coming up with new tactics on the fly for his first battle with Muro, but Richard had more or less been following the same general tactics he normally used.

Maybe if they fought on tough battlefields more often, then they'd be better at coming up with unique tactics to use on them. Of course, the fact that there was no obligation to use the obstacles had meant that he and Richard had mostly avoided them. He wondered how different a battle would be if they _had_ to stick to the obstacles.

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout from nearby.

"There you are!"

Nicola and Will were coming over to meet them.

"Hey!" Richard called back. "You guys get a chance to battle?"

"We ended up running into Corey again," Will muttered.

"So, Nicola fought, but you didn't?" Richard guessed correctly.

"Yeah."

"How did the battle go?" James asked.

"I lost," Nicola sighed. "But it was close!"

"I'm sure you'll get him next time!" James smiled reassuringly.

"Don't forget the important bit of news!" Will reminded Nicola.

"Huh?" Nicola looked at him in confusion.

"It turns out that Zaggy rolling around in the mud is actually a move," Will explained. He snickered slightly as he said it.

"It's not funny!" Nicola protested.

"Mud Sport, huh?" Richard shrugged. "I guess that could be useful sometimes."

"Not when I'm trying to keep him clean!" Nicola cried. She let out a long sigh. "I get the feeling that I'm getting further away from being the one in control…"

"Don't let it worry you!" Richard grinned, patting her on the shoulder. "Come on – let's go to the pokémon centre. I'm starting to get hungry."

"I think Muro is as well," James sighed, noting the whismur's excitement at Richard's words. "You can really eat a lot, can't you?"

Muro smiled cheerfully back at him, innocently unaware of his trainer's increasing concerns for how much his appetite was going to cost him.

Still, he was both powerful and endearing at the same time. James supposed that he didn't mind too much.

"Come on then!" Richard grinned. "After all this walking and battling, I think we're due a rest!"

He led the way as they left the park and set off back to the pokémon centre.

* * *

 **Thanks for the character of Dan Toriz go in part to ZyroGaming69.**

 **So, I hope everyone else was as delighted by Corey's return as I was! :P It seems poor Nicola will need more time before she and her team can match him.**

 **This chapter was based around an idea given to me by pokemonking0924, though I don't feel like I've given it as much detail as it needed. With hindsight, it would have been better to have made special rules that meant trainers and their pokémon** _ **had**_ **to use the 'obstacles'. Perhaps that's something I can do if the opportunity to reuse this type of battlefield ever crops up again.**

 **Anyway, it's getting late and I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow, so I'll end here.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	20. The Water Dance

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola once again battle against Corey on an obstacle arena. Despite putting up a tough fight, she was defeated. The group now continue their journey down Route 116(a) to Petalburg City.**

 **Upload Date: 10** **th** **July 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: The Water Dance**

 _Route 116(a), Hoenn_

 _11:55am, 22_ _nd_ _April 2006_

"Muro, use Pound!"

"Toya, use Withdraw!"

There was a shout as Muro the whismur charged at Toya the squirtle. The instant before the attack connected, the squirtle disappeared into his shell. Muro pounded uselessly against it.

"It's no use, Muro!" James called. "Get back and wait for him to come out again!"

Muro reluctantly jumped back and adopted a defensive stance, watching carefully for any sign of movement.

"Use Water Gun!" Will ordered.

Toya popped back out of his shell and immediately fired a jet of water towards Muro. The whismur attempted to dodge, but was a split second too late and was blasted back.

"Use Uproar!" James quickly called for a counter.

Muro was quick to react, emitting a loud shockwave that stunned Toya and sent him tumbling back.

"Now's your chance – use Pound!" James shouted.

Muro raced forwards again, slamming into Toya with a powerful blow. The squirtle quickly recovered, however, and, regaining his balance, swayed back and slammed Muro with a tackle of his own.

"That was pretty good!" James grinned, breathing heavily as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

"I'm not done yet!" Will replied. "Use Water Gun!"

Toya fired a blast of water towards Muro, who was able to narrowly dodge it this time.

"Use Astonish!" James yelled.

Muro leapt forwards, surprising Toya with a sudden blow.

"Wow! They're really getting into it!"

Nicola commented on the battle taking place in the field in front of her as she sat next to Richard on the embankment the road towards Petalburg City ran along.

"I bet Will wanted to blow off some steam after watching you battle yesterday," Richard replied. "He's starting to get pretty good."

Will's unexpected challenge had brought the group to a halt as they continued down Route 116(a). The air was cool, making it uncomfortable for those who had to sit still while watching. The mountains, valleys and forests of Route 116 had given way to open countryside. Countless fields, such as the one James and Will were using to battle, stretched out towards the horizon, broken up by the occasional village or farmhouse. From what they'd read in the guidebook, it was a mostly easy path back to Petalburg City.

Now that she thought about it, Nicola wondered if it should really have been her and Richard battling each other instead. After all, the two of them had gym battles coming up when they got back to Petalburg.

It was already daunting enough, thinking about having to fight Norman and his powerful team.

She started stroking Mushy's head to try and distract herself. The shroomish was perched on her lap, trying to soak up as much sunlight as she could through the grey clouds.

"That reminds me," Richard said as he noticed what she was doing. "You don't have Zaggy out today."

"Yeah…" Nicola looked straight ahead wearily as Muro slammed into Toya with another attack and knocked him back. "He's quite… exhausting to deal with."

"Taking a break from trying to tame him, eh?" Richard grinned. "Well, sometimes it's best not to push these kinds of things too hard anyway."

He was probably right, though a part of Nicola felt like he was teasing her for her earlier enthusiasm.

"Oi, you kids!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bellow from nearby. All four trainers jumped out of their skin and looked around.

There was a man approaching them, probably quite old going by his grey hair and the noticeable wrinkles on his face. His grubby jeans and wellies suggested that he worked outdoors.

"Stop your fighting!" he called as he walked firmly towards them. "You're going to destroy my field!"

"Y-Your field?" James stuttered. He quickly recalled Muro to his poké ball. "I'm really sorry about this! We thought it was just an unused field!"

"Sorry," Will added as well.

"Honestly," the man sighed. "Sometimes you trainers act like you own the world."

James apologised again as he and Will cautiously made their way over to the side of the field to join Nicola and Richard. "It's kinda hard to find good places to practise, especially around here."

"Well, I appreciate you stopping as soon as I told you," the man replied. He seemed a little bit embarrassed now by the forcefulness of his intervention. "But you know that you could always wait until you reach the pokémon centre in the next town along?"

"We didn't think…"

"Still, it's unusual to see pokémon trainers coming this way," the man said. "This area is all farmland, so there are almost no wild pokémon here."

"We're on our way down to Petalburg City," James explained. "Ah! I'm James." He quickly introduced himself.

"Ewan," the man replied. "I've been working my farm here for over 30 years."

"You're a farmer?" Nicola asked, cautiously moving out from behind Richard.

"That's right." Ewan nodded, his voice perking up slightly in response to the interest.

"Really?" Nicola's eyes lit up. "I've lived in a city my whole life – I've always wondered what it's like being a farmer!"

"If you've got time to spare, then I don't mind showing you around," Ewan said. "I'm always happy to teach other people about how we live here."

"Can we?" Nicola turned to the others expectantly.

James, Richard and Will exchanged looks.

"Don't mind," Will replied with a shrug.

"Same." Richard nodded.

"If you want to, then that's fine by me," James added.

"Great! Thanks, guys!" Nicola replied cheerfully, smiling at them.

This sudden development had surprised all of them, but James thought that there wouldn't be much harm in indulging Nicola. It wasn't every day that you came across somewhere like this and it would probably be interesting for all of them. They hadn't planned a particularly long journey that day either, so they didn't need to worry about delays.

A part of him also thought it would be a way of apologising to Ewan for using his field without permission.

"Follow me then, kids!" Ewan grinned as he turned and started walking back along the path.

* * *

 _12:34pm, 22_ _nd_ _April 2006_

Ewan's farm wasn't large. Aside from a handful of rice paddies and a couple of other field in which he grew sweet potatoes in the summer, he had a small number of livestock. Yet it was clear to all four trainers as they followed him around that he was very proud of all of it. He was happily explaining everything to them as they walked, though it was all a bit too complicated for them to take in. That was what James thought, anyway.

Nicola, however, seemed to be ensconced in spite of that.

"So, this field is empty at the moment…" She looked out over the empty field.

"This one is for the sweet potatoes," Ewan explained. "They can't handle frost, so you can't grow them in the winter. Or in April, for that matter."

"I'd love to see it when it's full," Nicola sighed.

"You'll have to stop by again some time!" Ewan laughed.

He carried on explaining how he usually kept his fields in order for growing crops over the summer. The field James and Will had been fighting in was one of the ones he used for sweet potatoes. Apparently, he made quite a bit of money out of them, so it was little wonder that he'd been upset to find them accidentally destroying it.

"How about the rice?" Nicola asked as they walked away from the empty fields and towards one of the rice paddies.

"I've heard that rice farming is quite intensive…" James offered what he'd heard on the subject.

"It's good to see you're interested in rice." Ewan gave a satisfied nod. "Not enough kids these days appreciate our staple crop."

"Staple crop?"

"He means the crops we grow the most of," Richard explained.

"Ah!" Nicola tapped her palm with the side of her fist in realisation. "Of course! We tend to eat rice with almost everything!"

"That's right." Ewan nodded. "Farmers like me need to grow tonnes of the stuff to keep up with demand."

That was why they kept seeing rice paddies everywhere they went.

"So, is it hard work?" Nicola asked.

"At times," Ewan replied. "But mechanised farming means that it's much easier than it was back in the old days. I also have a bit of extra help as well."

"What do you mean?"

"Take a look." Ewan nodded in the direction of the rice paddy they'd just reached.

James, Richard, Nicola and Will looked out over it, immediately noticing the green leaves of the rice seedlings. After a couple of seconds, they suddenly noticed that there were small creatures darting around on the surface of the water. It was as if they were gliding across the surface, speeding across from plant to plant. Their tiny bodies were mostly blue and their legs were so thin that they hadn't been able to see them at first.

"What are they?" Nicola asked as she pulled out her Pokédex.

"They're surskit," Ewan replied.

" _Surskit, the pond skater pokémon. From the tips of their feet, surskit secrete an oil that enables them to walk on water as if they were skating. These pokémon feed on microscopic organisms in ponds and lakes. If surskit sense danger, they secrete a thick, sugary syrup from the tip of their head. There are some pokémon that love eating this syrup._ "

"What are they all doing?" James asked as Nicola put her Pokédex away.

"They're searching for weeds and anything trying to eat the rice plants," Ewan replied. "They work together with me to keep the paddies productive and healthy."

"So, are they your pokémon?" Richard asked.

Ewan shook his head. "They're all wild pokémon."

"And they still help you?"

"Poké balls aren't the only way for people and pokémon to live in harmony."

Ewan gave them a knowing smile before looking out at the surskit again.

The scene was interrupted as Nicola's stomach rumbled loudly.

Richard laughed as she flushed red in embarrassment and clutched her stomach. "I guess you just couldn't control yourself!"

"Shut up!" Nicola snapped angrily, scowling at him.

"It's been a while since breakfast," James noted. He checked his watch. It was almost one o'clock!

"If you kids aren't in a hurry, do you want to stop by for lunch?" Ewan asked. "My wife always makes too much food anyway."

"If that's okay…" James sheepishly replied. Anything to help keep food expenses down.

"Not a problem!" Ewan turned and started leading them away from the paddy.

* * *

 _1:19pm, 22_ _nd_ _April 2006_

"Thanks for the food!" Nicola beamed as she set down her knife and fork, completely full.

"You're welcome!" Ewan's wife, Eloise, smiled back at her as she started collecting the plates.

There had certainly been a lot of food, though that was partly down to Eloise insisting on cooking even more once she knew that they had guests. Even with the six of them (and some help from the pokémon!), it had still been a struggle to get through it all.

"Do a lot of farmers work with wild pokémon?" Richard asked.

"I heard that a lot of them catch their own pokémon to help out on farms," Will added.

"It depends on the person," Ewan replied. "These days, a lot of people are used to using machinery to help them with their farming. Pokémon have a lot to offer, but they aren't as efficient as machines."

"But you stick with the surskit?"

"The surskit live around here." Ewan shrugged. "I'm simply letting them be, and we've ended up benefitting each other."

"I'd never thought about pokémon in that way," Nicola sighed. "I always thought that they were either wild, pets, or travelling alongside trainers."

"People work with pokémon is many different ways," Ewan explained. "The world is more than just battling, and the ways we interact with pokémon are as varied as you can imagine."

"Were there any pokémon helping you move from Johto?" James asked Nicola.

"Ah! Yeah, there was." Nicola nodded. "I didn't think about it at the time…"

"Pokémon have all kinds of strengths that humans lack." Ewan grinned. "And humans have strengths that pokémon lack – that's why we work together so we all benefit."

James had always known that the pokémon world was deeper and more mysterious than it first appeared. The relationship between people and pokémon was present at virtually every level of their society. The thought that there were countless other people who all worked together with pokémon in vastly different ways filled him with a sudden excitement. He wanted to see even more.

He said as much to Ewan, who laughed cheerfully in response.

"I'd encourage you to think about the different ways you can interact with pokémon," he said. "It doesn't just have to be battling."

"Were you never a trainer then?" Nicola asked.

"I wasn't." Ewan shook his head. "But an awful lot of the professionals I know now once went on journeys as trainers when they were younger. Have you ever wondered why our society is so accepting of kids setting off and wandering the world?"

"Now that you mention it…" Richard frowned. He didn't have an answer.

"It's simple!" Ewan grinned. "Training pokémon is the base level of human-pokémon interaction. They want you out training pokémon while you're young so that you're used to it for the future. I know people who have opened businesses with the help of their pokémon after they retired from being trainers. Others become nurses, sailors, railway workers. All of these involve some level of work alongside pokémon."

"So that's why." James sighed. He suddenly felt better about the fact that he was off travelling instead of doing the homework he'd been set for the summer before the end of the academic year.

"I must admit, a part of me is envious of you youngsters," Ewan sighed. "I keep imagining how my relationship with the surskit might have been different if I'd been a trainer. Not that my father didn't teach me how to deal with them, though."

"How long to people normally travel and train pokémon?" Nicola asked curiously. "I never really thought about how long I'd train pokémon for."

"I couldn't say," Ewan replied. "You're talking to someone who never trained at all. But if you keep exploring the world, then I'm sure you'll find someone who can answer that for you. The world is a big place, after all!"

"Now that you mention it, we should probably get going again." James stood up. Time was marching on and they didn't want to be too late arriving in the next town.

"You're right." Nicola seemed a little down as she stood. "It was really interesting talking to you."

"I'm glad that I was able to teach you kids a few things." Ewan smiled. "Make sure you take care out there."

"Thanks!" Richard grinned as he joined the others.

At that moment, they were interrupted by the sound of a distant commotion.

"The surskit!" Ewan suddenly cried, jumping up and running for the door.

"Huh? What's up?!" Nicola cried as she ran after him.

"There's a rogue surskit that's always trying to eat my rice crops!" Ewan replied. "It scares the other surskit away too!"

"We'll come too!" James called as he raced to pull his shoes on.

* * *

 _1:30pm, 22_ _nd_ _April 2006_

Despite the loud, shrill cries filling the air, the scene that greeted them at the rice paddy was underwhelming as far as James was concerned. The light surskit danced across the water's surface so gracefully that it also seemed like nothing was happening at all. However, it was easy to identify the troublemaker. A surskit, slightly bigger than the rest, was darting about close to the centre of the paddy, charging after the others with sharp bursts of speed. Suddenly, it fired a stream of bubbles, which popped violently as they collided with the water's surface.

"That troublemaker!" Ewan growled, making to start wading into the paddy.

"Wait a second!" James cried. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to try and fight it!"

"I guess it won't cause too much trouble for a trainer such as yourself," Ewan said thoughtfully. "But you aren't going to ruin my crops, are you?"

"I've got the perfect pokémon in mind!" James grinned, pulling out a poké ball. "Go, Muro!"

The whismur cried out as he burst from the ball and landed on the group by the side of the paddy. He surveyed the scene, his eyes blinking in curiosity.

The surskit noticed them immediately and changed course. It recognised that they were a more serious threat than the other surskit, who had all fled to the far end of the paddy. That suited James – there was less chance that they'd be caught in the crossfire.

"Use Howl!" he ordered.

Muro quickly called out loudly to improve his fighting spirit. The surskit darted closer before suddenly springing from the paddy in a flash of light. It struck Muro directly, giving him a fright and sending him toppling backwards.

"Are you okay?" James asked.

Muro, though spooked, quickly rolled back to his feet. He rushed forwards with a sudden attack of his own, surprising the surskit with a light blow.

"Now use Pound!" James ordered.

Muro swung one of the large yellow flaps on his head, but the surskit was able to dodge at the last minute. It fired a burst of bubbles at Muro, causing him to tense up as they hit.

"Use Uproar!" James called as soon as he was sure that Muro hadn't taken much damage.

The whismur quickly obeyed, opening his mouth and closing his ear flaps before emitting a deafening sound. The surskit shook violently as it was blasted back by the sound wave. It spun around on the surface of the paddy as the attack continued. Though the water rippled strongly, the rice plants seemed completely unaffected.

"That whismur of his is a tough little pokémon, isn't it?" Ewan nodded with approval as Muro halted his attack.

"He only caught Muro recently," Will explained. "He keeps looking for chances for them to battle together."

"It looks like they're doing well for themselves so far."

The surskit regained its senses and fired a cluster of bubbles towards Muro. This time, the whismur darted to the left before emitting a loud shout. The surskit was caught up once again in the shockwave and was blown further back across the paddy. Deciding that it had had enough, it finally turned tail and skated away as fast as it could before leaving the rice paddy.

"Great work!" Ewan shouted over the noise of Muro's shout. "You cleared it out in record time!"

"It looks like you and Muro are getting better at this!" Nicola added enthusiastically.

"Umm, why isn't Muro stopping?" Richard shouted.

"Don't tell me that he frightened himself?!" Will yelled in alarm, clutching his ears.

Sure enough, the loud sound had made Muro cry. And the louder he cried, the more frightened he became.

"It's okay, Muro!" James shouted, wincing in pain as he approached Muro. "There's no need to be scared!"

Yet Muro continued to cry for a while after that. He and James still had a long way to go.

* * *

 **So, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get this chapter out last week as I'd originally intended. I underestimated the intensity of my course and more time than I'd like ended up getting sunk into working on assignments over the weekends. I also had some trouble finding the inspiration to write parts of this chapter.**

 **Anyway, I ultimately quite enjoyed writing this chapter. I wanted it to focus more on the way the pokémon world works rather than specifically on battling. I'm hoping to include more of this kind of lore in the future. I tried to give Will a slightly larger role at the start of this chapter, but it's about the limit of what I can do in the near future as the upcoming chapters will all focus on different characters.**

 **Since this is Chapter 20, I'll be taking my pre-planned one-week break from uploads. I don't know if I'll have the time to finish what I need for the week after that, but I'll certainly try. Chapter 6 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **will come next, though I can't promise when that will be.**

 **Anyway, as ever, I welcome any feedback you might have on this chapter!**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	21. Upsetting the Balance

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 21 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group pass through a farm on their way to Petalburg City and learn a bit more about how people other than trainers interact with pokémon.**

 **Upload Date: 6** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 21: Upsetting the Balance**

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _11:31am, 23_ _rd_ _April 2006_

"Wow! It feels weird being back. It feels like yesterday that we were here!"

Nicola ran ahead of the others and they passed over a bridge in the northern part of Petalburg City. The sudden closeness of their destination, the pokémon centre in the city centre, had filled her with energy. After the long journey along Routes 116 and 116(a), there was little that could dampen her relief.

As she reached the centre of the bridge, she paused and looked out at the landscape that greeted her. Petalburg City was normally quite densely packed but, given the width of the river, the four trainers suddenly found themselves out in the open. The normally imposing tower blocks seemed distant and peaceful. Despite the noise of the city around them, it felt oddly tranquil.

"I didn't think there'd be a sight like this up here," James said as he stopped alongside her. "The scenic parts of Petalburg are down in the direction of the sea."

"Makes sense," Richard added. "The area with the gym is the most important part of the city, after all!"

"How's your training coming along?" Will asked. "You feeling confident?"

"Pretty much," Richard replied. "Chena and Dish still have a little work to do, but Naro's ready and raring to go!"

"Make sure you don't rely on Naro too much," James warned him. "You'll need your other pokémon to back you up if he goes down!"

"Don't worry, I get it!" Richard replied. "He's not going to go down though!"

"How about you, Nicola?" Will turned to Nicola.

"Mostly confident," she replied with a nervous smile. "We'll have some time to finish training before the battle, right?"

"Depends on when you want your slot!" Richard grinned. Though he appeared confident, James thought he could detect a little uncertainty in his voice. That made sense – Richard was always one to put up a façade when it came to his own confidence.

"I was just thinking about that," Will said, glancing around at the other people travelling across the bridge. "Doesn't it feel like there are more people here than there were last time?"

"Yeah, you're right." James nodded. "I guess everyone's coming back here to challenge Norman now that they're feeling more confident."

"It might be a struggle to get a slot then," Richard sighed.

"We should get going then." Nicola stepped back from the railing at the side of the bridge. "Are we still going to head to the pokémon centre first?"

"Let's go to the gym first," Richard replied. "Once we've got slots, we can head back to the pokémon centre and start training."

"That sounds like a good idea." James stepped forwards and started walking towards the far side of the river. "You two can go on ahead if Will and I are being too slow."

"Can I do that any time, or just today?" Richard grinned as he started walking as well.

"You can do it whenever," James replied. "But are you sure you've learned to navigate?"

"…Of course, I was never planning to abandon you!"

The four trainers continued chatting as they walked down the street in the direction of the Petalburg gym.

* * *

 _11:56am, 23_ _rd_ _April 2006_

It really was much busier now than it had been the last time they'd been in Petalburg City.

The Petalburg gym, almost deserted when they'd come for James' battle, was full of eager trainers. Most were sat waiting for their turn against the gym leader. A couple were on their way out, either looking thrilled with their new badges or despondent after their defeat. Others were stood by the sides of the room, having arrived after all the seats were taken. And, of course, there were a small number queueing for the reception desk.

"I didn't think it would get this busy," Nicola sighed as she stood impatiently in the queue alongside Richard. The other two had decided to wait outside – there was no point in them needlessly getting in the way.

"I know what you mean." Richard nodded. He couldn't quite believe how busy it was either. He was starting to wonder if they'd even be able to get a slot today.

"It's hot as well," Nicola gasped, wiping her forehead. With so many people all cramped into this small space, it felt as though the air conditioning wasn't doing anything at all. It was also much louder, thanks to everyone in the room talking more loudly than usual so that they could hear each other over the others.

"Try to bear with it," Richard replied. Nicola could see that he was sweating too. "Once we've booked slots, we can leave and head to the pokémon centre."

"And then we get to train…"

"If that's how you want to look at it."

Still, Nicola was looking forward to getting back outside. It wasn't just the heat and the large volume of people – the fact that it was a pokémon gym, and that so many trainers were here for what they expected to be a tough battle, meant that an oppressive atmosphere hung in the air.

"Looks like we're up," Richard said, snapping Nicola back out of her thoughts.

"Ah! You're right!"

The person in front of them had finished speaking to the receptionist and moved out of the way. The receptionist himself looked worse for wear – he'd probably been in this room, in this heat and atmosphere, for quite a while.

"Can I help you?" he asked wearily as Nicola and Richard stepped forwards.

"Umm, we'd like to book slots to battle the gym leader," Nicola explained.

"Two of you?" The receptionist looked between her and Richard. "I'm afraid there's only one slot left available today, at 6 o'clock. We have plenty of slots available tomorrow though."

"What should we do?" Nicola asked, turning to Richard.

"You can have it," Richard replied. He didn't want to keep the receptionist waiting too long, so he needed to be decisive.

"Are you sure?" Nicola asked.

"It's fine."

"So, 6 o'clock this evening." The receptionist started tapping away at his keyboard. "May I have your trainer card?"

"Weren't you really keen to fight Norman?" Nicola asked Richard after handing over her trainer card.

"Well, it doesn't really matter which one of us goes first." Richard shrugged. "Besides, even _I_ get nervous before battles sometimes."

"Really?" Nicola seemed genuinely surprised. "You always look so confident to me!"

"Thanks, I guess." Richard grinned at her.

"So, does that mean you want me to go first so that you can learn from my mistakes?"

"Maybe a little!"

They were interrupted by the receptionist returning Nicola's trainer card. They quickly agreed on a slot the following morning for Richard and scanned his trainer card. As soon as they were done, they stepped aside and started heading for the door.

"Let's get back to the pokémon centre as quickly as we can," Nicola said firmly. "I want to get in as much training as possible before my battle."

"Sounds fair to me," Richard replied. "We should get James to help us as well – he's already fought Norman before, remember."

"That's what I was going to do." Nicola nodded.

They stepped back outside the gym to join their friends.

* * *

 _2:46pm, 23_ _rd_ _April 2006_

"Zaggy, use Headbutt!"

There was a cry and a slam as Zaggy weaved his way towards Muro and crashed into him. The whismur was sent rolling back, but soon recovered.

"Use Uproar!" James ordered.

Muro emitted a loud soundwave that sent ripples through the air. Zaggy was hit and crouched low to the ground to shield himself as much as possible from the attack.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola ordered quickly.

Zaggy leapt forwards the instant Muro lifted his attack. This time, however, the whismur scooted to the side to avoid the attack.

"Go on the offensive!" James called. "Use Pound!"

Muro sprang forwards and slammed into Zaggy's exposed flank with one of his large ear flaps. Zaggy let out a gasp as he took the heavy hit and dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

"Are you alright, Zaggy?" Nicola asked, running over to check on him. The zigzagoon, however, quickly jumped back up and dashed about, kicking a cloud of dust up into Nicola's face as he did.

"Looks like he's still good to go!" Richard grinned from the side lines.

"Well, Muro and I need a break anyway," James said, reaching down to pat the whismur on the head. "Everyone's been doing really well so far today."

"That's a relief," Nicola sighed. She stood up straight and started brushing the dust off of her front.

"So, with that last attack…" James began. "I thought you did a good job recovering from Muro's Uproar, but you were too confident that the attack would hit – you left yourself open for the counter-attack."

"Ugh." Nicola looked down in disappointment. "I'll try harder next time."

"Don't worry about it too much!" James reassured her. "There's still plenty of time to work on it."

"I still need to train with Mushy and Kipa," Nicola sighed. "We can't spend too much time on just Zaggy."

"Let's be honest though, Nicola," said Richard. "Zaggy's the one you've got the least control over."

"He's right." Will nodded. "You aren't trying to run away from training him, are you?"

"Of course not!" Nicola snapped. "I just don't want to focus too much on him and not enough on the others!"

"Well, we'll take a break now." James walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. "No sense in overdoing it when we've still got a few hours to go!"

"That reminds me…" Richard came over and sat next to him. "What can you tell me and Nicola about Norman? Anything about when you fought him."

"Hmm." James thought for a couple of seconds as Nicola and Will came over to join them. "I remember him hitting hard, even if his pokémon weren't always fast!"

"Yeah, I remember that slakoth." Nicola nodded. "It was pretty tough, even though it spent half the battle just lying around."

"Norman knows the weaknesses of his pokémon…" James continued. "…so, expect him to have planned around it. He's also not the kind of person who'll go that easy on you just because you're still inexperienced. It'll be a tough fight."

"I guess the same goes for me as well," Richard sighed, noticing the horrified look on Nicola's face. "Just make sure that you're hitting as hard as he is."

"In Nicola's case, I'd say it's best that she tries to keep out of reach as much as possible during the battle," James replied.

"I-I'm not feeling so confident anymore…"

"We've still got time before your gym battle." Will shrugged. "You can still get your pokémon ready for fighting Norman."

"Yeah, it's too early to worry!" Richard grinned.

"We'll get back to it in about ten minutes," said James. "We'll make sure that you're feeling more confident before you walk into that arena!"

"Thanks, guys." Nicola smiled nervously at them.

* * *

 _5:56pm, 23_ _rd_ _April 2006_

If the number of people packed into the Petalburg gym earlier in the day had been a surprise to them, then the emptiness of the lobby when they returned in the evening was even more so. When James thought about it, it made perfect sense – this was the final slot, so of course everyone else had already gone back to the pokémon centre.

"I'm here for my gym battle," Nicola said timidly to the receptionist.

"Nicola Hewitt, right?" the receptionist replied. "You can go straight in."

"Thanks." Nicola turned and walked over in the direction of the entrance of the tunnel leading to the arena. The others followed her.

"Good luck, Nicola," James said, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, give it all you've got!" Richard grinned.

"We'll be cheering for you," Will added.

"Thanks, guys." Nicola gave them a wobbly smile in response. They'd spent most of the afternoon training and she felt a lot more confident than she had at the start of the day. Yet there was a mounting sense of tension that was starting to get to her.

The others waved to her as they started walking up the stairs towards the stands. She briefly waved back before turning and starting to walk through the tunnel. After all the build-up, she wanted to just get started. The sooner the battle was over, the sooner she'd feel less tense.

* * *

 _5:59pm, 23_ _rd_ _April 2006_

As Nicola walked out into the dojo-style arena, she immediately noticed that the gym leader was waiting for her. She hurried to her position.

"Welcome to the Petalburg gym," Norman said as she reached the side of the arena.

"Th-Thanks!" Nicola called back.

"If you're ready, shall we get started straight away?" Norman asked. "It's getting late, and I'm sure we both want to get home as soon as possible!"

"Sure!" Nicola nodded.

Norman gave the referee a nod, who quickly stood to attention at the side of the arena.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Petalburg City gym leader, Norman, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town! The battle will be fought using a three-on-three single format and will be over when one side has no more pokémon that can battle! In addition, only the challenger may substitute pokémon!"

Both Nicola and Norman reached for their first poké balls. They both watched the referee as he opened his mouth again.

"Begin!"

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola immediately threw out her first poké ball.

Mushy burst from the ball and landed softly on the ground. She looked across the battlefield as Norman's slakoth appeared from the other poké ball.

"So, he's going with Slakoth first this time?" Richard frowned as he watched the scene. "I wonder what his plan is?"

"He's probably had to vary up his tactics all day," James replied. "He could be up to everything."

"They're beginning!" Will said suddenly as the two pokémon sprung towards each other.

Slakoth swung a lazy swipe at Mushy, who deftly avoided it and slammed into Slakoth from the side. The latter crashed to the ground. He flaked out lazily as Mushy fired a cluster of seeds at him.

"Great work, Mushy!" Nicola called enthusiastically as the seeds started sprouting.

Mushy smiled back at her as she backed up to prepare for Slakoth's next attack.

"Use Yawn!" Norman shouted.

Slakoth immediately let out a loud yawn.

"Don't pay any attention to it, Mushy!" Nicola yelled urgently, remembering the move from James' gym battle.

However, Mushy let out a loud yawn of her own. She was starting to get drowsy.

"That's going to be tough to deal with," Richard said, frowning. "If Mushy goes to sleep, then Slakoth can attack whenever he feels like it."

"Mushy, use Mega Drain!" Nicola ordered.

Mushy quickly fired a green beam towards Slakoth, scoring a direct hit and draining some of the normal type's energy. However, he remained active. The lazy smile on his face seemed almost mocking as Mushy's new-found drowsiness caught up with her and she toppled forwards.

"Use Slash!" Norman yelled.

Slakoth trudged forwards lazily and swung his claw at Mushy. It was an easy hit, and the surprising force sent her rolling backwards towards Nicola. Despite the force of the impact, the shroomish remained fast asleep.

"Come on, Mushy!" Nicola called desperately.

Slakoth loitered around nearby, fixing Mushy and Nicola with a lazy look. Though Mushy wasn't doing anything while she was asleep, the seeds she'd planted earlier were continuing to drain Slakoth's energy. Given how lazy he was, it was honestly a surprise that he was still fighting.

Suddenly seized by the desire to do something again, Slakoth sprang forwards and slashed at Mushy again. Even in her sleep, she cried out in pain as she was thrown back. As she landed, she finally jerked awake again, stunned by the changing situation around her.

"Use Mega Drain!" Nicola called urgently as she realised Mushy was back up. If they could get off another good attack, they should be able to knock out Slakoth.

Mushy nodded as she jumped back to her feet. She fired a green beam at Slakoth, who had returned to lazing around. However, at the last minute, he rolled to one side and avoided the beam.

"Finish this with Slash!" Norman seemed completely unfazed by the narrow escapes his pokémon had had. He calmly issued his order, his posture staying the same throughout.

Slakoth surged forwards and slashed at Mushy before she and Nicola could recover from the failure of their last attack.

There was a thud as Mushy hit the ground.

"Shroomish is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Slakoth is the winner!"

"That's not a good start for Nicola," Richard sighed.

"The first pokémon is always the most important." James nodded sadly. "It puts on the back foot from early on in the battle…"

"Mushy did quite a bit of damage though," Will pointed out. "She should be able to knock him out without any problems with her next pokémon."

"Yeah, she needs to regain the initiative," Richard agreed. "Otherwise she's just going to get crushed."

"Go, Zaggy!" Nicola finished recalling Mushy and hurled out her next poké ball.

The zigzagoon burst from the ball and landed on the ground. He wagged his tail mischievously as he surveyed the scene in front of him.

"Use Yawn!" Norman called to Slakoth.

However, the lazy pokémon was still flaked out on the ground after the exertion from his previous attack. Nicola had a chance!

"Use Headbutt!" she shouted to Zaggy.

Zaggy didn't hesitate. He rushed forwards, weaving as he was momentarily distracted by sights and sounds elsewhere in the room. He finally slammed into Slakoth with a heavy blow. Despite the force, Slakoth was able to stagger to his feet, ready to launch an attack of his own.

"Again!" Nicola yelled desperately.

"Yawn!" Norman called.

Just as Slakoth was about to open his mouth, Zaggy flew at him again. There was a loud crash as the two pokémon tumbled to the ground. As Zaggy jumped back and got ready for his next attack, Slakoth remained motionless.

"Slakoth is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Zigzagoon is the winner!"

"She did it!" Richard grinned. "Zaggy didn't even take a hit in that round!"

"Mushy did a good job weakening him." James nodded. "But Norman's next pokémon will be full of energy. It's going to be tough for her."

"Go, Vigoroth!" Norman called, throwing out his next poké ball.

Vigoroth roared as he burst out of the ball, flailing his arms around energetically and bouncing up and down impatiently.

"Whoa!" Will whipped out his Pokédex to scan Vigoroth. Of course, he hadn't been present for James' battle with Norman. Both Slakoth and Vigoroth were new to him.

"Use Headbutt!" Nicola called to Zaggy.

Zaggy let out a cry and started charging towards Vigoroth. However, before he could reach him, his opponent had already flung himself in his direction. He delivered a flurry of fierce swipes with his sharp claws, knocking Zaggy off-balance and sending him flying back.

"Now use Brick Break!" Norman called.

Vigoroth plunged towards Zaggy again, his right fist glowing a dark red colour. However, Zaggy was able to roll clear just in time. There was a sickening crunch as Vigoroth's punch splintered the arena floor.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola yelled, spotting her opportunity.

Zaggy struck as Vigoroth attempted to pull his fist clear. The wild monkey was knocked over, though he quickly recovered. He flung himself at Zaggy again, this time swiping at him with a single, more powerful blow.

"This isn't good," Richard murmured, watching as Vigoroth and Zaggy exchanged attacks. "Nicola's really struggling with the sudden change of pace."

"Yeah." James nodded. "That really caught me by surprise as well. He wants to throw you off so that you can't react quickly enough. The trick is to overcome it."

"Zaggy's been doing okay," Will added. "Nicola just needs to land a couple of serious blows."

"With a pokémon like Vigoroth, that's easier said than done," James replied.

"Use Headbutt!" Nicola shouted.

Zaggy raced forwards, the intensity of the battle even keeping him from being distracted as he moved. He managed to slam into Vigoroth's leg, but was left open to the counter-attack.

"Slash!" Norman ordered.

Vigoroth swiped viciously at Zaggy, sending him flying through the air. He landed with a crash on the ground.

"Now use Brick Break!" Norman shouted.

Vigoroth screeched in acknowledgement and charged at Zaggy. He slammed his fist into the zigzagoon's flank. There was a crash as Zaggy was thrown back. He landed with a thud and lay still.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Vigoroth is the winner!"

"Zaggy, return!" Nicola quickly recalled Zaggy to his poké ball.

"She's down to just Kipa," James sighed. "Still, he'll be able to keep Vigoroth at a distance. The battle still isn't over."

"You're right!" Richard agreed. "Vigoroth took a beating against Zaggy as well, so she'll have the advantage with Kipa!"

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa, newly emerged from his poké ball, fired a jet of water towards Vigoroth. He scored a direct hit, soaking the wild monkey pokémon and causing him to stumble back.

"Use Fury Swipes!" Norman called.

Vigoroth stepped forwards again and then fired himself towards Kipa. However, the mudkip was quick to get clear. As Vigoroth sailed safely overhead, Kipa fired another jet of water at him, scoring another hit.

"Keep it up, Kipa!" Nicola called. She seemed a little more at ease than she had after Zaggy had been defeated.

"Give it all you've got!" Norman shouted to Vigoroth. "Use Brick Break!"

Vigoroth recovered and charged at Kipa. Once again, Kipa was able to avoid the attack with a quick jump. However, the shockwave from Vigoroth's impact with the ground was still enough to knock him off-balance. Vigoroth spotted his opportunity and delivered a powerful slash to the stumbling mudkip.

"Use Mud Slap!" Nicola called as Kipa pulled himself painfully back to his feet.

Kipa immediately kicked up a clump of mud, striking Vigoroth directly in the face and temporarily blinding him.

"Now use Tackle!" Nicola yelled.

Kipa raced forwards as fast as he could. Vigoroth swung his claw aimlessly in an attempt to stop him, but the mudkip easily avoided it. He jumped into the air and plunged directly towards his opponents' chest. Vigoroth let out a shout of pain as he took a direct hit and stumbled backwards. He tripped and crashed to the ground.

However, he clawed his way angrily back to his feet and let out a screech of rage. He wasn't happy.

"Use Brick Break!" Norman called. As ever, he seemed unfazed by his pokémon being knocked back.

Vigoroth immediately obeyed. He rushed forwards, his arm glowing a dark red colour.

"Intercept it with Water Gun!" Nicola called.

Kipa immediately fired a blast of water and hit Vigoroth directly. However, the normal type kept on plunging through the water, much to Nicola and Kipa's horror.

"Use Bide!" Nicola yelled as a last resort.

Kipa immediately started focusing so that he could absorb as much energy from Vigoroth's attack as he could.

"That wasn't a good move!" James gasped.

Vigoroth, no longer struggling against the jet of water, surged forwards and raised his fist. He slammed into Kipa with as much force as he could muster. A large cloud of dust was thrown into the air by the strength of the attack.

"Kipa!" Nicola cried in alarm.

The dust started to clear as Kipa was thrown back from Vigoroth. Though he'd done his best to endure the damage, it was already clear just how bad the attack had been.

Kipa crashed to the ground with a thud and lay silent.

"Mudkip is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Vigoroth is the winner! All three of the challenger's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the gym leader!"

"That was intense," James sighed, watching sadly as Nicola recalled Kipa and walked slowly over to hear from Norman.

"Yeah." Richard nodded solemnly. "I hope she isn't too torn up by it."

"We need to worry about you next," Will said. "How are you feeling after seeing that?"

"A bit scared!" Richard grinned nervously. "But I've got Naro to back me up, so…"

"We can worry about Richard tomorrow," James said. "That was a pretty crushing defeat. It's going to have hit Nicola pretty hard."

* * *

 _7:35pm, 23_ _rd_ _April 2006_

"…So, have you thought about what you'd like to do next, Nicola?" James asked.

"No idea."

It had been an incredibly quiet meal. They were only able to get the occasional couple of words out of Nicola, who otherwise had spent the evening pushing food around her plate with her fork. It was a depressing sight to see.

"Well, we can focus on my training for now," Richard said. "I know that my slot is quite early tomorrow, but we should have a fair amount of time to train before then."

"Another early start?" Will made a face.

"That's the way it works sometimes," James said idly. He kept his eye on Nicola, who wasn't meeting their eyes at all. It was difficult to know exactly what to say to help her. It was never easy losing a battle, and losing gym battles were perhaps the worst of all. After all, you knew that you had to immediately fight the same person again if you wanted to get the badge.

James had experienced his fair share of gym defeats in the past. He knew it wasn't easy, but the only way to really deal with it was to think about how to win the rematch. Nicola needed to hear that – and he'd certainly made it clear to her after they'd left the gym – but he didn't want to try and force anything. Ultimately, she was the one who needed to overcome her loss, not him, Will or Richard.

"…I'm going to my room." Nicola stood up, her meal still untouched, and carried her tray over to the rack by the side of the restaurant. She then walked over to the door and disappeared from sight.

"What are we going to do about her?" Richard asked, a troubled look on his face.

"It was a pretty heavy defeat," Will sighed. "Do you think she'll even be willing to train with us tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Richard replied. "Should I go and talk to her? I've lost gym battles as well, so I can sympathise with her…"

"No." James shook his head. "It's good that you're worried about Nicola, but you need to focus on your own battle, Richard."

"…I guess you're right." Richard let out a sigh. If he couldn't focus during his battle because he was too busy thinking about Nicola, then it wouldn't help either of them.

"We'll keep to the plan we worked out at lunchtime," James said. "If Nicola feels able to join us, then that's great. If not, then I don't think we should force her. It's the first time she's lost a gym battle, so she's going to need time to get her head around it."

"She might feel better after some sleep," Will added.

"That's true as well." James nodded.

"Fair enough," Richard said sadly. He put another spoonful of food into his mouth and gazed out of the window. It was going to be a tough day tomorrow.

* * *

 **So, I decided to put Nicola first this time since I thought it would be slightly less interesting than Richard's battle. Let's hope that I'm proved right when Chapter 22 goes up…**

 **Anyway, I won't say much more because I'm having a pretty busy day right now. We've got a bit to look forward to next chapter – Richard's gym battle with Norman and Nicola getting over her first gym defeat. After that, well, who knows – maybe rematches? Maybe moving on to Dewford Town? I guess we'll see next chapter! :P**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	22. Rise to the Challenge!

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 22 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **With Nicola defeated by Norman in the previous chapter, the focus now turns to Richard's battle with the Petalburg gym leader.**

 **Upload Date: 9** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: Rise to the Challenge!**

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _7:01am, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

James emerged from his dream-filled slumber and returned to consciousness. He blinked for a couple of seconds as he attempted to adjust his eyes to the surprising brightness in the room. The curtains were still closed, but the bright sunshine from outside was still getting through.

Pulling back the covers, he sat up and swung his legs out of the bed. His eyes feel on the empty bunk across from him. Though it was dishevelled and untidy, there was no sign of its occupant. James guessed that Richard must have gone out somewhere. Probably to train.

Stifling a yawn, he pulled himself to his feet and started heading for the bathroom. If Richard was out training, then he should be out there as well. It was virtually an unspoken rule in their friendship. In fact, he was surprised that Richard hadn't woken him up before he went out. Maybe he was starting to get cocky and thought that he wouldn't need help preparing for this gym battle..?

He just hoped that he hadn't tried to ask Nicola to help out. They hadn't seen her since she'd left the restaurant the previous evening. James had thought about knocking on her door when they passed it on their way to their room, but had thought better of it. He couldn't think of anything to say to her that would really help. He didn't want to just say something empty in a half-hearted attempt to cheer her up. He knew from experience that she'd be better off left with her thoughts until she felt like speaking to them again.

Still, all three of them were worried about her and Richard didn't quite have the same level of sensitivity that James had. There was always the chance that he'd try and do something, even if just for the sake of doing it, and that could just end up making the situation worse. Not that James believed that there was no chance that Richard could say something that would help, he just didn't think that it was worth the risk. He knew that Richard would be demoralised if Nicola vented her feelings on him. The situation would take an even worse turn if Richard then lost his own gym battle because of it…

After quickly washing his face, he briefly stared at his reflection in the mirror as he continued to think. His priority now had to be on Richard. If Nicola decided to show up and announce her intention to challenge Norman to a rematch, then they could deal with that when it came up. And a part of him felt like it would be a struggle to talk to Nicola for a while. Best to make sure that Richard won his gym badge so that they only had to focus on her later.

Satisfied with the plan forming in his head, James walked back into the bedroom and started pulling on his clothes. After finishing gathering everything that he needed to help Richard train, he reached up and started shaking Will awake.

"Come on, Will! We need to go down and help Richard train!"

"Just five more minutes…"

"We don't have long until Richard's gym battle. We don't have 'five more minutes'!"

However, Will simply rolled over and didn't respond.

James let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I'll head on down. Make sure you get out some time soon as well!"

He headed for the door, taking one of the room keys with him.

* * *

The morning air was filled with sounds, from bird pokémon chirping to trainers and their pokémon practising on the arenas. The sky was blue and the sun shone down impressively; it was warm and the breeze didn't seem too strong. In short, it seemed like the perfect day to be out and about.

Yet all these things felt distant to Nicola.

She had gone straight to bed after parting with James, Richard and Will the previous evening. She was still lying in bed, her face buried in her pillow, arms folded in front of the top of her head. Her dreams had been filled with images from yesterday's battle, her pokémon being cast aside by the ferocity of Vigoroth's attacks. It had been a restless night.

Though she'd eventually gotten some sleep, she was still exhausted. She simply couldn't work up the energy to do anything. A part of her knew that some of the distant sounds reaching her ears from the arena outside were from Richard and his team training for their gym battle. They helped each other train for each other's gym battles, right? She should be out there too, right?

These thoughts swirled through her head, but only made her feel more depressed. She pushed her face deeper into the pillow, as if to hide the frown that had appeared on her face. She exhaled sharply through her nose and remained still.

* * *

 _7:07am, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Alright, try using Double Kick!" Richard called.

Naro nodded and raced forwards. He swung his huge legs at thin air, sending two blasts of air towards Richard.

"Whoa! Seems pretty powerful!" He grinned as the air struck him and ruffled his hair.

Naro grinned back confidently. Beside him, Chena and Dish were also stood to attention. They looked just as determined as their larger team mate.

"Okay then," Richard began. "How about we try using some different moves…"

At that moment, he heard someone calling out to him from the direction of the pokémon centre's entrance.

"Hey, Richard!"

Richard looked over to see James approaching him.

"Good morning!" He grinned. "Nice to see you!"

"If you were going out to train, then you could have woken me," James said as he reached him.

"Ah, I figured I'd head out by myself first," Richard replied with a guilty grin. "And I thought I see how Nicola was on my way."

 _Of course, you did_. James sighed. "And?"

"Oh, I didn't actually do it," Richard explained. "When I got to her door, I thought that there wasn't really anything I could say that would make things better."

"You're probably right." James nodded, relieved at Richard's response. "Anyway, we need to focus on your training. We only have a couple of hours, right?"

"Yeah. My slot's at ten."

"And you need about an hour to rest before then."

"Two hours, then?"

"Yeah."

Richard looked back at his pokémon. He was feeling pretty confident with how they were doing. All of them had improved since their battle with Roxanne back in Rustboro City.

"What's your plan?" James asked. "You've seen Norman fight against me and Nicola. You've got to have picked something up from watching both battles."

"Well, it seems to me like Norman likes to catch challengers off-guard by switching between a fast-paced and slow-paced battle," Richard said. "You were able to handle that because Charka's such a beast, while Nicola wasn't able to react fast enough to the changes."

"What about you?" James asked. "You don't have Charka to back you up."

"Don't worry!" Richard grinned. "I figure the best way for me to deal with it is to go with an approach that doesn't depend on the opponent being fast or slow. Naro's tough, so he'll be able to take both Slakoth's slow attacks and Vigoroth's fast attacks. We've been practising our speed as well, so we shouldn't have too many problems hitting either pokémon."

"Don't over-rely on Naro," James warned him. "What about the others?"

"I've got some plans for them," Richard explained. "Chena is quite fast, but Dish is quite slow. I'm hoping to use Norman's tactics against him."

"That sounds pretty good. Even better if you take advantage of the fact that you can switch pokémon."

"That's what I was thinking! Chena is fast, Dish is small, and Naro is the balance between the two. I can anchor my strategy around him."

"As long as you keep your strategy in mind when you're fighting. Don't let Norman start leading the battle!"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful!"

James fixed his friend with a momentary frown before sighing. "As long as you know what you're doing."

"Anyway, shall we get to training?" Richard asked. "Time's ticking away!"

"Sure." James nodded. "Let's get started."

* * *

 _9:55am, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

The Petalburg gym was quite busy, considering how early it was in the morning, when they arrived for Richard's gym battle. The training session had produced countless warnings from James that Richard shouldn't take Norman lightly. He was hoping that the density of the warnings would mean at least some of them got through.

Before heading out to the gym, James had stopped by Nicola's room to see if she was going to come along. However, his knock was met with no response and he'd decided better of trying to force the issue. He was disappointed though – as far as he was concerned, there was never a truly good reason to bail on supporting a friend during their gym battles.

On the other hand, Will had managed to haul himself out of bed in time to join them on their walk to the gym. Though he had ultimately been of no help in the training, he was at least going to be present to cheer. And that was enough sometimes. Privately, James thought that he and Richard were strong enough to be able to train sufficiently with just the two of them, but it never hurt to have some different ideas and battle styles thrown in to keep them on their toes. He hated to admit it, but he sometimes became complacent since he was so used to Richard's battle style.

"I'm here for my gym battle." Richard was stood by the reception desk. Though he was trying to hide it, he seemed disappointed that Nicola had stayed in her room instead of coming to support him.

"You're good to go," the receptionist replied. "Head straight through that doorway there."

"Thanks." Richard stepped away from the desk and walked over to join James and Will. "I guess it's finally time."

"How are you feeling?" James asked.

"A bit nervous," Richard admitted. "Not much more than usual though."

"Good. That'll keep you on your toes." James nodded approvingly.

"Your team is pretty tough, so I'm sure you won't have any real problems," Will added.

"Thanks." Richard grinned. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Anyway, we're going to head up to the stands," James said as he and Will started walking towards the staircase. "Good luck, Richard!"

"Make it a good fight for us!" Will called back.

"Will do!" Richard grinned. "And thanks!"

He turned and started walking down the tunnel to the arena. Now, it was just him, his pokémon, and his nerves.

* * *

Nicola had heard James knocking on the door. The sudden realisation that she'd run out of time to decide if she was going to go to the gym to help support Richard had left her momentarily stunned. She remained in place, her only action being to turn her head to one side and glance at the door.

Now, with James having gone and a sense of guilt gnawing at her, she finally pulled herself up. She looked around, blinking as she properly took in her surroundings for the first time that day. Her heart still felt heavy, and the temptation to simply drop back down into her bed was strong.

However, pulling herself upright had given her enough energy to persuade her to get up. She walked unsteadily to the bathroom, where she flicked the light on and glanced in the mirror.

"…"

She wasn't exactly in the best of states. Her hair, normally fairly neat, was completely dishevelled. The thought of having to carefully brush it to bring it back under control made her heart sink.

And her face didn't look much better.

Her eyes were red and puffy, and the fact that she was squinting as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light wasn't helping. Her lips were turned down in a frown. Just the sight of it was enough to make her even more depressed.

She flicked the light off and left the bathroom before throwing herself back down onto her bed. Resting her chin on her pillow, she let out a long sigh as she stretched her arms straight out in front of her and touched the headboard.

"…I guess the battle has already begun," she murmured to herself, briefly glancing at her watch, which lay on the bedside table.

* * *

 _10:02am, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Begin!" the referee called.

Richard didn't need telling twice. He immediately threw out his first poké ball. "Go, Naro!"

Naro roared as he burst out of the ball and landed with a crash on the ground. He looked confidently across at Norman.

"So, he went with Naro after all," James sighed.

"Well, Naro _is_ his strongest," Will said. "He'll probably be able to crush whatever Norman has up his sleeve!"

"Go, Slaking!" Norman called.

"Slaking?!" James and Will cried in surprise.

Norman's poké ball popped open and a large, gorilla-like pokémon with pale brown fur on his body and white fur on his head emerged. He landed with a crash and immediately flaked out on his side, propping up himself up on his elbow.

"Slaking, huh?" Richard quickly pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Slaking, the lazy pokémon and the evolved form of vigoroth. Slaking spend all day lying down and lolling about. They eat grass growing within their reach. If they eat all the grass they can reach, these pokémon reluctantly move to another spot. As a result, rings of over a yard in diameter appear in grassy fields wherever slaking live._ "

"Aww, I was hoping for a proper fight between two huge pokémon," Richard sighed as he put his Pokédex away again. "This is going to be like fighting a massive slakoth, isn't it?"

"Don't be careless, Richard!" James shouted from the stands. "It's still huge!"

"Got it, got it!" Richard replied dismissively. He turned to Naro. "Use Double Kick!"

Naro roared as he rushed forwards, the ground seeming to shake with each massive step he took. He lumbered towards Slaking, who was still lying idly on the ground.

"Use Feint Attack!" Norman called.

Slaking awkwardly pulled himself to his feet as Naro approached. With a surprising burst of speed, he lunged towards Naro's right. As the nidoking instinctively flinched, Slaking spun and slammed into Naro from the other side. There was a roar as he toppled to the ground.

"Naro!" Richard cried in alarm.

Naro pulled himself back to his feet. The damage wasn't too bad, but the shock at Slaking's sudden counter attack was there. He immediately adopted a more defensive posture, watching cautiously as Slaking returned to lazing around.

"Don't worry, Naro!" Richard called, regaining his nerve. "Get in there and use Megahorn!"

Naro nodded and charged forwards again. This time, Slaking remained motionless, passively watching as Naro stomped towards him. There was a crash as Naro landed his attack, the strength of the impact forcing Slaking over onto his back. This alone was impressive – a smaller pokémon would have been blown away completely!

Slaking also recovered quickly. As he rolled back onto his side, he turned his head slightly in the direction of his trainer, awaiting an order.

"Use Yawn!" Norman shouted.

Slaking immediately opened his mouth and let out a loud yawn.

"Don't pay attention to it, Naro!" Richard called. "Use Double Kick!"

Naro rushed forwards as Slaking went back to lazing around and delivered two powerful kicks. Despite the latter's powerful physique, a couple of grunts suggested that Naro had managed to do some real damage.

"Now use Horn Attack!" Richard yelled.

Naro rushed forwards again. Slaking also began an attack of his own. Making as if to attack from the left, he changed directions at the last moment and struck from the right. Naro, however, stuck it out and rammed his horn into Slaking's chest. Both pokémon limped back from each other.

"Now use Double Kick again!" Richard called to Naro.

Naro roared in agreement and started marching forwards. However, after making it only a couple of steps, he suddenly slumped forwards and crashed to the ground. Loud snores began to fill the air.

"Use Focus Punch!" Norman ordered.

Slaking pulled himself reluctantly to his feet and stood facing Naro's sleeping form with his massive arms hanging loosely by his sides. He slowly balled one of his hands into a fist. It started glowing a dark red colour as he focused his energy into it and took aim at his opponent. He finally stormed forwards and slammed into Naro with a powerful punch. The arena floor cracked with the force of the impact, yet Naro remained asleep rather than unconscious.

"Come on, Naro! Wake up!" Richard shouted.

But Naro still slept, as if completely blanking the powerful attack he'd just taken.

"Fighting type moves like Focus Punch aren't very effective against Naro," James muttered as he watched Slaking launch another attack at the sleeping nidoking. "But Focus Punch is one hell of a powerful attack. Even Naro won't be able to hold out for too long if this keeps up."

"The only good thing is that Slaking has to stop every now and again," Will sighed. "What can Richard do to get Naro back up?"

"Keep calling him, I guess," James replied. Slaking had finished lazing around again and was getting ready for another attack. "He needs to hurry though…"

Slaking lumbered over to Naro and raised his fist, preparing for another blow.

"Come on, Naro!" Richard shouted. "Snap out of it!"

As Slaking swung his fist down, he suddenly let out a grunt of surprise as one of Naro's arms shot up. He grabbed Slaking's fist and held it in place, preventing the attack.

"Use Double Kick!" Richard yelled, reacting quickly.

With a growl of understanding, Naro swung Slaking's fist to one side to knock his opponent off-balance. He ploughed into Slaking with two powerful kicks. His opponent stumbled back in a daze.

"Now use Megahorn!" Richard ordered.

Naro lowered his head and charged forwards, ploughing into Slaking and knocking him back. The lazy pokémon collapsed with a loud thud and remained still.

"Slaking is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Nidoking is the winner!"

"Alright!" Richard cheered. "Great work, Naro!"

Naro grinned back wearily at him.

"Good work, Slaking." Norman recalled Slaking to his poké ball. "You put up a good fight." He quickly pulled out his next poké ball and threw it out. "Go, Vigoroth!"

Vigoroth burst out of the poké ball and landed on the arena floor, his arms flailing wildly in anticipation of the battle.

 _Just as I expected!_ Richard grinned. He nodded at Naro. "Use Double Kick!"

Naro roared and charged forwards. He swung two powerful kicks at Vigoroth, though the smaller pokémon was able to move out of the way just in time. A brief counter-attack from Vigoroth appeared to simply glance off of Naro's arm.

As the two pokémon separated and looked to their trainers for instructions, Richard quickly ran though his plan in his head. _Okay, so Vigoroth is going to be tougher to hit than Slaking, but Naro is also tough enough to be able to take most of his attacks, even after the beating he took against Slaking. And Vigoroth needs to attack up close, so he'll be exposed to Poison Point_.

His plan was perfect. And he had Dish and Chena to back him up just in case.

"Use Slash!" Norman called.

Vigoroth raced forwards enthusiastically and slashed viciously at Naro. The nidoking grunted with pain, but shrugged it off.

"Counter with Horn Attack!" Richard ordered.

Naro immediately swung his head at Vigoroth, catching him as he descended from his attack and sending him flying back. He landed with a crash, but pulled himself up again. He was panting heavily, a cold sweat appearing to break out on his forehead.

"Yes!" Richard grinned. Poison Point had done its job.

"Use Façade!" Norman immediately shouted.

Vigoroth, fighting through the poison, charged towards Naro again, an orange aura surrounding him.

"Counter with Double Kick!" Richard called. He wasn't going to let his guard down!

Naro immediately moved to raise his leg for the first kick, only for Vigoroth to dart around him. He slashed viciously at Naro's flank. The nidoking let out a cry, first as an instinctive reaction to being hit, followed by one from the intense pain that surged through him. He staggered for a couple of seconds before crashing to the ground.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Vigoroth is the winner!"

"Huh?" Richard gasped. Somehow, that one attack had been enough to floor Naro. Sure, he'd taken damage during the battle with Slaking, but there was no way that Vigoroth could have dealt a crippling blow so quickly.

"What kind of move was that?" Will asked James.

"I don't know," James replied. He was flicking through a small notebook, trying to find any reference to that attack.

While he was doing that, Richard recalled Naro to his poké ball. Though he'd planned for the possibility that Naro could be knocked out, he hadn't thought that he'd go down so quickly.

"Here we are!" James found the move they were looking for. "'Façade'. It's an attack that doubles in strength if the user is poisoned, paralyzed, or burned!"

"So that's why it was so powerful?" Will gasped.

Down in the arena, Richard had called out Dish as his next pokémon. _Gotta focus – we still have the advantage!_ He nodded to reassure himself. "Dish, use Astonish!"

"Why's he doing that?!" James cried in alarm as Dish obediently rushed forwards in an attempt to startle Vigoroth. As expected, the wild monkey pokémon didn't react at all. As Dish began pulling back, he rushed forwards, his body cloaked in that same orange aura.

"Get clear, Dish!" Richard yelled.

Dish jumped as hard as she could. It wasn't enough.

Vigoroth managed to catch her under the chin, sending her flipping and spinning through the air. She crashed on her side, but was able to roll upright again.

"Absorb! Use Absorb!" Richard called desperately. _This is bad! I let myself panic!_

Dish fired a green beam of energy at the advancing Vigoroth, managing to score a direct hit. However, he continued racing towards her.

"Use Nature Power!" Richard called.

Dish surrounded herself in a green aura for a split second. Then she suddenly fired a cluster of star-shaped rays towards Vigoroth. It was too late for him to change course – he took the attack head-on and was knocked back.

"Use Absorb again!" Richard yelled. They needed to keep up the pressure as much as possible.

"Use Brick Break!" Norman called to Vigoroth.

Dish quickly hit Vigoroth with a green beam of energy as he howled and raced towards her again. Though his energy was drained, he kept on coming and Dish was only just able to pull out of the way of his fist as he smashed it down into the ground.

"Slash!" Norman ordered quickly.

Catching Dish while she was still focused on the previous attack, Vigoroth slashed viciously at her. She was sent flying and landed with a crash.

"Now finish up with Façade!" Norman ordered.

Vigoroth leaped forwards again as Dish struggled to pull herself up.

"Dish, return!" Richard quickly stuck out her poké ball and recalled her. He threw out the poké ball held in his other hand in the same instant.

Chena barked loudly as he burst from the ball and landed on the arena floor.

"Use Tackle!" Richard yelled.

Chena reacted immediately. Let out at a position that was off Vigoroth's route of attack, he sprang forwards and slammed into the wild monkey's flank. Vigoroth screeched and took a swipe at him, but missed. He dropped to the ground and fell to one knee. Dish's attacks and the lingering effects of poison had really started to take their toll.

"Use Howl!" Richard called.

Chena howled loudly as Vigoroth struggled back up. He rushed forwards again, his fist glowing a dark red colour. However, Chena was quick to dodge. As he skidded clear and wheeled around to face his opponent again, he looked to Richard for direction.

"Use Tackle again!" Richard shouted. "Give it everything you've got!"

Chena didn't hesitate. He surged forwards and crashed into Vigoroth as he attempted to change course. The wild monkey crashed to the ground with a loud thud and lay still.

"Vigoroth is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Poochyena is the winner!"

"Phew!" Richard wiped his forehead and took a step back. He finally felt as though he could breathe again.

He had to admit that he'd been in a bit of a panic after Naro went down and he'd nearly lost Dish because of it. Still, he'd managed to beat Norman's toughest pokémon. If memory served, the only ones he had left were Slakoth and Zigzagoon – it shouldn't be too hard to finish either off with the two pokémon he had left.

"Go, Linoone!" Norman called as he threw out his last poké ball.

A pokémon with a long, white and brown body and sharp claws on its feet burst out of the poké ball and landed on the ground. He fixed Richard and Chena was a fierce look.

"A linoone?" Richard wondered as he pulled out his Pokédex. It wasn't what he'd been expecting and it was a pokémon he'd never seen before. Still, he thought that he wouldn't have too much difficulty dealing with him.

That is, until he rushed at Chena with a speed that made even Vigoroth seem slow…

* * *

Nicola had been doing nothing but lying down and thinking for so long now that her thoughts had gone in circles countless times. She'd practically confused herself as she tried to get her feelings in order. She lay on her back and gazed up at the ceiling, wondering how she'd ended up this way.

Thinking about how she was going to overcome Norman in a rematch had led her to question if she was truly strong enough to earn the Balance Badge. That had led her on to questioning if she was cut out for the gym challenge at all. And, from there, why she was even travelling.

Hadn't she been the one who'd concluded that she'd head home once she'd reached Oldale Town?

Hadn't she then cut that to just Ekota Town?

Why had she ended up coming this far? Was it just that she enjoyed being with James, Richard and Will? Was that the only purpose for her journey?

And, moreover, what had gotten her so excited about going on a journey all those years in the past? What was missing now?

She'd soon arrived at her answer though.

The promise she'd made with her friend back in Johto. To go on an adventure together when they both became old enough to register as pokémon trainers. But was their companionship the only thing that had been propelling them to become trainers? What had her friend hoped to achieve when they were travelling?

Each unanswered question just led her to more questions. Exhausted by all the thinking, she let out a sigh and focused her gaze on the ceiling once again. A single new question cut through her mind.

 _I wonder what she's doing now?_

As she thought that, Nicola rolled over onto her side and gazed at her bag. After a couple of seconds, she reached out and pulled it over to her. Rummaging around inside, she pulled out her pokégear, something she'd had with her since before she'd moved to Hoenn. Turning it on, she brought up her contacts and stared at the number her friend had given her all those months ago.

Taking a deep breath, she hit the call button.

Her heart thumped painfully as she listened to it dialling. What was she going to say? What was she going to ask? Would she just be getting in the way?

She jumped as she heard a click, followed by a voice from the other end of the line.

"…Hello?"

* * *

"Watch out!" Richard yelled as Linoone tore towards Chena again.

The stunned poochyena glanced around in panic before making an effort to dodge. However, Linoone was too quick and delivered a swift slash to Chena's flank. He howled in pain as Linoone dashed around and put some distance between them.

"Use Slash again!" Norman ordered.

"Use Sand Attack!" Richard called desperately.

Linoone dashed forwards, only to be met with a cloud of sand kicked up by Chena. Though the attack hit, Linoone plunged on. Chena was able to avoid the attack by a millimetre, Linoone just managing to nick the tip of his fur, and spun around to charge at his exposed foe.

"Go!" Richard shouted.

Chena was already running. He just managed to catch up to Linoone and slammed into him. Both pokémon tumbled to the ground in a heap.

"Now use Bite!" Richard called, his spirits lifting – they'd finally managed to get a hit!

Chena sank his teeth viciously into Linoone, causing the larger pokémon to cry out in pain. He wriggled tenaciously and was able to break free from Chena's grip. He in turn took a swipe at Chena, scoring a direct hit to the poochyena's face.

"Use Sand Attack!" Richard called as Chena stumbled backwards in pain.

Partly blinded as his face started swelling from the wound, Chena resolutely kicked up a cloud of sand as Linoone charged at him again. Linoone coughed and grimaced as the sand got into his eyes and mouth. He continued course and slammed into Chena with a powerful headbutt, sending him flying back.

"Chena, return!" Richard called, holding out his poké ball. The recall beam struck the exhausted poochyena and returned him to the ball. Richard quickly pulled out Dish's poké ball and threw it out. "Use Absorb!" he shouted as she emerged.

Dish immediately sprang into action. Though still injured from her bout with Vigoroth, she'd had a chance to rest up. She fired a green beam of energy towards Linoone, only for him to outrun it and charge towards her. Though she was just able to avoid the attack, it was clear who still had the advantage.

"Use Absorb again!" Richard yelled as Linoone looped around for another attack.

Dish quickly fired another green beam, managing to latch onto Linoone for a split second before he pulled away.

It was no good! There was just no way that he could keep up with Linoone's speed. Dish was going to get knocked out, and then Chena would afterwards as well. And there was nothing he could-

"Ah!" An idea suddenly flashed through Richard's mind. "Use Nature Power!"

Dish nodded. A green aura surrounded her for a split second before vanishing. She fired a cluster of star-shaped rays towards Linoone, all of them scoring a direct hit as they tracked him across the battlefield.

"A nice move!" Norman nodded approvingly as Linoone pulled himself back to his feet. "I was wondering when you'd remember that!"

"I'm a little slow sometimes," Richard admitted. "But I come through when I need to!"

"We'll see about that!" Norman nodded at Linoone. "Use Slash!"

Linoone rushed forwards, preparing to strike Dish.

"Use Nature Power again!" Richard shouted.

Dish fired another cluster of star-shaped rays towards Linoone, scoring a direct hit. However, he plunged on and delivered a powerful slash to Dish.

"Use Absorb!" Richard yelled.

Barely clinging on, Dish fired a green beam at Linoone from close range, scoring a direct hit and absorbing some of his energy.

"Follow up with Nature Power again!" Richard called.

Dish nodded and fired more stars towards Linoone, who was still reeling from the previous attack. They all found their mark and the normal type was sent flying back. The impact threw up a cloud of dust that temporarily masked each side's movements.

"Use Headbutt!" Norman called as Linoone recovered. "Give it all you've got!"

Linoone nodded and charged back towards the dust cloud as it started to clear. As he got there, however, Chena suddenly leapt abruptly from the cloud. He took advantage of Linoone's momentary confusion and pounced on him. His opponent, expecting the slower Dish, didn't react fast enough to get away.

"Use Bite!" Richard yelled.

Chena immediately sank his teeth into Linoone, who cried out in pain. The two scuffled on the ground for a couple of seconds before Linoone was finally able to kick Chena away. He flew through the air and crashed into the arena wall before dropping to the floor. He unsteadily pulled himself back to his feet, panting heavily and squinting through his swollen eyes at his opponent.

"Finish this up with Slash!" Norman ordered.

Linoone, also struggling from his injuries, rushed forwards. He closed in on Chena, who seemed powerless to move.

"Use Tackle!" Richard called.

Chena started limping forwards, finally gaining some speed. As the two pokémon finally met, Linoone took a powerful swipe at Chena. But his attack was slightly off-target, and Chena was able to avoid it. He slammed into Linoone's front. The force of the impact blew both pokémon back. They both landed heavily, both struggling to get back up, but neither managing it.

"Both Linoone and Poochyena are unable to battle!" the referee announced. "This round ends in a tie! Since the gym leader has no more pokémon left who can battle, this match goes to the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!"

"We... We did it!" It took a couple of seconds for it to sink in for Richard. He stumbled forwards to pat the exhausted Chena on the head before recalling him to his poké ball.

"That was quite the final round!" Norman smiled across at Richard as he recalled Linoone. "You did a fantastic job in taking down Linoone – he's one of my best."

"I noticed," Richard replied. He suddenly felt very tired now that the adrenaline had started to wear off. He walked over towards Norman and shook his hand. "I honestly thought that it was over a couple of times there."

"There were weaknesses in your battle style, yes." Norman nodded. "But you were able to recover when your plan went wrong, and that's exactly what I like to see in my challengers." He handed Richard the Balance Badge. "You've definitely earned this!"

"Thanks, Norman!" Richard grinned, putting the badge in his badge case. "I guess that makes two now!"

"You still have a long way to go," Norman said. "But I'm sure you've got what it takes to get to the Hoenn League."

* * *

"…Wow, Nicola! It's been such a long time!"

"Aha, I guess so!" Nicola laughed awkwardly as she held the pokégear in front of her. "How have you been?"

"Y'know, so-so. How about you? Are you in the middle of travelling right now?"

"Yeah." Nicola nodded, even though no one could see it. "I'm feeling a bit down though…"

"Huh? Why's that?"

"I kinda lost a gym battle," Nicola sighed. "'Got crushed' might be a better way of putting it."

"Yeah, I can see why that's got you down. Ah, but I think it's totally normal to lose your first gym battle! As long as you train hard, I'm sure you can win next time!"

"Ah, well," Nicola began. "It was actually my second gym battle. I already won my first gym battle about a week ago."

"You did?! That's incredible!"

"It is?" Nicola was surprised by her response.

"Yeah! If you're fighting gym battles so often, then you must be trying really hard! A part of me is a little bit jealous…"

"I-Is that so?" Nicola smiled. "I was feeling kind of useless, to be honest."

"Don't! You're doing great!"

"Thanks." Nicola felt a little bit better. "So, how about you? How's your journey going?"

"A-Ah, about that…"

"Hmm?"

"W-Well, things happened and I kind of didn't end up going on a journey after all!"

"You didn't?"

"I'm really sorry! I know that we promised to both become trainers someday…"

"I-It's fine!" Nicola quickly assured her. "The promise was to travel together anyway, so…"

"Yeah. I still feel bad though." There was briefly silence on the other end of the line. "So, Nicola, I want you to make sure that you have enough fun for both of us, got it?"

"I'll try!" Nicola yelped, surprised by her sudden insistence.

"Don't try – do!"

Nicola couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry, I will. And I'm definitely going to win my second gym badge!"

"Glad to hear it! Anyway, I don't want to keep you from your training. Feel free to call anytime you want to chat!"

"I will! Thanks for listening to me!"

"Anytime! Speak to you soon!"

"Yeah, speak soon!"

There was a click as the call ended.

Nicola let the pokégear drop onto her pillow and rolled over to face the ceiling again. It was strange – somehow, she felt much more at ease now. It was as if she'd remembered that she'd already won a gym battle before.

She sat up and looked at her window. It was bright outside, beyond the curtains. It seemed a lot warmer than earlier, and not as oppressive.

"…Guess I should get up," she muttered to herself.

* * *

 _10:45am, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

"So, what's the plan now?" Richard asked as he, James and Richard walked back towards the pokémon centre.

"I guess that depends on Nicola," James replied.

"You think that she's going to be any better now than she was earlier?" Will asked.

"We'll have to try and talk to her this time," James sighed. He turned to Richard. "Don't rub the fact that you won your gym battle in her face!"

"What makes you think that I was going to do that?!" Richard demanded.

"It does seem like the sort of thing you would do, to be fair," Will said.

"Fine! I won't mention that I won at all!"

"It's fine to mention it. Just don't do it too much." James pulled his guidebook out of his bag. "We need to have a think about where we're going to go once we're done here."

"Does the guidebook have any suggestions?" Will asked.

"Well, there's this place here which seemed interesting."

"This? Dewford Town?"

"Yeah."

James was pointing at a town on a long island to the west of Petalburg City. The guidebook described it as a pleasant seaside town with a local gym. It was the island's transport hub, with a ferry port that connected to Petalburg City, among other places. It wasn't that far from where they were now, so it wouldn't take that long to get to. Above all, it had sounded like an interesting place and James was keen to explore as much of the region as possible.

"Well, I've got no problem with it," Richard replied. "The issue is Nicola though…"

"Yeah." Will nodded.

"Well, I figure that we'll be in Petalburg until at least tomorrow," James began. "So, I'll suggest it as somewhere we can go after she's done challenging Norman to a rematch."

"Sounds like a plan." Richard nodded.

They arrived in front of the pokémon centre and walked through the automatic doors.

"Ah!"

"Oh!"

As they stepped inside, they found Nicola approaching from the opposite direction.

"W-Welcome back," she muttered awkwardly.

"How are you feeling?" James immediately asked.

"I feel a bit better now," Nicola replied. She turned to Richard and bowed her head to him. "I'm really sorry I didn't help you train for your gym battle!"

"O-Oh, err, that's fine," Richard replied quickly. "Don't worry about it – I know that you've had it tough."

"How did it go?" she asked hesitantly.

"I won." Richard smiled. "It was a tough battle though! I almost lost it at the end!"

"I see." Nicola nodded sombrely.

"So, what do you want to do next, Nicola?" James asked. "Do you want to challenge Norman again?"

"I'm… not sure." Nicola frowned. "I know that I need to fight him again, but I kind of feel like I'd just end up losing again if we had a rematch so soon…"

"You sure?" James smiled at her. "I reckon you could beat Norman even with your current team. It's just about finding the right tactic."

"…" Nicola still looked troubled.

"James was showing us Dewford Town in the guidebook," Richard said suddenly. "It's another town with a gym on an island near here."

"What about it?" Nicola gave him a confused look.

"We could go and challenge the gym there," Richard explained. "That way, you can get your confidence back and earn another gym badge. And we'll be in easy reach of Petalburg for when you're ready to come back and challenge Norman again."

"That doesn't sound like a bad plan, actually," said Will.

"I'm good with that." James nodded.

"Hmm." Nicola frowned again for a couple of seconds. "Alright. Let's head to Dewford Town for now. If it's close, then that works out well for everyone. I don't want to hold the rest of you up."

"Don't worry about it!" Richard grinned reassuringly.

"I'll have a look at ferry times," said James. "Did the rest of you want to head up and start packing?"

"Sure." Will nodded.

"Good!" James started heading for the door. "I'll be back as soon as I know more!"

The other three watched him go.

"Well, guess we should get to work!" Richard grinned.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

They turned and started walking back to the staircase that lead up to the rooms.

Though a part of Nicola felt like she was running away from her defeat, she also felt oddly happy. It was like she wasn't being controlled by her loss, that she was able to continue on in spite of it.

She liked that feeling.

* * *

 **Whew! This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I originally thought it would!**

 **So, Richard manages to win his second gym badge and Nicola is starting to get back on her feet after her defeat. I hope that Richard's gym battle was exciting enough – I was quite pleased with the ideas I came up with for it. And I brought Slaking's appearance forward for you – he wasn't supposed to debut until later in the story, but now no one can accuse me of ignoring reader comments! :P**

 **Anyway, we'll be moving on towards Dewford Town next chapter. There are a number of chapters planned in the so-called 'Dewford Arc' that I'm looking forward to writing. Hopefully, they'll be enjoyable to read as well!**

 **As ever, I welcome any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	23. Abra's Island

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Richard defeat Norman to earn the Balance Badge, while Nicola started to get over her own defeat at Norman's hands. The group decided to catch a ferry to Dewford Town for the next part of their journey.**

 **Upload Date: 13** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: Abra's Island**

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _11:57am, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

As one of the largest cities on the island of Hoenn, it was no surprise that Petalburg City was home to a bustling port. As it turned out, there were a large number of outlying islands lying off Hoenn's coast. All of these islands and their populations needed to be connected to the mainland somehow.

A large number of ferries departed from Petalburg's port, mainly serving the islands to the north-east of the mainland. Among these islands, the largest was Dewford Island, host to Dewford Town and its gym and the next target for James, Richard and Nicola.

"Which ferry do we need?" Nicola asked, looking around at the numerous ships docked in the port.

"We can check when we buy our tickets," James replied. "Don't worry."

The four of them walked over towards the main ticket office. James had stopped by earlier in the day to check prices and figure out which one they needed, but he hadn't actually bought the tickets. Trainers received a special discount, but each trainer could only buy one for an individual trip – he hadn't been able to buy everyone's at the same time.

"So, which ferry _do_ we need?" Richard asked, looking at the list of departures.

"This one." James pointed to the board.

"Dewford Island via Espiki Island?" Will frowned. "Aren't there any ferries that go directly to Dewford Town?"

"I don't think so," James replied. "It's en route anyway, so I doubt it's much of a problem."

"There's a good deal with that ticket." One of the clerks manning the ticket desk noticed what they were looking at.

"What do you mean?"

"The local council on Espiki Island are trying to promote tourism to the island," the clerk explained. "So, they're subsidizing tickets on the route to Dewford Island. If you get that ticket, then you can stop off on Espiki Island for the day and catch a later ferry on to Dewford Town using the same ticket."

"That is a pretty good deal, actually," James said, pondering it. "I guess that we can't keep using the ticket if we stay the night?"

"It has to be the same day," the clerk replied. "But it's only just lunchtime and you could enjoy the afternoon there and catch an evening ferry on to Dewford Town."

"Is there anything to do there?" Will asked.

The clerk nodded. "They have a major festival going on at the moment. I can highly recommend it!"

"Well, we need that ticket anyway," James said, turning to look at the others. "I guess we can get the next ferry and see how we feel once we get to Espiki Island."

"Yeah, sounds good to me." Richard nodded.

Nicola and Will both agreed as well and they also duly paid for their tickets.

"The next ferry for Espiki Island leaves in about fifteen minutes," the clerk explained as he handed over their tickets. "The journey is almost three hours long, so make sure you catch it!"

"You didn't mention that travel time when you were flogging us the tickets," Will muttered cynically.

James, however, was quick to get them in order. "Right, let's get moving, guys! We'll probably get there at around three – that's plenty of time to see everything!"

"How big is Espiki Island anyway?" Richard wondered as they walked back outside and turned in the direction of the docks.

"I guess we can have a look at the guidebook once we're on board," Nicola said. She looked around at the various ships. "So, which one do we need?"

* * *

 _Kii Town, Hoenn_

 _3:17pm, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

Espiki Island was about halfway between Dewford Island and the mainland, about a quarter of the size of the former. Even so, it would have taken them several hours to walk from one side of the island to the other. The map in the guidebook suggested that it was quite hilly, with plains interspersing them.

The town the ferry had brought them to was nestled among these hills. It was called 'Kii Town', the administrative centre of the island.

What had struck Will as they stepped off the ferry was how lively the whole town seemed. Traditional music rung through the air as tourists and locals milled around the busy streets. There were a small number of stalls set up near the port, but it seemed that all of the main attractions were located closer to the town centre.

It wasn't just the liveliness of the town that grabbed his attention though. Looking around, there was a recurring theme among a lot of the merchandise and decorations covering the town – they all sported a small, yellow pokémon with a small snout and pointy ears. There also appeared to be a number of the pokémon they depicted present in the town as well.

"Wow! This town seems to like abra quite a lot," Richard said as he looked around.

"Yeah, they really do." Nicola nodded.

"Is there something special about them?" Will asked as they started walking up the road towards the centre of town.

"I don't think so," James replied. "I mean, they're psychic type, which are sometimes a little bit rare, but…"

"Still, it's a cute pokémon!" Nicola smiled as she pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Abra, the psi pokémon. Abra need to sleep for eighteen hours a day. If they don't, these pokémon lose their ability to use telekinetic powers. They can sense the presence of foes even while they are sleeping. If they are attacked, abra escape using Teleport while they are still sleeping._ "

"Wow!" Nicola gasped. "That explains why they look so relaxed!"

"The fact that they're sleeping?" Will asked.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I never knew that before!"

As well as the abra who were clearly with trainers, there were countless other abra sitting atop the town's rooftops and in other hard-to-reach places. They all seemed completely unperturbed by the presence of such large numbers of people. In fact, the occasional one would disappear, only to materialise by a shrine by the roadside to pick up some food that was being left there by a couple of other tourists.

"I don't think that I've seen this many abra in one place before." James looked around at them, seemingly as enthralled as Nicola was.

"…Isn't that guy selling food for people to feed to the abra?" Will frowned, pointing at a brightly-dressed man standing beside the small shrine. Sure enough, people seemed to be paying him for an 'offering' to leave for the abra. Will was starting to understand why the townspeople were making such a big deal out of the abra – it seemed like both they and the abra themselves did rather well for themselves when the tourists were about.

"It is interesting, isn't- oof!" James was forced forwards as someone suddenly walked into him from behind.

"Oww!"

A girl, a couple of years younger than them, had bumped into him. She managed to regain her balance before she toppled backwards. Letting out a sigh of relief, she quickly checked her hair. It looked like it had been very carefully prepared. Fortunately, she seemed satisfied and let out another relieved sigh. Finally, she looked up and spotted James and the others looking at her.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry!" She quickly bowed her head in apology. "I wasn't watching where I was going! It was totally my fault!"

"Don't worry, it's fine." James quickly reassured her, smiling kindly. "It was my fault for standing around here in the middle of the street." Now that he looked more closely, he noticed that it wasn't just her hair that was smart. She was wearing a smart frock as well. It was completely at odds with the casual clothes he and the others were wearing.

"No, it's my fault!" The girl insisted. "I was in a rush and wasn't watching where I was going!"

"No, really, don't worry about it!" James held out his hand to get her to stop. "Where are you in such a hurry to get to, anyway?"

"My mum asked me to get something from home," the girl explained. "My name's Sophie, by the way. I live here in Kii Town."

"You do?" Richard entered the conversation. "So, do you know what the deal is with all these abra?"

"'All these abra'?!" Sophie suddenly turned a very affronted look on Richard. "Abra are the most important pokémon on the island! You should be more respectful when you talk about them!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Richard cried, taken aback by the sudden scolding.

"As long as you know." Sophie nodded with satisfaction.

"Pfft!" Nicola giggled. "You got told off!"

"Shut up!" Richard snapped, turning red.

"So, why are the abra so important here?" James asked.

"Our ancestors used to worship them as gods here on Espiki Island," Sophie replied. "So, honouring the abra has been an important part of our culture for hundreds of years."

"Did an abra do something particularly impressive then?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched the abra continue to doze peacefully.

"There's a legend!" Sophie grinned, a mysterious tone entering her voice. "They say that our ancestors were once outcasts with no place to call home. Then one day, an abra appeared before them and used its Teleport to take their leader here to Espiki Island. The people settled on the island and have lived here peacefully ever since!"

"Is that really what happened?" Nicola gasped.

"Who knows?" Sophie grinned. "But it's a nice story, isn't it?"

"So, that's why the island honours the abra." James smiled. "Even if it's just a legend, it's good to have a festival to celebrate a particular pokémon."

"If you're not doing anything right now, shall I show you around the festival?" Sophie asked. "There are all kinds of traditions and ceremonies that take place in the afternoon around Kii Town!"

"That would be great!" Nicola nodded eagerly.

* * *

 _3:32pm, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

The festival honouring the abra happened all across Espiki Island, effectively turning the whole island into one massive festival site. According to Sophie, each area on the island hosted their own unique events, though there were some general ceremonies that happened everywhere. Even in just Kii Town, however, there was a seemingly endless array of activities.

As the group had reached the town centre, they'd found that they were just in time for a parade that passed along the main road.

"We really got lucky!" Sophie had said. Apparently, the parade followed a route across the island and only passed through Kii Town twice during the festival.

"It's so colourful!" Nicola gasped in awe as she watched the costume-clad locals merrily strolling along the road. A large float with a front shaped like an abra's head seemed to be the biggest part of the parade. As it passed, they could see a small number of people playing _taiko_ drums on the back.

"I think this is one of the most expensive parts of the festival," Sophie explained. "My grandpa says that the float was being used when he was a little boy, so it's really old. I wonder how they keep it working…"

"All the money they rake in from the tourism, I bet," Will muttered.

"Aren't you enjoying yourself, Will?" James grinned.

"Well, it _is_ interesting, I guess." Will shrugged. "I kind of feel like I'd rather be battling though…"

"Where should we go next?" Richard asked Sophie as the float moved on.

"Hmm." Sophie pondered for a second. "I've got an idea!"

* * *

 _3:58pm, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

After a walk along one of the roads lined with a whole host of different stalls, the group had ended up carrying a lot of stuff they'd picked up along the way.

"We're almost there!" Sophie called out, her voice muffled as she took a bite of her candy floss.

"What is?" James asked. Sophie had been secretive about exactly what she was leading them to.

"You'll see!"

They walked past some more stalls and suddenly found themselves standing on a large, old-fashioned bridge made of wood. Countless other people had gathered on the bridge, crowding around the sides and excitedly looking over at what was occurring below.

"This is the 'Racing of the Magikarp'!" Sophie announced as they fought their way to the side.

"Racing of the Magikarp?" Richard looked over the edge.

A large number of orange fish with gaping mouths and vacant eyes were swimming down the river below the bridge. The water was rough and it can't have been a very pleasant experience swimming in it. The magikarp themselves didn't seem that focused on 'racing', but Richard was starting to suspect that it was just a traditional name.

"Magikarp, huh?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Magikarp, the fish pok_ _émon. Magikarp are virtually useless in battle as they can only splash around. As a result, they are considered to be weak. However, they are actually very hardy pokémon that can survive in any body of water no matter how polluted it is._ "

"Where does this event come from?" James asked.

"I think it was originally some kind of entertainment for the abra," Sophie replied. "As part of the festival, the people would release loads of magikarp at the top of the river. They say that the abra used to gather by the sides of the river to watch them race each other down to the sea."

"Are all the magikarp here captured separately and then released upstream?"

"Yeah. It's the only way to get them there." Sophie nodded. "Though I've heard rumours that a magikarp could jump high enough with splash to get over mountains…"

The last of the magikarp passed beneath the bridge and continued on towards the sea, while the crowd started to dissipate now that the event was over.

"I guess we should head somewhere else," Richard sighed.

"Yeah." Sophie nodded. "Once you've seen a bit of the Racing of the Magikarp, there's not much point sticking around for too long. It's kinda nice watching them all go past though."

"Do they do this more than once?" James asked.

"There's usually several a day," Sophie replied. "But don't worry – I'm not going to make you stick around for the next one!"

* * *

 _4:39pm, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

After a brief stop off at a food festival being hosted in the northern fringe of Kii Town, the group found themselves heading to a small shrine complex in the hills. Sophie had mentioned some kind of battle tournament that was held every festival. But, before Will and Richard could get their hopes up, she'd told them that it was only open to people training an abra.

And, in any case, they'd discovered when they'd arrived that the battling was already over. The winning abra was being crowned the 'Champion of Espiki'.

"It's probably for the best that we got here too late to see the battles," Richard sighed, trying to hide his disappointment. "Abra can only use Teleport really, so they must have been quite boring to watch."

"Some abra can use some interesting moves," Sophie replied.

The crowning ceremony seemed rather elaborate. The staff members all bowed to the Champion before presenting it with the crown. As it was carefully placed upon the abra's head, the staff and fellow competitors all bowed again before applauding the new champion.

It all seemed a little over the top.

Still, it just went to show how important the abra were to the local culture. James had also noticed that there was a sense of detachment between the people and the abra – it felt very much like the gap between the worshipped and the worshippers.

"A part of me wishes that I could win the tournament one day," Sophie sighed.

"If you trained hard enough, then I'm sure you could," Nicola replied with a smile.

"No." Sophie shook her head. "The tournament is only open to trainers with an abra. Though we sometimes get the abra to help us in our day-to-day lives, catching and battling with them ourselves is frowned upon."

"What about this tournament though?" Will cried, baffled by what Sophie was saying. "If they're against battling with them, why have the tournament?"

"To appeal to the visiting trainers, I guess." Sophie shrugged. "And there are actually lots of people in Kii Town who don't think we should be holding a battle tournament at all."

"Weird," Will sighed.

"Well, it can't be helped." James looked around at the dissipating crowds. "Where should we go next?"

* * *

 _5:04pm, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

As the sun started to sink lower into the sky, the festival showed no signs of slowing. According to Sophie, it continued on long into the night. Apparently, stalls and events started up early in the morning while the festival was on. Quite how the locals could manage it was a mystery to Will.

Despite the fact that it was getting late, the others seemed content to remain in Kii Town for the moment. That was fine, as James had said, since the last ferry to Dewford Island left at eight in the evening.

Sophie had led them to a beautiful waterfall in another shrine site after they'd finished watching the champion being crowned. Even though the setting sun was making the air increasingly chilly, they'd been surprised to discover that there were a number of people in swimwear sat beneath the waterfall.

"Apparently, the abra would always sit under this waterfall to strengthen their powers," Sophie explained. "So, we started doing it as well to achieve enlightenment."

"Sounds like fun!" Richard had grinned.

And so, they'd ended up heading off to the changing rooms to put on their swimwear. At this late stage of the day, they hadn't needed to worry about finding space beneath the waterfall. The air had been cool, even more so once they were only wearing swimwear, but the water was freezing. It had taken them a little while to coax James and Nicola into actually sitting beneath it.

It was poor manners to speak while sat under the waterfall, but the water crashing down onto and around them was so loud that they'd have been barely able to hear each other anyway. And, in any case, it was too uncomfortable to stay for very long. James hadn't been left with the impression that he was any more enlightened afterwards than he had been before. He guessed that you needed to spend a long time sat there before you started seeing the effects.

"Well, it's just a rumour after all!" Sophie grinned.

"I guess so," James replied.

"Is there anything else we can go and see?" Nicola asked. "I feel like we've seen everything."

"There's always something else!" Sophie told her.

"Ah! That reminds me!" Richard suddenly exclaimed. "Weren't you in a hurry to get somewhere when we first met?"

"I was?" Sophie frowned. "Oh no!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I had to deliver something to my older sister! I need to get to the main shrine!"

She immediately took off, the others quickly moving to follow her.

"So, what is your sister doing?" James panted as he caught up with her.

"She's taking part in the main ceremony to honour the abra!" Sophie replied. "It takes place at the main shrine every year and only a certain number of people are selected to take part in it! If I'm late…" She shuddered. "She might kill me!"

"If it was that serious, why did you stop to show us around?" Will asked. "It's been over an hour and a half since you first ran into us!"

"I'm sorry!" Sophie cried. "I just got caught up in it!"

They continued running through the crowds until they found themselves at the foot of a long staircase leading up the mountain to a large temple.

"We have to climb this?" Will groaned.

"Come on!" Sophie called, immediately starting to run up the stairs.

The others followed her, panting heavily as they climbed. It felt like the staircase got steeper and steeper as they got higher. To say nothing of how long it took.

But finally, they found themselves stood outside the main gate to the temple grounds.

"Here…we…are!" Sophie gasped. "Sorry…for making you guys…run so far!"

"Don't worry…about it!" James replied as he regained his breath. "You need to find your sister."

As they walked through the gates, they were quickly accosted by a frantic-looking woman.

"Sophie! Where have you been?!"

"M-Mum!" Sophie yelped in surprise. "I'm sorry! I got distracted!"

"It was our fault." Richard quickly intervened. "We were lost and Sophie offered to show us around."

"I'm sure she was the one who let herself get distracted," Sophie's mum replied, looking sternly at her daughter. "It's only natural for visitors to ask for help, after all. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Am I too late?" Sophie asked.

"Louise has been moved to the second performance," her mum replied. "Make sure you get it to her!"

"I will!" Sophie quickly rushed off into the crowd and vanished from sight.

"Honestly, that girl's always troubling other people." Her mum let out a sigh. She turned to James, Richard, Nicola and Will. "She must have dragged the four of you up the mountain to get here. I'm sorry that my daughter has been such an inconvenience."

"Don't worry, it's fine," Nicola replied with a smile. "I don't think we'd have found this place otherwise."

"It _is_ a bit out in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?" Sophie's mum sighed, looking around.

Now that Will had a chance to look, the temple looked rather impressive. The way it was constructed looked very traditional – it must have been here for a very long time. It also felt very peaceful. After all, not many tourists were able to find their way out here.

"Since you're here, why don't you come and watch the performance?" Sophie's mum asked.

"Is that okay?" James asked.

"Of course! The ceremony has always been free for anyone to see!"

"Well, we've still got some time before the ferry arrives, haven't we?" Nicola looked around at the others.

"Sure." Richard nodded.

The four of them followed Sophie's mum around the side of the temple to a side entrance. Once they walked through, they found themselves in a large open room. The nostalgic smell of an old, wooden building filled the air. Somehow, it made them feel more tranquil.

The previous performance was just finishing – it looked like Sophie had made it just in time!

As they took their seats, they spotted Sophie approaching them from the other direction.  
"You're staying to watch?" she asked as she sat down next to Will.

"Your mum invited us," Will replied.

"I see."

"So, what's your sister doing?" Nicola asked.

"She's playing the flute," Sophie replied. "It's basically a traditional dance with music to honour the abra."

"I'm looking forward to seeing it!" Richard grinned.

Silence fell as the members of the next performance moved out into the centre of the room. Ten men and women of varying ages and wearing traditional outfits took positions in front of the audience, while a number of others, also wearing traditional outfits but carrying instruments as well, moved towards the back of the room. At the very centre of the room was a small pedestal, upon which sat a sleeping abra.

With a nod from an authoritative-looking man wearing a priest's robe, presumably the head priest, those with instruments started to play. A soft melody filled the air, feeling both nostalgic and mournful at the same time. The performers at the front started to dance with slow, deliberate movements. A feeling of loneliness filled the air.

"This represents when our ancestors were outcasts!" Sophie hissed to Will, the only one sat next to her.

The pace of the music started to pick up as the abra suddenly appeared to stir. The dancers also began to move more exuberantly. The tone had started to turn more optimistic. This must be the part of the tale when the outcasts first met the abra.

The abra suddenly teleported down into the midst of the dancers and remained there, motionless as they danced around it. The music struck a dramatic note, and the audience seemed enthralled.

As the music started to turn more lively, the dancers sprung about with long, cheerful movements. The abra started teleporting rapidly to different points around the centre of the room, creating the impression that there were many of them. Maybe this was when the outcasts arrived on Espiki Island and found it teeming with abra?

Finally, the music turned more relaxed and the movements of the dancers slowed down again. It spoke of a peaceful life surrounded by the abra. The abra itself now teleported back to the pedestal at the centre of the room and the dancers all turned to bow to it.

The music came to an end and the audience's applause filled the air.

* * *

 _6:11pm, 24_ _th_ _April 2006_

After the performance, Sophie's mum and sister had gone on home. Sophie herself had been instructed by her mum to guide James, Richard, Nicola and Will back to the port so that they could catch the ferry to Dewford Town.

The town still felt lively, perhaps even livelier, as they walked back through the packed streets towards the port. The stalls were now lit by flame torches set up by the side of the road. It created a very warm atmosphere and made the town seem even more inviting than before.

But they had to catch a ferry today, or they'd have to buy new tickets tomorrow. James had been very firm about that.

"It's been fun taking you guys around the festival," Sophie said as they reached the quayside.

"Yeah, thanks for showing us around," Nicola replied with a smile.

"Even though you were supposed to be doing something else!" Richard added with a grin.

"It worked out in the end, so it's fine," Sophie muttered bitterly. Her sister had, understandably, been very angry at her after the performance.

"This island is a really interesting place," said James. "I really enjoyed learning about its history."

"I'd love to come back again some time!" Nicola added eagerly.

"Sure! You're always welcome!" Sophie grinned. "Maybe you can all come back for the festival next year?"

"I'll definitely try!" Nicola nodded.

"It looks like the ferry's going soon," said Will, waiting the crew trying to hurry people along.

"Yeah, you need to go." Sophie stepped back. "I'm glad you had a good time here on Espiki Island! I hope you'll come back again in the future!"

"Will do!" James called back as he and the others started walking up the gangplank to the main deck of the ferry.

Sophie remained at the end of the pier and waved to them as the ferry started to pull away from the port. The dim lights of the flame torches in the town made it seem almost mystical as the ferry left the harbour and turned west to plot a course for Dewford Town.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Nicola asked as Kii Town disappeared from sight.

"I think about two and a half hours," James replied. "We're not going to have time to visit the gym today."

"We'll head straight for the pokémon centre when we arrive then," Richard said.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Will nodded.

After spending the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying themselves at the festival on Espiki Island, it was time for them to turn their attention back to training for their next gym battles.

* * *

 **So, I hope this chapter was an enjoyable distraction on the way to Dewford Town. With more time, I'd have liked to have developed the various parts of the festival in more detail, but I also didn't want things to drag out too much.**

 **Anyway, after a one-chapter break, we're back to gym battles next week (more work for me – yay!). I'm looking forward to getting to work on them though. Hopefully, I'll be able to get everything done in time!**

 **As usual, I welcome any feedback that you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	24. Fighting Spirit! (Part 1)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **We had a more relaxed chapter last time, with the group stopping off on Espiki Island to enjoy the local festival on their way to Dewford Town.**

 **Upload Date: 20** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 24: Fighting Spirit! (Part 1)**

 _Dewford Town, Hoenn_

 _10:43am, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Where's Nicola?" Richard asked impatiently as he, James and Will stood in the shade of the pokémon centre's entrance.

"I think she's just coming," James replied.

"I wish she'd hurry up! I'm itching to get down to the gym!"

The bright weather had made everyone feel more energetic than normal. It was hardly a surprise that they were keen to get to work.

They'd arrived in Dewford Town late the previous evening, as expected, and the gym had, of course, been closed. They'd gone straight to the pokémon centre to book a room for the night, have dinner and then turn in.

They hadn't even had a chance to look around Dewford Town yet, though it seemed like an appealing place now that they were stood outside looking around. Though it was the largest town on the island, it was still far smaller than Petalburg City. There were no apartment blocks in the town. Everything felt dominated by the mountains enclosing the town.

The other thing that they'd noticed while they were waiting was that seemed to be a significant number of people carrying surfboards around. It seemed that the sea around Dewford was excellent for water sports, though the town itself only had a handful of sandy beaches nearby – most were rocky and unpleasant, or had been replaced by the port.

Though James had been surprised by the number of surfers present in Dewford Town, he knew that there'd be an even greater influx in a couple of months, when the summer arrived. Thinking about it, it had been a very good decision to come to Dewford Island this early.

"Argh! I can't stand it!" Richard whined. "I just want to get to that gym and start fighting! Where's Nicola?"

"Are you sure she's just coming?" Will asked, looking back at the pokémon centre.

"Hmm." James frowned. "Maybe I should go back and hurry her up…"

"I don't think you need to be in too much of a rush."

The three of them looked around at the sound of another voice entering their conversation. A young man with slightly tanned skin and sky-blue hair had stopped nearby, a surfboard clasped tightly under his arm.

"What do you mean?" Richard asked.

* * *

Nicola quickly finished tying up her side ponytail. She gently flicked it out distractedly as she gazed at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. She let out a loud sigh. She needed to start moving – the others were waiting for her, after all. But, a tension in her heart was seizing her.

While they'd been on Espiki Island, she'd been able to forget about her loss to Norman two day ago. She'd thrown herself into enjoying the festivities and hadn't paid any real thought to the prospect of fighting another gym battle so soon. Her pokémon may have been fighting fit again, but was she?

She couldn't help but feel worried about the fact that they appeared to be throwing themselves straight into the gym battles. No one had mentioned training at all – it was as if Richard was fixated on the battle itself. And James had seemed content to go along with him. Well, that was fine for them, wasn't it? They had a year of experience already and had some experienced pokémon they could call on. As much as he loved Kipa, Mushy and Zaggy, she knew that they didn't have the same capacities as Charka, Kacha or Naro.

She let out another sigh and placed her hand over her heart in an attempt to calm herself. Being negative wasn't going to help her. She needed to be more optimistic – just because she lost to Norman didn't mean that she would lose the next battle. As long as she believed in her pokémon, she should be fine.

 _Right?_

She shook her head to try and clear that questioning thought. She reached up and hit her cheeks with her palms to clear her head.

"Right!" she declared, trying to make herself more confident. "Let's get going!"

* * *

When Nicola arrived in front of the pokémon centre, however, she was surprised by the sight that greeted her.

The others were standing in the shade of a nearby tree, happily talking to someone she didn't know. A young man with blue hair. She wondered who he was.

"Oh! Nicola!" Richard spotted her and called out. "Over here!"

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Nicola said as she walked over, not entirely sure how she should act towards the stranger.

"Don't worry about it!" Richard grinned. He gestured to the young man. "This is Brawly! He's the gym leader here in Dewford Town!"

"H-Huh?" Nicola cried in surprise. "The gym leader?!"

"Yo!" The man, Brawly, grinned at her. "Yeah, I'm the Dewford gym leader. I heard your friends talking about challenging my gym, so I couldn't help but stop to talk to them!"

"Since you're here now, shall we go and book our slots?" James asked, looking at Nicola.

"I-I guess so." Nicola nodded. Though still surprised, a part of her was relieved. The gym leader seemed like a nice person. She suddenly noticed the surfboard under his arms. "You surf?"

"That's what I've been doing this morning," Brawly replied with a nod as the five of them moved out from the shade and started walking down the street. "Now that the weather's warmer, I try to get out every morning before I open the gym."

"Aren't gyms supposed to open earlier than this?" Will asked.

"I may have lost track of time while I was out on the water!" Brawly laughed. "But it's fine – we get fewer challengers out here, so it doesn't matter if the gym isn't open for as long!"

Nicola drew closer to James and started whispering. "So, why did the gym leader start hanging out with you guys?"

"I'm not sure," James replied quietly. "I think that there may not have been that many challengers yet, so he was just pleased to see us."

"There were other people in the pokémon centre though."

James shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Nicola frowned in confusion. Brawly seemed friendly and relaxed. But, after their experience with Roxanne, she wondered if he was trying to learn more about them before they fought. Now that she thought about that, perhaps she should try to do the same to him.

Not that it would be a long walk to the gym…

* * *

 _11:29am, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

The Dewford Town gym was an unassuming building located close to the beachfront. At first glance, it seemed more like an oversized beach house instead of a gym. The views were fantastic though, as if to impress the challengers in the place of the gym itself. It was a great location and the sunlight glittering on the waves was appealing enough to even make the trainers want to go for a swim instead of having their gym battle. The fact that they were now on the outskirts of town meant that it was much quieter as well.

However, this had also meant walking quite a long way from the pokémon centre in the town centre. They hadn't been walking particularly quickly, but Nicola was definitely starting to feel slightly tired from the journey. Still, there'd be a chance to rest once they got inside the gym.

"Yo, Brawly! Ready to open the gym?"

As they walked through the doors, the receptionist, a young man wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and with gelled hair, called out cheerfully to the gym leader.

"Yeah, I guess it's about time!" Brawly grinned. "I'll leave James, Richard and Nicola to you. I'm heading to the arena to get ready!"

"Got it!" The receptionist nodded. He turned to the three of them. "So, who's going first?"

Nicola, the closest, stepped forwards and handed over her trainer card. The receptionist took it and quickly scanned it. Richard and James followed her.

"Good!" The receptionist passed James his trainer card back. "You can go straight in – there's no one else booked in yet today!"

"Thanks!" Richard replied.

They moved over towards the entrance to the passage that led to the arena. Much to their confusion, however, they all stepped in the direction of the stairs.

"You're coming as well, Nicola?" Will asked.

"Huh? I'm going first?!" Nicola cried in surprise.

"Well, he scanned you first, didn't he?" Richard pointed out.

"Yeah, the referee will be told that the first challenger is Nicola Hewitt," James added, frowning. "Sorry, Nicola. It completely slipped my mind!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine!" Richard grinned reassuringly.

"And we'll be cheering for you," Will added. "You can do it!"

"Urgh." Nicola groaned, her heart knotting in discomfort as her nervousness took hold again. She took a deep breath and gave her companions a wobbly smile. "A-Alright, I'm heading off!"

"Good luck!" James called as he and the others started climbing the stairs.

Nicola turned to face the entrance and let out a sigh. Well, all she could do was her best. She knew that her pokémon wouldn't let her down.

* * *

 _11:34am, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

The arena itself seemed rather basic in design. It wasn't an elaborate dojo-like construction like the one in Petalburg, nor had it been set up with obstacles like the one in Rustboro. A part of Nicola liked that simplicity though. It felt as though it was a place that had been designed for the sole purpose of pokémon battles, without any of the extra features that showed up elsewhere.

"So, you're up first then, Nicola?" Brawly called across as she took her position.

"Yeah, looks that way!" Nicola called back, trying to make herself sound as confident as she could.

"Do you want to go through the rules?" Brawly turned to look at the referee.

"Sure, will do!" The referee nodded and stepped forwards.

"James, Richard! Make sure you listen as well!" Brawly called up to them. "That way we only have to do this the once!"

"Got it!" James and Richard shouted back as they took their seats.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between Brawly, the Dewford Town gym leader, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!" the referee announced. "This battle will be fought using a two-on-two single format and will be over when one of either side's pokémon is unable to battle! In addition, both the challenger and the gym leader may freely substitute pokémon!"

"Huh?" Nicola cried in surprise. "We only need to defeat one of the other side's pokémon?"

"That's right!" Brawly nodded. "In this battle, there are no comebacks – make one mistake and you lose! That's how I judge if trainers are strong enough to compete in the league!"

"I've never come across that rule before," James murmured. "I guess that means we need to be careful with our teams."

"We can still substitute though," Richard replied. "I'll definitely be getting my pokémon out of there if it looks dangerous!"

"Brawly can substitute too," James sighed. "I feel like we've ended up pushing a particularly tough battle onto Nicola this time…"

"Begin!" the referee announced.

"Go, Makuhita!" Brawly called, throwing out his first poké ball.

A well-built, yellow pokémon with dark grey fists and two red ring marking on his face burst from the ball and landed on the arena floor, immediately adopting a combat stance.

"Makuhita?" Nicola quickly reached for her Pokédex.

" _Makuhita, the guts pokémon. Makuhita have a tireless spirit - they will never give up hope. They eat a lot of food, get plenty of sleep, and they train very rigorously. By living that way, these pokémon pack their bodies with energy. Makuhita are tenacious - they will keep getting up and attacking their foe however many times they are knocked down._ "

"It sounds like Nicola might have a tough time with this one," Richard sighed.

"But she can switch pokémon and wear it down," Will said, watching as Nicola reached for her first poké ball.

"Brawly can switch as well," James replied. "It's definitely going to be a tough battle."

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola called, throwing out the ball.

Mushy sprang forth and landed softly on the arena floor.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola immediately ordered.

Mushy was quick to react. Giving her trainer a confident smile, she fired a cluster of seeds towards Makuhita, scoring a direct hit. As the seeds sprouted and started draining his energy, Makuhita raced forwards to retaliate.

"Arm Thrust!" Brawly called.

Makuhita slammed into Mushy, hammering her with a series of fast punches. The shroomish cried out in pain as she was hurled back. She rolled on landing, but managed to get back to her feet.

"Use Mega Drain!" Nicola ordered quickly, shaken by the speed of Makuhita's counter attack.

Mushy gave herself a shake and fired a green beam of energy at Makuhita. However, the fighting type smoothly dodged it by moving to the side and surged forwards for another strike.

"Get out of the way!" Nicola yelped desperately.

Mushy had already reacted and yanked herself clear at the last moment. Makuhita punched at thin air, but quickly reacted to change directions. Mushy had to make a second dodge, this time moving back towards Nicola.

 _Think, Nicola!_ Nicola screwed up her face as she struggled to think of a way to overcome her predicament. Mushy continued to evade as best as she could, mercifully only suffering glancing blows.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola suddenly called, spotting an opening as Makuhita wound up for another attack.

Mushy didn't need telling twice. With a sudden burst of speed, she propelled herself at Makuhita, striking him directly in his exposed stomach as he prepared his own attack. A look of first surprise, and then pain, appeared on his face. He stumbled backwards, clutching his stomach.

"Ah!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed, realising that this was her opportunity to make a comeback. "Use Mega Drain!"

Mushy cried out in response and fired a green beam at Makuhita. Still slightly stunned after the previous attack, he moved too late to avoid Mushy's new attack. He cried out in pain as his energy was drained. As Mushy dropped back to the ground, reinvigorated by both the success of her attack and the new energy she'd acquired, Makuhita appeared to become more sluggish. Yet Nicola wasn't going to be drawn in by it – she remembered the entry in the Pokédex for makuhita. There was no way that she could have broken him so easily.

"Use Vital Throw!" Brawly called.

Makuhita suddenly stormed forwards, causing Nicola to gasp in shock. Taking advantage of Mushy being momentarily stunned, Makuhita closed the gap and slugged her with a powerful punch. The shroomish was hurled back and landed with a crash. Nicola's heart skipped a beat as she watched her trying to pull herself back up.

"Mushy, return!" she called, immediately recalling her to her poké ball. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, that makuhita really is tough," James sighed as he watched.

"Could she and Kipa defeat him using Bide?" Will asked. "It worked against Roxanne."

"It depends," James replied. "Bide is always a risky strategy. If Kipa takes a bad hit before he can release the energy he stored up, then he could be knocked out without being able to retaliate."

"Nicola hasn't been properly rotating her pokémon," Richard said, a frown appearing on his face. "She should keep switching them to keep Brawly off-balance."

"She wasn't there to see your battle, remember?" Will replied. "It was a good tactic though – I'm definitely going to be copying it in the future."

"You're welcome."

"Go, Kipa!" Nicola didn't really have much of a choice. Though inexperienced as she was, even she knew that it was suicide to send out a normal type like Zaggy against a fighting type pokémon. That only left her with the injured Mushy and Kipa.

Kipa burst out of the poké ball and immediately adopted an aggressive stance. He seemed full of confidence despite the size of his opponent.

"Use Bulk Up!" Brawly ordered.

Makuhita immediately tensed up his muscles. As Kipa raced forwards for his first attack, he slammed into his opponent. Yet the attack didn't do as much damage as he and Nicola had been hoping.

"Try using Water Gun!" Nicola called.

Kipa hopped back and fired a jet of water towards Makuhita. However, he quickly darted to the side and surged forwards again. He swung his fist, but the agile mudkip dove beneath and charged forwards to strike him in the same exposed spot that Mushy had managed to hit.

"Great work, Kipa!" Nicola cheered as Makuhita stumbled backwards. He was starting to look weak – Mushy and Kipa's attacks had started to take their toll, while he still had energy begin leeched away by the sprouts left behind by Mushy. In fact, just Leech Seed would probably be enough to finish the job. "Use Bide!" she called to Kipa.

Kipa nodded and started preparing to absorb energy from Makuhita's attacks.

Now Brawly faced a dilemma: attack Kipa directly and risk being knocked out in the counter attack, or wait it out and watch the last of Makuhita's energy drain away from the seeds. She'd actually managed to outmanoeuvre him!

"Makuhita, return!" Brawly called.

"Huh?" Nicola blinked in surprise as Makuhita was hit by the recall beam and returned to his poké ball. She'd completely forgotten that Brawly could switch out pokémon too!

"Go, Machop!" Brawly threw out his other poké ball.

The ball burst open and a small, grey humanoid pokémon with three brown ridges on the top of its head materialised.

"A machop?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex again.

" _Machop, the superpower pokémon. A machop's muscles are special - they never get sore no matter how much they are used in exercise. These pokémon have sufficient power to hurl a hundred adult humans. They continually undertake strenuous training to master all forms of martial arts._ "

"This doesn't look good…" James murmured.

"Machop, use Karate Chop!" Brawly called.

Machop grinned confidently and charged forwards. He plunged towards Kipa and struck him with the side of his palm. Kipa yelped in pain, stunned by the sudden attack, but remained steadfast. His opponent jumped back and watched carefully for a couple of seconds.

"Again!" Brawly nodded.

Machop stormed forwards again and dealt another blow to Kipa, this time appearing to do less damage. As he jumped back, Kipa finally surged forwards to counter attack. Unleashing the energy he'd stored up, he smashed into Machop with all his might, even managing to make the fighting type gasp in pain.

"Use Revenge!" Brawly shouted.

Machop shoved Kipa back and, his arm glowing a dark red colour, slugged him with a powerful punch. The mudkip was thrown through the air with a force that shocked both Nicola and her spectators. There was a crash as he impacted with the arena wall. He slumped down to the ground and remained still.

"Mudkip is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "The winner of this match is Brawly, the Dewford Town gym leader!"

It took a couple of seconds for it all to catch up to Nicola. She slowly stumbled in Kipa's direction to recall him to his poké ball. She bit her lip as she fought back the tears threatening to form in the corners of her eyes. Somehow, it hurt even more now than it had when she'd been beaten by Norman just two days ago.

"You put up a pretty good fight, Nicola!" Brawly called to her as he walked over. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do in a rematch!"

"S-Sure." Nicola nodded, attempting to retain her composure. "I'll make sure that we win next time!"

"That's the spirit!" Brawly grinned.

Up in the stands, James, Richard and Will exchanged worried looks.

"I wasn't expecting Machop to dominate Kipa like that," Will murmured. "Nicola was crushed again…"

"I'll check on her when I pass her," Richard said as he stood up. "Make sure you comfort her when she gets here."

"And you make sure that she comes here instead of going back to the pokémon centre," James replied. "She needs to learn from watching our battles."

"Got it." Richard nodded, watching as Nicola started walking back towards the tunnel leading to the lobby.

"Good luck," James and Will both said as he started walking away in the direction of the staircase.

* * *

 **So, I doubt that the actual result of the battle came as a surprise to many people. Poor Nicola will need a bit more than just encouragement to get her spirits back after this loss…**

 **Anyway, we'll (hopefully) have Chapter 7 of** _ **Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **on Tuesday, followed by Richard's gym battle on Wednesday. As a reminder, I am working at the moment, so I am very limited on time. I will, however, attempt to get everything done on time as much as I'm able.**

 **As ever, feel free to give me your feedback on this chapter. As a quick reminder, I am unable to respond to reviews submitted by guest users or users with the PM feature disabled.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	25. Fighting Spirit! (Part 2)

**Hello and welcome to the next chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **With Nicola defeated by Brawly last chapter, it's now Richard's turn to go up against the Dewford Town gym leader.**

 **Upload Date: 23** **rd** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 25: Fighting Spirit! (Part 2)**

 _Dewford Town, Hoenn_

 _11:51am, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

Richard walked down the stairs towards the lobby of the Dewford Town gym. He thought about what he'd witnessed just now – a second gym defeat for Nicola. He knew without seeing her that she was going to be hurting. After her reaction to her loss against Norman, Richard was seriously worried about what she was going to do now.

He turned into the tunnel and immediately spotted his companion.

Nicola was partway down the tunnel, leant against one of the walls. Though one hand was covering her face, he could tell that she was crying. It was no surprise, given how badly things had been going for her lately, but it still gave Richard a pang. It was never easy to see someone in despair.

Without really thinking, he strode over to her and hugged her. Though she initially flinched, she quickly buried her face in his chest and continued sobbing silently. Richard patted the top of her head. He tried to think of something to say – not something dismissive or jokey, like he'd normally say. Something meaningful and reassuring instead.

"…You need to get moving."

Richard looked down as he heard Nicola's muffled voice.

She glanced up at him and wriggled free. Wiping her eyes, she took a deep breath and smiled at him. "Make sure you give it your best shot! I'll be watching!"

"Yeah." Richard smiled sadly. He wished he could have thought of more to say.

Nicola brushed past him and started walking back towards the lobby. As she reached the end, she turned right and disappeared from sight. She didn't reappear.

Richard sighed with relief. He had been worried that she'd have just gone straight back to the pokémon centre and shut herself in her room. Painful though it might be, she needed to watch his and James's battles against Brawly to help her improve for next time. He'd learnt the hard way that you couldn't run from defeat – you had to face it head-on!

…That sounded kind of cool. Maybe he could have said that to her before she left?

Turning his thoughts back to his own battle, he continued walking along the tunnel. All the cool words in the world wouldn't make up for losing to the same person in front of her. He had to show her that Brawly could be beaten and that she was capable of doing it too.

* * *

 _11:53am, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Begin!"

As the referee shouted to the two trainers, they reached for their first poké balls.

"Go, Machop!" Brawly called.

"Go, Naro!" Richard shouted.

The two poké balls spun through the air before popping open and releasing the pokémon contained within.

Though Machop seemed momentarily intimidated by Naro's size, he was quick to regain his composure.

"Use Karate Chop!" Brawly called, going for a fast attack.

"Block it!" Richard ordered.

Naro growled and nodded. Swinging out one of his massive arms, he blocked Machop's attack easily.

"Now use Double Kick!" Richard yelled, moving in quickly for the counter.

Naro roared and swung his legs towards Machop, slamming into him with two powerful kicks which sent him flying back towards Brawly. However, the fighting type quickly recovered and leaped back to his feet.

"Use Bulk Up!" Brawly ordered.

Machop quickly tensed up his muscles. As Naro thundered towards him for another attack, he brought his fist around to defend himself. There was a crash as they collided, both pokémon forced to take steps back.

"Use Horn Attack!" Richard shouted to Naro.

Naro roared and nodded. Regaining his composure, he charged forwards once again. This time, Machop darted to one side. As Naro swung his horn, his opponent was already clear and was closing in on his exposed flank.

"Use Karate Chop!" Brawly yelled.

Machop swung his fist and struck Naro with the side of his palm. Naro recoiled in reaction to the strike, but seemed largely unfazed by it, his tough hide and his natural resistance to fighting type attacks dulling the impact of the blow.

Machop, on the other hand, stumbled back, his hand somewhat swollen and unhealthy-looking. A small purple spine dropped to the ground as Machop started to shiver from the effects of poison seeping into his body.

Up in the stands, James and Will watched the progress of the battle as Naro attempted to press his advantage. They both looked around as Nicola moved along towards them.

"Hard luck, Nicola," said Will as she sat down.

"I'd have struggled with that new rule as well," James added. "But you put up a good fight. I'm sure that you'll be able to win next time!"

"Thanks," Nicola murmured, gazing out at the battlefield. Machop had dodged Naro's follow-up attack and dealt a powerful blow of his own in response. The nidoking stumbled back, growling in pain.

"Wasn't that attack more powerful than Machop's previous one?" Will asked.

"Hmm, I guess so." James frowned as he watched Machop prepare for another attack. "I think machop can have an ability called 'Guts', so that might be it…"

"What does Guts do?" Nicola asked.

"It boosts a pokémon's attack power if they're poisoned, paralyzed or burned," James explained. "Since Naro was able to poison Machop just now with his Poison Point ability, that must have given him a buff to his power. Using Bulk Up earlier must have helped as well…"

"So, that helps improve attack as well?" Will asked.

"I think so," James replied.

"Defence too," said Nicola. "I wasn't able to get a hit on Makuhita after he used it, but I'm positive that his tensed-up muscles would have made it easier for him to resist my attacks."

"That sounds likely." James nodded as Naro took another hit from Machop.

"Is Richard going to be alright?" Nicola asked.

"I'm hoping that he hasn't gone back to just relying on Naro," James sighed. "But Naro's defence is ridiculous. I'm sure he'd be able to outlast Machop in a normal battle."

"But Brawly can switch out as well," Will said.

"Exactly." James nodded. "If Richard isn't careful, then he could lose Naro before he has a chance to switch himself."

Down in the arena, Richard was starting to reach the same conclusion. Naro was doing an excellent job of resisting Machop's attacks, but his own weren't landing that often and he'd much rather than the nidoking avoided attacks instead of taking them. Perhaps it was time for a change of pace.

"Naro, return!" he called, holding up Naro's poké ball. He quickly pulled out the next one. "Go, Dish!"

Dish burst out of the ball, immediately adopting a combative stance as he landed.

"Use Absorb!" Richard ordered.

Dish was quick to react, firing a beam of green energy at Machop before he had a chance to react to the changing situation. He let out a cry as he was struck by the beam, stumbling back as his energy was drained.

"Now use Nature Power!" Richard yelled.

"Use Karate Chop!" Brawly shouted.

Machop charged forwards as Dish was briefly enveloped in a green aura. As it faded, she fired a cluster of star-shaped rays towards her opponent. Machop made an attempt to evade the attack, but to no avail. He was hit hard and thrown back with a crash.

For a brief moment, Richard thought that they'd won.

But Machop was able to struggle, just barely, back to his feet. His part in the battle, however, was already over.

"Machop, return!" Brawly recalled his exhausted pokémon.

Though in theory both of them still had two pokémon left who could battle, in practice Richard had reduced Brawly to just one. Dish was still on full strength and Naro still had some fight left in him as well. If he could overpower Brawly's last pokémon, then victory would be his!

"Richard seems to be doing well for himself," Will said as he watched Brawly recall Machop.

"Yeah, it was good of him to switch out for Dish." James nodded. "He's definitely got the advantage, but…"

"…But we don't know how powerful Brawly's next pokémon is," Nicola sighed.

"Exactly." James frowned as he watched the scene below.

Richard tended to become overconfident when things seemed to be going his way. Dish had become much stronger compared to when Richard had first caught her, but she was still a small, physically feeble pokémon. A solid hit from a powerful opponent might knock her out in only a handful, or maybe even a single blow.

That would limit Richard's flexibility and potentially shake him enough to prevent Naro from bailing him out. And, though Naro had undoubtedly come off best in the battle with Machop, he was still injured. Brawly's pokémon could potentially be at full strength and flushed with the success of defeating Dish.

James shook his head to try and clear those thoughts. Richard had managed to overcome Norman, so he had what it took to defeat Brawly.

He shouldn't keep imagining all these doomsday scenarios.

"Go, Meditite!" Brawly shouted, calling out his second pokémon.

A small pokémon with a large, white head and a mostly blue body emerged from the ball and landed nimbly on the ground.

"Whoa! A new pokémon!" Richard quickly whipped out his Pokédex.

" _Meditite, the meditate pokémon. Meditite heighten their inner energy through meditation. They continually meditate for hours every day. They can survive on just one berry a day. Minimal eating is another aspect of a meditite's training._ "

"Meditite, use Confusion!" Brawly called.

Meditite adopted a meditation stance and floated gently in the air. His eyes started glowing a bright blue colour. Dish yelped in surprise as she was lifted into the air and thrown back. She landed with a crash, but was able to quickly pull herself back to her stumpy feet.

"Use Nature Power!" Richard ordered. He bit his lip as Dish started charging up her attack. Since Brawly had used fighting types up to this point, he hadn't expected to see any psychic type moves flying about. Though Naro might be able to beat Meditite, it would be close and, frankly, too big a risk for him to take. He just hoped that Dish would be up to the challenge.

The lotad fired a cluster of star shaped rays towards her opponent who, despite a frantic attempt to dodge, was struck by the attack.

"Now use Absorb!" Richard ordered.

"Put up a Light Screen!" Brawly yelled.

Dish fired a green beam of energy towards Meditite, who quickly forced a psychic barrier in front of him. The attack still hit, but the power was greatly reduced.

Up in the stands, James, Nicola and Will were all thinking about how Richard could pull off a victory. It wasn't that they thought he was in a hugely disadvantageous position, of course. But the unexpected presence of a pokémon that was at least part psychic was bound to have caused trouble for someone who normally put so much faith in his poison-ground type behemoth.

"Odds on Richard losing?" Will asked, shooting a grin at James.

"It's not that bad!" James grinned back. "It's still two pokémon who are mostly on full strength, after all."

"Yeah, but I don't feel like Richard has ever spent as much time training with Dish and Chena as he has with Naro," Nicola mused, frowning.

"That's true," James sighed. "Even though Dish has grown stronger, Richard might not be as familiar with her capabilities if he hasn't spent as long battling with her."

"Those odds are looking a bit bleaker…" Will noted as Dish was hurled back by another psychic attack.

"It's difficult to counter attacks like Confusion," James replied. "Not to mention that both trainer and pokémon tend to panic when immobilised."

"Richard's had to deal with situations like this before though, right?" Nicola turned to him. "Why isn't he trying to counter Confusion?"

"As you've probably noticed, he's a bit headstrong!" James grinned. "But he's determined, and I'm sure that Dish can pick up on that as well!"

"If you say so." Nicola didn't seem convinced as she turned her attention back to the battle.

Dish struggled valiantly as she was lifted into the air once again, only to be thrown to the ground with a crash.

"Hang in there, Dish!" Richard called. "Use Nature Power!"

Dish surrounded herself in a green aura. She locked eyes with Meditite as the aura started to dissipate and convert into the attack. With a determined shout, she fired another cluster of star shaped rays. Though Meditite attempted to dodge them, and the continuing effects of Light Screen dulled their damage, the rays still homed in on him and knocked him backwards.

 _No good!_ Richard gritted his teeth. As long as Light Screen remained active, he and Dish were fighting a battle of attrition that they couldn't win. Meditite had been hitting them from a safe distance, while their own attacks were making little impact. They needed to find a way around his defences, to find a weak spot.

If Light Screen improved Meditite's defence against long-range attacks, then perhaps he should go for a physical attack instead. But Dish's only close-range attack, Astonish, was weak and often didn't do much damage.

Still, it was worth a shot.

"Use Astonish!"

Dish, picking herself up after being thrown to the ground once again, gave a fierce nod and suddenly dashed forwards.

"Use Confusion!" Brawly called urgently.

Meditite, stunned by the sudden speed of Dish's attack, reacted just a second too late. Dish was already upon him and struck a blow against his exposed front. Though the attack itself was quite light, Meditite cried out in pain and stumbled back, wincing and clutching the point of impact.

"Of course!" James suddenly exclaimed. "Astonish is a ghost type attack – they're really effective against psychic type pokémon!"

"Use Astonish again!" Richard yelled, spotting his opportunity.

"Use Confusion!" Brawly shouted.

Prepared this time, Meditite's eyes glowed blue as he lifted Dish into the air mid-charge and hurled her back.

"Now use Focus Punch!" Brawly ordered as Dish crashed to the ground.

Meditite tightened his focus, energy flowing into his tightly-clenched fist. He suddenly sprang forwards as Dish struggled back to her feet and slammed into her with a heavy punch. The lotad gasped in pain as she was thrown back. She landed with a crash, but pulled herself unsteadily back to her feet.

Even so, everyone in the room could tell that she'd taken some serious damage. A limp from earlier in the battle had become more pronounced and each move she took seemed to make her grimace.

However, the lotad seemed determined not to give up. Perhaps that was what prompted Richard to put his faith in her, as risky as the alternative would have been anyway.

"Use Astonish!" he called.

Dish immediately charged as quickly as she could. Meditite was quick to react, his eyes glowing blue as he started to lift her into the air. He had to keep her at a distance at all costs.

"Absorb!" Richard quickly switched orders.

Dish immediately fired a green beam of energy towards Meditite as she was lifted up. Attempting to maintain his focus, Meditite remained in position. Taking the hit was worth it if it meant finishing Dish off.

At the crucial moment, the Light Screen protecting Meditite suddenly faded. He was struck by the full force of Dish's attack, momentarily losing his focus as his energy was drained and letting her drop to the ground.

Her attack partly healing the worst of her injuries, Dish sprung forwards again as Meditite struggled to regain his composure. With a sudden slam, she ploughed into him and both pokémon tumbled to the ground.

"Use Nature Power!" Richard yelled as both pokémon started pulling themselves back to their feet.

"Confusion!" Brawly shouted.

Dish immediately jumped back, a green aura surrounding her as she did. Meditite fixed her with a fierce look and reached out to grab her with his psychic power. In an instant, Dish fired a final volley of star shaped rays, while Meditite threw her into the air. The rays smashed into Meditite and sent him flying back. As he landed with a crash, Dish started descending and also crashed to the ground.

Despite the impact, the lotad just managed to pull herself back to her feet. Her opponent, the last of his strength spent, remained where he was.

"Meditite is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "The winner of this match is the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!"

"We did it, Dish!" Richard cheered, running over to the exhausted lotad.

She gave a cheerful cry as he reached down to pat her on the head.

"You really fought brilliantly!" Richard grinned. He pulled out her poké ball and recalled her.

"That was a great match!" Brawly called as he walked over to him. "I honestly thought I'd won at one point!"

"Yeah, I was a little worried too," Richard replied. "I'm glad that Dish was able to pull through."

"Your lotad's certainly a tough one!" Brawly nodded approvingly. He pulled out a small grey badge in the shape of a fist. "Here. The Knuckle Badge is yours!"

"Thanks, Brawly!" Richard took the badge and grinned. "I guess that makes three!"

Up in the stands, James got to his feet.

"I guess it's finally my turn."

"Good luck down there," Will said, turning to look at him. "Brawly looks like the kind of person who'd redouble his efforts after a defeat."

"I'll keep it in mind." James nodded.

"We'll be watching," Nicola added as he passed her. "Be careful of his attacks – they don't look as powerful up here as they actually are."

"Got it!" James grinned at her. "I've already got a plan in mind."

He stepped away from the other two and started walking back towards the staircase. Now that Richard had managed to earn a third gym badge, he was eager to catch up.

* * *

 **So, just as Nicola went from loss to loss, Richard has gone from victory to victory. I'm hoping that Dish's crucial role in this battle made up for her having to share the spotlight with Chena in Petalburg. Now the only battle left is the 'wild card', James. How will he fare against Brawly next chapter?**

 **Anyway, I'm hoping to get Chapter 26 out tomorrow. Obviously, I'm working until the start of the afternoon, so I'm limited on time. I may try and get at least some of the chapter done this evening to give me a head start. In any case, I'll do my best!**

 **As always, I welcome any feedback you might have on this chapter. We're two gym battles down, with only one left to go!**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	26. Fighting Spirit! (Part 3)

**Hello and welcome to the third and final gym battle chapter for the Dewford gym!**

 **Last chapter saw Richard pull off a victory over Brawly and earn the Knuckle Badge, thanks to the hard work of Dish. Now, James steps into the spotlight for the final battle.**

 **Upload Date: 24** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 26: Fighting Spirit! (Part 3)**

 _Dewford Town, Hoenn_

 _12:11pm, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

Richard had a spring in his step as he walked back along the tunnel towards the lobby of the Dewford gym. The battle had been pretty tense at times, but he'd managed to make it through. He smiled down at Dish's poké ball. She'd really outdone herself this time!

As he reached the lobby, he rounded the corner and found himself facing James.

"Great work out there!" James grinned, giving him a high five.

"Thanks!" Richard grinned back. "It was a bit close out there for a while, but we managed to pull through in the end."

"I was worried that you'd go back to trying to force your way through with Naro," James sighed. "I'm relieved that you and Dish were able to beat Meditite without him."

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "I kind of feel like I need to spend some more time getting to know Dish's way of fighting. I felt like we weren't quite in sync during that battle, even if we managed to win."

"It's always good to get to know your pokémon better." James nodded approvingly. "Anyway, I should probably get moving. I've got my own battle now!"

"Sure," said Richard. "By the way, how's Nicola doing?"

"I think she's putting a brave face on," James replied thoughtfully. "But she's talking and was engaged in your battle."

"She was crying when I ran into her on my way down…"

"…Yeah, I guessed." James let out a sigh. "We'll have to make sure that we spend some time thinking about what went wrong in her battle so that we can help her train for a rematch."

"Think about your own battle first!" Richard grinned. "If you're not careful, you might be needing a rematch as well!"

"True!" James nodded. "I'm going to need to be careful. Got any advice?"

"Hmm." Richard pondered the question, thinking back on the battle he'd just had with Brawly. "I'd say watch out for tricks. Brawly's pokémon are mostly built for brute force attacks, but he can surprise you with tricky tactics. He's cleverer than he looks."

"Got it." James nodded.

"Alright, you'd better get going!" Richard patted him on the back as he passed him. "I'll be cheering for you!"

"Glad to hear it!" James grinned. "See you when it's over!"

"Sure!" Richard started walking up the staircase in the direction of the stands.

James watched him go for a second before turning into the tunnel towards the arena.

If he'd picked up anything from watching Nicola and Richard's battles, it was that Brawly wasn't an opponent he could underestimate. There would be few opportunities to recover from mistakes and Brawly was clearly very experienced with the battle rules. He guessed that was obvious given that he was the gym leader.

Still, a part of him was excited by the prospect of experiencing this kind of battle. The knowledge that he only needed to defeat one of Brawly's pokémon instead of both filled him with an odd sense of confidence. He was looking forward to giving it a try and seeing how Brawly would approach the battle.

* * *

 _12:14pm, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

"How did I do?" Richard grinned as he dropped into the seat between Nicola and Will.

"You tell me," Nicola replied icily.

"It was pretty good," Will added. "You nearly lost it close to the end though."

"There were some mistakes, yes." Richard shrugged. "But I still managed to get the badge, so I'm happy."

"No need to rub it in," Nicola said bitterly.

"Don't worry! You'll definitely be able to beat Brawly on your next attempt!" Richard said reassuringly. "It was a tricky battle rule, so of course you were going to be a little out of sorts!"

"Hmm." Nicola cast her gaze down to the arena, where the referee had just finished his introductory announcement.

"Begin!" he called loudly.

"Go, Meditite!" Brawly called, throwing out his poké ball.

"Go, Nulin!" James shouted.

The two poké balls popped open and the pokémon emerged onto the battlefield.

"Start out with Water Gun!" James ordered. There was no sense in going for a knockout blow just yet – Brawly would switch out if he thought Meditite was in danger.

Nulin quickly fired a jet of water towards Meditite, only for him to dart out of the way. His eyes lit up with a blue colour. The wingull let out a startled cry as he was grabbed from the air and hurled to the ground with a crash.

"Use Wing Attack!" James called. "Stay low!"

Nulin just lifted himself off the ground and sped forwards.

"Use Confusion again!" Brawly shouted.

Meditite quickly grabbed Nulin out of the air again, only for the wingull to fire a blast of water at him. As he was hit, his concentration was broken. Nulin surged forwards and struck Meditite with his wing, sending the latter tumbling back.

As Nulin swung around to return to James' half of the field, both sides took advantage of the brief lull in action to take stock of the situation.

 _We're going to need to be careful of Confusion._ James watched Meditite carefully as he pulled himself back to his feet. Obviously, he had to consider other things as well, but the immobilising aspect of Confusion was what concerned him the most, even if he was experienced in the ways it could be countered.

"Use Supersonic!" he called to Nulin.

Nulin immediately swept closer to Meditite and emitted a high-pitched sound. Meditite groaned in pain and clutched his ears, the noise getting inside his head and disorienting him.

That should take care of Confusion for the time being. Ironic, really.

"Now use Wing Attack!" James grinned.

Nulin cried enthusiastically before diving towards Meditite. However, just as he was about to reach him, his opponent was hit by a recall beam and returned to his poké ball.

As Nulin pulled up sharply to avoid crashing into the ground, Makuhita emerged from his poké ball and stamped his feet on the ground. There was a confident grin on his face.

"Hang back, Nulin!" James called. "Watch what he does!"

"That was a quick switch!" Richard exclaimed.

"Did Nulin manage to do that much damage?" Nicola wondered.

"No, I bet it was to deal with Meditite's confusion," Will replied.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "That seems likely."

Back down in the arena, Makuhita started moving, bulking up his muscles to improve his strength. He continued this, each time he strained his muscles causing him to grow slightly stronger.

As he continued, James realised that it was down to him and Nulin to make the first move. They could technically hang back and use ranged attacks, but he didn't want to risk being hit by a more powerful attack later. As a flying type, Nulin had a natural resistance to fighting type attacks, but he was physically weak and didn't tend to hold up well under repeated attacks.

"Use Wing Attack!"

Nulin glanced down and nodded before diving towards his opponent. Makuhita stood his ground and took the attack head-on – a smart move. Nulin, spooked by Makuhita's determination and worried about a possible counter, limited the power of his impact and was quick to pull back again.

"Okay, try using Water Gun!" James ordered.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly called as Nulin launched his attack.

Makuhita nodded. He charged forwards, managing to fight his way through the jet of water Nulin had aimed at him. With a short jump, he thrust out his palms and struck the wingull with multiple blows. Nulin screeched in pain, toppling backwards from the force of the impact. He pulled himself up before he could hit the ground.

"Alright, now use Whirlwind!" Brawly yelled.

Makuhita called out in response. Swinging his arms, he sent a powerful gust of wind flying towards Nulin. The wingull was thrown back, converting back into red energy and returning to his poké ball.

Before James could react, another poké ball popped open and his second pokémon was forcibly chosen for him.

Muro.

Both the whismur and his trainer seemed rather stunned by the sudden turn of events, but James quickly recovered.

"Use Uproar!" he called. He wasn't going to give Brawly the satisfaction of pulling Muro back just yet. As long as they kept Makuhita at a distance and dealt some damage, they could hold out for a little while.

Though clearly intimidated by the bulky fighting type, Muro nodded and opened his mouth. There was an ear-splitting noise as he started shouting as loudly as he could. Makuhita, hit directly by the shockwave, stumbled back in a daze. He clearly hadn't anticipated such a strong counter from his new opponent.

"Great work, Muro!" James grinned.

Up in the stands, Nicola cast a worried glance first at James and then at her companions. She couldn't understand why James was riskily trying to battle with Muro when he knew that he suffered from a type disadvantage – this kind of battle was tough enough when a single pokémon being knocked out meant losing the battle. To be using Muro under such conditions as well…

"Why is he still using Muro?" Will asked. Clearly, he was thinking the same thing. "He should swap back to Nulin and finish Makuhita off with Supersonic and Wing Attack."

"That's what I was thinking." Nicola nodded, quickly agreeing with him. "Whirlwind was a bit of a curve ball, but he seemed to be doing okay with Nulin – they can definitely win if he swaps back!"

"No." Richard shook his head. "I doubt Brawly intended it this way, but the damage has already been done."

"What do you mean?" Nicola asked.

"This is a two-on-two battle," Richard replied. "Now that James has sent out two pokémon, he's stuck with them."

"So, he can't swap to Charka or Kacha," Will sighed.

"That's right." Richard nodded. "He can't use his two most experienced pokémon. Worse, the only one who can really go toe-to-toe with Makuhita is Charka. Nulin and Muro don't really stand a chance one-on-one."

"Things are starting to look bad," Nicola murmured, looking back down at the arena.

"Well, don't worry too much!" Richard grinned. "James has been in tough spots before. I'm sure he'll come up with a plan!"

There was another eruption of sound as Muro fired another attack towards Makuhita. The fighting type was forced back by the intensity of the shockwave, but remained standing. As Muro halted his attack, he suddenly stormed forwards, his fist glowing a dark red colour.

"Dodge it!" James yelled.

Muro started to take evasive manoeuvres, but suddenly panicked and froze up as Makuhita bore down on him. He took a heavy blow and was hurled back towards James.

"Muro, return!" James shouted as he held out the whismur's poké ball. The recall beam struck the pokémon and instantly returned him to the poké ball. Letting out a momentary sigh of relief, James reached for Nulin's poké ball. "Go, Nulin!"

Nulin cried out loudly as he re-emerged. He immediately flew in the direction of Makuhita, waiting for James to issue an order.

"Use Water Gun!" James called.

Nulin reacted instantly. With a cry, he fired a blast of water down towards Makuhita. The fighting type dove to one side to avoid it, but Nulin was quick to change the direction of his attack. Makuhita cried out in pain as he was hit and blasted to the ground.

"Now use Wing Attack!" James shouted.

Nulin swooped towards the ground, his wings glowing with a bright white light. He drew closer to the ground as Makuhita struggled to get back up.

"Use Vital Throw!" Brawly shouted.

Nulin ploughed into Makuhita. He grimaced in pain, but brought his fist around and slammed into the wingull. There was a screech of pain as Nulin was thrown back. He landed on the ground with a crash, but pulled himself back up again.

"James needs to be careful," Richard muttered. "Nulin has the advantage as long as he's at a distance."

"But Wing Attack is super effective against fighting types," said Nicola.

"Exactly!" Richard replied. "He's putting his focus on scoring super effective attacks instead of keeping Nulin out of harm's way!"

"Wow!" Nicola gasped, staring at him in surprise.

"What?" Richard asked, looking at her.

"It's like you're actually thinking about how to win battles!"

"Hey! I fought in the Sevii League – I know how to win!"

Their attention was drawn back to the battle as Nulin fired another jet of water towards Makuhita. The attack hit and the fighting type was forced back.

"Use Supersonic!" James yelled.

Nulin was quick to respond. He emitted a high-pitched noise which immediately disoriented Makuhita. His opponent now handicapped, the wingull dove in for another attempt at a direct attack.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly called.

Makuhita heard the order. He started flailing his arms around as he tried to locate his foe. In the confusion, he over-reached and started to stumble. There was a loud thud as Nulin smashed into him and sent him flying back.

"Finish this up with Water Gun!" James shouted.

Nulin nodded and soared up into the air. He fired a stream of water down towards Makuhita. There was a large splash which sent water flying everywhere as the attack impacted on the ground. As the water dropped back down to the ground again, a red recall beam could just be seen fading away. Makuhita was nowhere to be seen.

"Go, Meditite!" Brawly called.

"A switch?" James clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Nulin, use Water Gun again!"

With a cry, Nulin shot another jet of water towards Meditite. He was quick to dodge the attack, nimbly darting to one side. He looked back to Brawly for directions.

"Use Confusion!" Brawly immediately called.

With a nod, Meditite's eyes started to glow a light blue colour. Nulin let out a startled cry as he was suddenly grabbed out of the air by his opponent's psychic powers.

"Counter it with Water Gun!" James yelled.

Nulin grimaced as he forced his head down to aim at Meditite. He fired a quick blast of water at him. However, Meditite smartly dodged the attack with a smooth sidestep. His glowing eyes remained fixed on his target.

With a sudden cry, Nulin was thrown down towards the ground. Meditite used his power to keep the wingull's wings locked in place as he plummeted to the ground with a crash.

"Use Light Screen!" Brawly called as Nulin started to pull himself up.

Meditite put up a barrier of psychic energy around himself. He fixed Nulin with a fierce gaze as he watched him pull himself back up. Though Nulin was in bad shape, Meditite himself was looking worse for wear after the damage he'd sustained earlier in the battle. They were fast approaching the final stage of the battle.

"Does James still have a chance?" Nicola glanced at Richard.

"Well, yeah." Richard nodded. "But things are definitely looking tough for him."

"Meditite throwing up Light Screen was a low blow," Will sighed. "Now James can only really go in close."

"Yeah." Richard nodded a second time. "Brawly's set-up has been pretty good – he's definitely the one with the initiative at the moment."

"So, James can either hang back and do less damage, or go closer and do more damage, but be more at risk of a counter attack?" Nicola sighed as she gazed back down at the battlefield.

"And don't forget that Confusion means that Brawly and Meditite can attack Nulin no matter which James chooses," Richard added. "Still, he could still pull off the victory if he moves fast enough."

"Wing Attack!" James called. "Give it everything you've got!"

Nulin cried out as he pulled himself into the air again. With a painful flap of his wings, he dove down towards Meditite, who grinned confidently up at his opponent as he began his attack.

"Use Confusion!" Brawly ordered.

Meditite reacted quickly and, eyes glowing, grabbed Nulin out of the air.

However, James also reacted quickly! "Use Water Gun!"

Nulin fought through Meditite's control and fired a jet of water at his opponent. The effects of Light Screen dulled the effectiveness of the attack, but it succeeded in its aim. Momentarily stunned by the water striking him, his focus slipped and Nulin broke free.

"Wing Attack!" James yelled.

Nulin burst forwards, his wings enveloped in a bright white light. He slammed into Meditite and knocked him back. As he swung up into the air to circle back towards James' half, his opponent slammed his fist onto the arena floor and pulled himself back up again.

Both pokémon were on their last legs. All it would take was one last solid attack to end the battle.

"Use Wing Attack!" James shouted. It was a long shot. Meditite would be able to grab Nulin with Confusion before they made contact and he doubted that Brawly would leave another opening for them to break free.

Nulin, summoning up what was left of his strength and started to dive down towards Meditite, watching his opponent carefully as he did.

"Use Focus Punch!" Brawly called.

"Focus Punch?" James cried in surprise.

Meditite nodded. His fist started to glow with a dark red colour as he focused his energy into it. He remained motionless as Nulin reached ground level and tore through the air towards him.

"Come on!" James gritted his teeth as he called out to Nulin. They were closing in fast and Focus Punch had given them a chance. Everyone in the room held their breath as Nulin charged towards Meditite.

Time seemed to slow down as he drew close. Meditite started swinging his fist as Nulin closed in for his final attack. There was a loud thud as the two of them appeared to collide and it took the observers a couple of seconds to truly register what had happened. After a couple of seconds, however, the result was clear.

Meditite stood triumphant, while Nulin lay on the ground, knocked out by the powerful punch.

"Wingull is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "The winner of this match is the gym leader!"

James let out the breath he'd been holding in and sighed. The fact that he'd lost was still sinking in.

"Whew! What a battle!" Brawly wiped his forehead as he walked over to pat Meditite on the head. "I'll definitely be remembering that one!"

"Yeah, it was pretty tense!" James nodded, walking over to meet him. He let himself relax. Though disappointed, he felt an odd sense of satisfaction. He'd fought Brawly almost to a standstill and had been foiled narrowly at the end. He was confident that he could grow and come out on top in the next battle.

"I'm looking forward to battling you again!" Brawly offered his hand. "I can tell that you and your pokémon are tough!"

"Same!" James took his hand. "We're going to fight even harder next time!"

* * *

 _5:21pm, 25_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Huh? Where's Nicola?" James asked as he joined Richard and Will in the trainers' lounge.

After the conclusion of James' gym battle, they'd headed back to the pokémon centre so that their pokémon could get some much-needed rest and they could start thinking about what to do next.

However, it looked as though Nicola had disappeared somewhere in the meantime. James hoped that she wasn't hiding in her room again like she had after her loss to Norman.

"I think she went down to the seafront," Richard said. "Said she wanted to clear her head."

"I don't think we need to worry as much as last time," Will added. "But I hope she doesn't stay out too long."

"So do I," James sighed, sitting down on one of the sofas. "We still need to talk about what we're going to do next."

"Have you got any ideas?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I feel like it's down to you and Nicola." Richard nodded. "I'm happy to do what you want."

"I guess we'll see when Nicola gets back," said James, turning to look out of the window.

* * *

Nicola let out a sigh. She was sat on a concrete wall separating the road from the rocky beach and the sea beyond. A cool breeze was blowing, causing her hair to sway back and forth.

For some reason, she found it much easier to be at peace with herself out here than back in her room. After all the emotional turmoil of her own loss and James and Richard's gym battles, she felt as though she'd needed an opportunity to sit somewhere quiet and think things through.

It was going to be tough from here on, she knew that. While James had really only been beaten due to bad luck, she had been almost completely flattened. She needed to pause, take stock of things, and rethink how she was going to approach her rematch. Richard had told her before she'd come out here that there was no use trying to run away from her defeats. Now was the point when she needed to face them.

"Oh, you're out here, Nicola?"

Nicola looked around to find Brawly walking along the pavement towards her, his surfboard tucked under his arm.

"Are you going surfing?" she asked as he reached her.

"Yeah." He nodded. "The waves are always good at this time of day. It's a nice way to unwind after a day of battling." He gazed out to sea briefly before turning back to her. "Say, do you want to come surfing as well? Might help you clear your head after today."

"Ah, I'm fine, thanks," Nicola replied politely. "I kind of like just being able to sit here and think."

"Anything in particular on your mind?"

Perhaps it was the result of a sense of frustration that had been bubbling inside her ever since losing to Norman, or maybe the atmosphere had made her feel relaxed enough to speak freely. She suddenly spoke, as if not really meaning to.

"I still don't understand what I'm doing wrong."

"In your battling, you mean?"

"Yeah…" It was embarrassing to admit. Nicola immediately turned her gaze to her knees, as if fearing what the response would be.

"Hmm, well if you want my honest opinion, I think you've got a solid grasp of the strategy side of things," Brawly said.

"Then what's my problem?" Even Nicola recognised the slight desperation in her tone.

"…" Brawly seemed troubled as he pondered his response. "It's kinda difficult to say, but I get the feeling that you need to connect with your pokémon more."

"Connect? But we already get along really well…"

"That's not quite what I mean." Brawly shook his head. "I think you're still not totally familiar with your pokémon's capacities."

"You mean, I'm underestimating them?"

"Possibly, but I also think you overestimate them sometimes as well. During our battle, you had your mudkip using Bide when he didn't really have the strength to withstand its use. It was a brilliant tactic, but you weren't able to think about his condition at the time."

"…Is that so?" Nicola's heart sank as she gazed out to sea. That knowledge was somehow even more crushing than her defeat had been.

"Well, you're a new trainer, after all!" Brawly grinned reassuringly at her. "It takes a while to learn how to read your pokémon's condition from a distance and in the heat of battle." He paused for a second to think. "And hanging out with the other two has probably caused you some problems as well."

"You mean James and Richard?"

"Yeah. They're both experienced trainers and so you're picking up the kinds of advanced tactics that they've been practising for a while now. Great tactics, but perhaps ones that need a good understanding of the pokémon's capacity."

"So, I shouldn't be trying to copy them?"

"It's good to learn from others," Brawly replied. "But don't be afraid to think for yourself. Even simple tactics will win battles if both trainer and pokémon understand each other."

"I see." Nicola swung herself around and jumped to her feet. "Thanks for talking to me, Brawly! I'm going to get stronger and make sure that I beat you next time!"

"I'm looking forward to it!" Brawly grinned. "Anyway, I'm going to go hit the surf! See ya!"

Nicola watched him as he walked off along the seafront. A part of her was hurt, hearing the flaws that had led to her defeat. But she knew now. And that meant that she could truly start to improve and learn from her defeats.

* * *

 **Whew! Managed to get this chapter finished in time!**

 **So, a (surprise?) defeat for James at the Dewford gym this time. At least now Nicola won't feel that she's the only one struggling! In the meantime, the group need to decide exactly what they're going to do next. But I guess we can wait until Sunday to find out! :P**

 **Anyway, credit goes to shadowsilv3r for some of the elements of this chapter (namely Whirlwind and, to some extent, Brawly's pep talk for Nicola at the end). I hope that this latest gym arc had been enjoyable.**

 **As ever, any feedback you have on this chapter is more than welcome.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	27. The Belligerent Beautifly

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **After the Dewford gym battles over the last three chapters, the group now needs to decide what they're going to do next.**

 **Upload Date: 28** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 27: The Belligerent Beautifly**

 _Dewford Town, Hoenn_

 _9:45am, 26_ _th_ _April 2006_

"…So, how much longer do I give him before I head back up for him?" James asked impatiently, glancing at his companions.

"I say five more minutes," Richard replied. "It's going to be a tough trip, so I want to get started as soon as possible."

"You did tell him that we were leaving now, right?" Nicola asked. "I mean, he can't have gone back to sleep after breakfast, right?"

"Don't try him," James said testily. His arms were folded, one finger tapping impatiently against his arm.

"This does seem to be standard for Will," Richard added.

Half nine. That was when they'd agreed they'd set off after finishing their discussion about what to do next the previous evening.

Fifteen minutes had passed since then and there was still no sign of Will. A part of James wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if he'd returned to the room to find him back in bed.

Their planned journey for the day wasn't a particularly easy one, which was why everyone was keen to actually get started. And why they were starting to get increasingly annoyed at Will's absence.

Concluding that Nicola wasn't ready to face another gym battle, the group had decided to head off and spend some time exploring Dewford Island. Dewford Town itself was located at a convenient crossroads. Obviously, the port connected the town to the mainland via ferry, while a road leading north gave access to the northern two thirds of the island. A second road led south down the coast towards the southern tip of the island, while a third cut straight through the interior of the island. Much like Hoenn, the interior was mostly mountainous.

It was this last option that they'd decided to go with.

The tougher conditions meant that they'd most likely run into tougher pokémon and trainers to battle as they went. Besides, they'd heard from the receptionist at the pokémon centre that there were a number of interesting places to visit on the road looping around the southern tip of the island.

At the same time, however, it was going to be tiring, trekking through the mountains, and James already knew that they were going to have to stop for frequent breaks. With that in mind, it would be nice if they could actually get started…

Fortunately, they didn't reach the end of their five-minute time limit.

Will appeared in the lobby, his backpack slung over his back. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said as he approached them.

"What took you so long?" James asked. "We thought you'd gone back to bed!"

"Nah, I just had to check some things before we left."

"Well, let's get moving then!" Richard started moving in the direction of the door. "The sooner we get through the mountains, the better."

The four of them walked out of the pokémon centre and turned to follow the road west. They were finally on their way.

* * *

 _Dewford Island, Hoenn_

 _11:31am, 26_ _th_ _April 2006_

The guidebook had described the path through the mountains in the middle of Dewford Island as one of the most beautiful walks on the island. It spoke of breath-taking views and a sense of wonder, the photos contained within showing a magnificent sunset silhouetting some tall, thin pines by the side of the road, the valley far below bathed in orange sunlight.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, that wasn't the sight which had greeted the group as they walked along the mountain paths.

"Doesn't it feel a little bit… creepy to you?" Nicola asked, glancing around as she and the others trudged up the winding road.

"I get what you mean." James nodded.

Though the sun was shining on their side of the mountain, the trees remained somewhat dark and foreboding. It felt as though anything could be lurking just out of sight, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Not that they were expecting a wild pokémon to suddenly attack them, but it put them on edge all the same.

"Maybe it gets better once we're on the other side?" Will suggested as they continued walking.

"I hope so," Richard said glumly.

They reached the end of the traverse and turned the corner to go up in the other direction. By this stage, they were really hoping that they'd reach a point where the path would level out. At the moment, it felt as though they were climbing the mountain rather than just passing along between them all.

Eventually, they found themselves continuing on around the mountain rather than turning to go up again. It was tiring work. At the rate they were going, they were going to be completely exhausted long before they got anywhere near the other side of the island.

"Are there any good camping spots the guidebook recommends?" Richard probably spoke for all of them when he asked that question.

"There should be plenty of places if we keep an eye out," James replied. "But it'll probably be cold up here in the mountains. I'm hoping we can get down into this valley here before the sun sets…"

"Can we take a break?" Nicola whined, dragging her tired body behind them.

"Seconded!" Will added.

"As long as it's a short one!" James grinned at them.

The two trainers gratefully wandered over to the side of the road. They sat down on the barrier separating the road from the slope down to the densely forested valley below them. Noticing a gap in the barrier and a loose, yet clearly-marked dirt path leading down, they turned back to James.

"There's another path here," Will said.

"So there is," James replied, wandering over to have a look.

"Is it on the map?" Nicola asked. "Is it a shortcut?" she added eagerly, her eyes shining.

"It _is_ on the map," James said with a frown. "But a path like that is a bit…"

At that moment, Will let out a cry of pain and jerked forwards, nearly falling off the barrier.

"What's up?" Richard asked.

"Something hit me!" Will exclaimed, jumping to his feet and looking around.

A butterfly-like pokémon with a yellow, blue and red pattern on its wings and a pair of big blue eyes floated up in front of them, fixing Will with a defiant gaze.

"What is it?" Nicola asked as Will pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Beautifly, the butterfly pokémon and the evolved form of silcoon. Beautifly have a long mouth like a coiled needle, which is very convenient for collecting pollen from flowers. These pokémon ride the spring winds as they flit around gathering pollen. They attack ferociously when angered - despite their appearance, beautifly can be highly aggressive._ "

"Did you do something to annoy it?" Nicola asked.

"I was just sitting here, that's all!" Will replied angrily. He pulled out a poké ball. "If it wants to fight, though, then that's fine by me!"

The beautifly, however, suddenly turned and started flying down the path towards the valley. It stopped occasionally to throw a defiant glare at Will.

What was going on?

All four trainers seemed equally baffled by the pokémon's behaviour. It was like it was trying to lead them somewhere.

"Don't think I'll let you get away!" Will shouted, striding forwards and stepping onto the path.

"Hold on, Will!" James called. "We don't want to go that way!"

"Didn't you say it was on the map?" Will asked.

"Can't we follow it and still get through?" Nicola added.

"Tough terrain?" Richard gave James a knowing look.

"Exactly." James nodded. "This road is well-maintained and easy to follow. Down there, we'd be climbing over tree trunks, having to cross streams, and it'll be much easier to lose our place on the map."

"Whatever." Will shrugged. "I'm fine with that."

"If you go that way, then I'm not following you," James said. His tone wasn't angry, just firm.

"It's fine," Will replied. "I've got my own map." He started walking down the dirt path in pursuit of the beautifly.

"Suit yourself!" James called after him. "I'll send up Nulin, so you send up Turkey as well – that way we can keep in contact with each other!"

"Got it!" Will shouted without looking back.

"Is this really okay?" Nicola asked, casting a worried glance down at Will. "Isn't it dangerous to split up?"

"Well, Will has his pokémon with him," said Richard. "I doubt even that beautifly would be able to pose a real threat to him."

"Once he gets like this, it's hard to get him to change his mind," James sighed. "Besides, we'll be able to keep in contact using our flying types. We shouldn't ever be too far from each other."

"You're sure that we can't go with him?" Nicola asked.

"It'd be seriously tough down there," James replied. "The guidebook says that it's even tougher than Petalburg Woods."

Nicola frowned as she cast a final glance down towards the valley. "…Alright, I guess we've got no choice."

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "We'll just keep moving and meet up with him later. It'll probably do him good to have an adventure without us!"

* * *

 _12:41pm, 26_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Where did it go?" Will glanced around in frustration.

The forest surrounding him was dark and thick. It was difficult to see that far ahead on the path, let alone in his surroundings. The trees were so densely packed that he could scarcely see the sky up above.

Fortunately, the path was still clearly marked and Will had quickly been able to calculate his position on the map. There wasn't any real danger of him getting lost, but he still had to track down that beautifly.

Though he hadn't wanted to admit it to the others, he was eager for the opportunity to have another battle of his own. He spent so much time training with the others that it became frustrating when he couldn't use what he'd learnt in a proper battle. Of course, he was going to take this opportunity to have a battle with a new opponent!

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a cry from above. Looking up, he spotted Turkey nimbly diving through the canopy to reach him.

"Welcome back," he said as the taillow landed on his shoulder.

Turkey cried in response and held out one of his feet. A small piece of paper was tightly clasped in it.

"Thanks, Turkey." Will took the paper and read the message written on it.

 _We're making good progress around the mountainside. I think we could make it to the next valley in another couple of hours. How are you doing?_

 _James_

Will quickly scribbled a note in response and handed it to Turkey.

Turkey cried loudly as he took the message and shot up into the air. In an instant, he had vanished into the canopy.

"Now, where's that beautifly?" Will continued walking forwards, scanning his surroundings for any sign.

A flash of colour!

Will rushed forwards eagerly and suddenly found himself standing in a clearing in the forest.

"Yo!"

There was a boy sat on a log at the far side of the clearing. The beautifly was hovering by his side.

"Is that your pokémon?" Will asked.

"Yep!" The boy jumped to his feet. "The name's Geoff! What's yours?"

"I'm Will!" Will called back. "Why are you just sitting here in the middle of nowhere?"

"I like the seclusion," Geoff replied. "Besides, Jam here likes to battle and can get a bit aggressive at times…"

"So, why was your beautifly flying around near the mountain path?" Will demanded. "It tried to attack me!"

"Sorry about that!" Geoff grinned guiltily. "I actually sent Jam out to look for an opponent we could fight. The wild pokémon are quite tough out here, but there's nothing quite like fighting another trainer."

"Another trainer or a wild pokémon?" Will shrugged. "I'll take any of them."

"Sounds like you're keen to fight as well!" Geoff grinned. "How many badges do you have?"

"Oh, I'm not collecting gym badges just yet," Will replied.

For a second, it became so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"What?!" Geoff cried. "Then why are you even out here?" He suddenly gasped. "You aren't one of those 'coordinators', are you?"

"No, of course not," Will replied, waving his hand dismissively. "I've just travelling with some friends and learning from them before I start challenging gyms myself."

"But challenging gyms is the best way to improve!" Geoff seemed almost aghast that Will wasn't making any effort to challenge the gyms. "I guarantee you, you need to actually experience something in order to get better at it!"

"Yeah, I improve through battling," Will replied, his tone starting to turn slightly colder. "I'm constantly training with three people who are actively challenging gyms. How could I not improve?"

"No, no, no!" Geoff shook his head vigorously. "You can't just learn from what other people are doing – what about your own weaknesses and mistakes?"

"Like I said, I'm practising with the others," Will replied icily. "Anyway, your beautifly dragged me all the way out here – you want to battle or what?"

"Ha! Sure!" Geoff grinned confidently. "I earned my second gym badge just the other day – I've got a lot of faith in my skills!"

"Then let's go!" Will called. "One-on-one?"

"Fine by me!"

Will pulled out Toya's poké ball and threw it out. The squirtle gave an eager shout as he burst out of the ball and landed on the uneven surface of forest floor.

Across from him, Jam flew forwards, a fierce expression on his face.

"Start with String Shot!" Geoff called.

Jam immediately fired a stringy web towards Toya, only for the squirtle to dive out of the way. He skidded across the rocks and roots covering the ground, wincing in pain with each jolt.

"Looks like the terrain is on my side this time!" Geoff grinned. "Use Absorb!"

Jam let out a cry and fired a green beam towards Toya as he picked himself up. He yelled in pain as he was struck and his energy drained.

"Counter with Water Gun!" Will called.

Shaking off the effects of the last attack, Toya leapt forwards and fired a jet of water towards Jam, who swiftly dove down to avoid it.

"Now use Tackle!" Will immediately ordered.

Toya didn't hesitate. With a speed that caught both Geoff and Jam off-guard, he stormed forwards and slammed into the latter directly.

"And now Water Gun again!" Will shouted.

Toya had barely separated from Jam, but he fired a jet of water at close range, sending his opponent flying back and crashing into a nearby tree.

"Whoa!" Geoff gasped.

Jam pulled himself back together and flew forwards again. Though the attack had injured him, it seemed like he was even more eager to fight now.

"Use Stun Spore!" Geoff yelled.

Jam fired a cluster of spores towards Toya, who dodged to the side to avoid the attack. Though he nearly tripped on a jagged rock hidden among the moss, he remained upright and fired a jet of water to disperse the remaining spores.

"Use Tackle!" Will ordered.

"Use Gust!" Geoff shouted.

Toya rushed towards Jam, grinning confidently as he approached. Jam, on the other hand, drifted back slightly before flapping his wings vigorously to summon up a gust of wind. The blast of air struck Toya and, though he initially seemed to be just powering through it, quickly brought him to a halt. He hunkered down to keep in place, but was soon lifted into the air regardless and hurled back.

"Finish the job with Absorb!"

Jam fired a green beam, which Toya was powerless to avoid. The attack scored a direct hit and Toya cried out in pain as he felt his energy being siphoned away.

Yet, he remained standing, exhausted and panting. He wasn't finished yet.

"Use Absorb once more!" Geoff called.

Jam fired another green beam towards Toya, who seemed to only be able to watch as the attack drew closer.

"Ah! Just a second!" Will suddenly called.

"Huh?" Geoff and Jam stopped in confusion at Will's words.

There was a sudden flapping of wings. Turkey dropped down from the canopy and landed on Will's shoulder. He offered his leg to his trainer.

Will took the message and quickly read it before pulling out another scrap of paper to write a reply.

 _Huh?_ Geoff could only blink in confusion at the scene in front of him. Didn't this guy realise that he was in the middle of a battle – and very close to having his pokémon knocked out as well? Most people wouldn't give him the courtesy of stopping the battle. He was probably used to fighting practice battles which could be stopped at any time – he wouldn't stand a chance in a proper gym battle.

Will handed the scrap of paper to Turkey, who immediately took off again. "Use Water Gun!" he called as he turned back to face the battle.

Toya immediately got ready to attack. His body was surrounded by a watery aura as he fired a jet of water towards Jam.

"Ah! Quick, use-" Geoff began.

However, it was too late. Jam took the full brunt of the attack and was thrown back. He landed on the ground with a crash and lay still, knocked out by a combination of the force of the attack and the impact with the ground.

"I guess we win, Toya." Will nodded and smiled at the squirtle.

Toya gave him a tired grin in response.

"W-Wait a minute!" Geoff gasped. "That's unfair – you didn't say that we were restarting the battle!"

"Did we stop the battle?" Will asked as he pulled out a potion to spray on Toya. "I said 'just a second'. I didn't ask you to stop fighting."

"B-But…" Geoff trailed off.

"It was your fault for lowering your guard," Will replied. "I simply took advantage of it."

"Geh." Geoff let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, I'll admit that you got me this time. But that kind of tactic wouldn't work against a gym leader."

"But I wasn't fighting a gym leader." Will shrugged. "So it doesn't really matter."

"Is this why you aren't challenging the gyms?" Geoff asked. "Because you can't use tactics like this?"

"No." Will shook his head. "I want to challenge gyms to win, not so that I can learn how to win. That's why I want to learn as much as I can and get as strong as I can now. That way I'll take the league by storm when I finally do challenge it."

"…" Geoff let out another sigh. A defeated smile appeared on his face. "Well, whatever." He walked over and offered his hand. "It wasn't a good battle, but I learned from it."

"Same." Will shook his hand. "It was good to fight a proper battle for a change."

"So, what are you going to do now?" Geoff asked, recalling Jam to his poké ball.

"I need to meet up with my friends," Will replied. "I'm heading west."

"I guess I'll head back towards Dewford Town," Geoff sighed. "I'm going to train harder ready for my next gym battle."

"Good luck," Will said. "You're not too sharp, but your pokémon is pretty tough."

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment!" Geoff replied through gritted teeth. He started walking out of the clearing. As he reached the edge, he turned back and called out. "Hey! If you ever decide to challenge the gyms, then I hope we can have a rematch at the league!"

"Sure!" Will replied. "But the result will be the same!"

"We'll see about that!" Geoff grinned. "See you again!"

Will watched him disappear into the dense forest. "I guess we should get moving as well," he said to Toya.

The squirtle gave a weary cry in response.

Will recalled him to his poké ball and started moving again. He wondered how long it would take him to meet up with the others again.

* * *

 _3:39pm, 26_ _th_ _April 2006_

The dense forest had eventually given way to more open terrain. Fields and rice paddies started appearing as Will walked past farmhouses, out in the open and with the sun shining down on him.

Turkey was perched on his shoulder, his head twitching as he glanced around at their surroundings. Now that he was out of the tough part of the path, there was no need for Turkey to keep exchanging messages with Nulin. They just had to keep moving forwards until they met up with the others.

They'd probably been waiting for quite a while for him to catch up. He wondered if they were angry. He should probably apologise for going off on his own once he met up with them.

The path seemed to continue forever. Though Will was quite proud of his stamina, even he was starting to reach his limits. It would be troublesome asking the others if they could stop just for him to recover. Still, it was better to meet up with them first and decide later.

Finally, he reached the point where his path re-joined the main one. As he looked around, he spotted James, Richard and Nicola leaning against a fence by the side of the road.

"Hey, Will!" James called as he spotted him. He waved to him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Will mumbled as he reached them.

"It's fine!" Richard grinned. "We needed to rest after walking all this way anyway!"

"How was the walk?" Nicola asked. "Was it tough?"

"Eh, not that much," Will replied.

"I guess you won't be needing a rest then?" James grinned.

"I didn't say that."

"Well, we decided that we should probably stop off here for the night anyway," Nicola explained. "We're all tired out, so…"

"That sounds fine to me," Will replied. "Has the tent been set up yet?"

"Not yet," James replied. "You're just in time to help us set up."

"Just my luck," Will sighed. "I should have walked slower."

"So, did anything happen while you weren't with us?" Nicola asked.

"I ran into another trainer at one point," Will said. "We had a battle together."

"You did?" Richard sounded surprised. "Who won?"

"I did, of course!" Will grinned.

"Nice work!" James patted him on the back. "I guess all that training is starting to sink in!"

"What kind of pokémon did he have? Was he tough?" Nicola asked.

"Hmm." Will pondered for a second. "Well, I guess you'll find out if we ever meet him again!"

* * *

 **So, not quite the 'relaxed, post-gym battle' chapter, but a move away from the other three protagonists nonetheless.**

 **Will has been overdue some development and, after several missed opportunities in recent chapters, I finally decided to centre a chapter around him. No new captures or moves, but a better look at his motivation (and potentially a rival for the future?).**

 **Anyway, I'd better get to work on the next chapter. As ever, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Astonish and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Growl, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	28. An Iron Will and an Iron Pokémon

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Will confront a trainer named Geoff in battle as the group pushed out into the heart of Dewford Island.**

 **Upload Date: 30** **th** **August 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 28: An Iron Will and an Iron Pokémon**

 _Granite Town, Hoenn_

 _6:49pm, 28_ _th_ _April 2006_

There was a cold breeze blowing along the valley. Combined with the dull grey clouds covering the sky and blocking out the sun, it had been a more miserable day than the previous two. Though the walking had helped keep them warm, there was no real escape from the biting edge to the wind.

Fortunately, the route they'd taken had been mostly quite sheltered, so the breeze blowing in from the open sea hadn't bothered them as often as it could have done. Even with the sun, they'd quickly learned that the western coast was much cooler than the mainland-facing, sheltered eastern coast.

They were getting close to their destination anyway, so they had few reasons left to complain.

Nestled at the end of a valley and built around the mouth of a river was the small settlement of Granite Town. It was only a short walk down into the town, nothing that they needed to worry about.

"What's the plan when we get there?" Will asked as they continued walking.

"Yeah, we ended up getting here a lot later than we planned…" Richard sighed.

The road had been tougher than they'd thought. Of course it had taken them longer to get here than they'd expected.

The fact that Zaggy had ended up angering the local wildlife had contributed too. By the time the group had managed to fend off the rather large number of wild pokémon suddenly descending on them in pursuit of the zigzagoon, they'd lost even more time.

"I've already said that I'm sorry," Nicola sighed.

"No one blames you, Nicola," said James. "You can't keep an eye on Zaggy _all_ the time."

"I just hope this place is worth it." Will glanced down at the town.

After reaching Dewford Island's western coast the previous day, they'd been keen to find out what kind of things they could do on this side of the island. Fortunately, the pokémon centre had been full of interesting leaflets and the staff had been more than happy to give their recommendations as well.

They'd settled on Granite Town, a small settlement located to the north, on the shore of the large bay that almost cut Dewford Island in two. Though the town itself was supposed to be a rather quiet and uneventful place, there was apparently a large cave nearby that was supposed to be popular with rock enthusiasts.

Not that this was of particular interest to the group, but it seemed like something that would be a fun way to spend a day. The possibility of spending some time training was tempting as well.

"We'll head to the pokémon centre first," James said as they walked along the main street down towards the sea.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "Not much point heading out to the cave when it's this late."

"Do we know where it is?" Will asked. "I didn't see anything that looked like Granite Cave on the walk in here."

"We can ask at the pokémon centre, right?" Nicola said. "And we'll have plenty of time to find it when we get up tomorrow."

"Yeah, we don't have to be too panicked about doing things." James nodded. "I know that Nicola and I have to train for our rematches, but we're kind of on a break at the same time."

"I guess we should really start thinking about dinner!" Richard grinned. "It's starting to get late, isn't it?"

"I'm sure that the pokémon centre will have something," Nicola said cheerfully. "I wonder if there'll be many other people here…"

"You think that no one lives in Granite Town?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"I mean other travellers." Nicola huffed.

"It's still early in the season, but I guess there could be some," James replied thoughtfully.

"That probably only matters if you want to spend lots of time training," said Will. "In a way, it would be better for the cave to be empty."

* * *

 _Granite Cave, Hoenn_

 _11:58am, 29_ _th_ _April 2006_

Up one of the valleys leading away from the Granite Town lay the darkened entrance of so-called Granite Cave. This was the supposed treasure trove of rare rocks and stones of all kinds, the place that drew collectors from all over the region. It really didn't seem as impressive as they'd been expecting.

Still, there was an allure to the mystery of the cave, even if the place appeared to be lit with electric lights inside. All four of them seemed relatively excited at the prospect of exploring it and seeing what they could find.

"Is there a plan?" Will asked as they all put on the hard hats they'd been given at the small shack that functioned as a visitor centre.

"There's a main route in the cave," James replied. "It should be quite easy to see."

"Is there lighting all through the cave?" Nicola asked the man in the shack.

"It's a little darker on the lower levels," the man replied. "But you'd probably be able to see. If you're worried, you can rent some torches as well…"

"Nah, we're fine thanks," said Richard. They'd already had to pay to enter the cave and borrow the hard hats. He didn't want to fork out for a torch as well.

They started walking into the cave entrance.

It immediately felt very cold now that they were inside. The sun may have been hidden behind the clouds, but they had still been able to feel its warmth.

"It's going to be tough if we're in here for too long." Nicola shuddered, rubbing her arms. "Where do we need to go to find stones?"

"Depends on what kind of stones you're looking for," Richard replied with a grin. He picked up a dull grey rock from the ground. "How's this?"

"Very funny." Nicola frowned at him.

"There'll probably be something somewhere," James said vaguely, scanning the walls as they walked.

The cave network was actually a lot more complex than they'd originally thought. So many passages were well-lit that it wasn't always completely clear which direction they needed to go in. As they walked, they occasionally ran into other visitors who were exploring the caves, but it didn't take them that long to find themselves on their own again. It really wasn't all that busy at this early stage of the league season.

Better still, they were starting to see some interesting-looking rocks embedded in the walls, virtually all of them looked too deeply stuck for them to get out with the limited tools they had with them.

"There seems to be quite a few down here," Richard said as they walked down another passage. It seemed a little darker than the ones they'd been in before, but they could still see clearly.

"Watch your step!" James warned them regardless. The ground was more uneven down here. The air was much colder and, in a way, tenser as well.

Nicola became much more conscious of her own footsteps as they all fell silent. She glanced around at the glittering stones in the walls. They might be able to dig out some of these.

James seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Shall we try and get one of these out?" he asked, turning to the others.

"I don't mind," Will replied.

"Hang on." Richard reached into his bag and pulled out a small mallet. Normally used for hammering in their tent pegs, it was the best they had to help remove stones.

Fortunately, they'd had a chisel as well. That would make the job easier.

As Richard started hammering and chiselling away the rock around the stone, the loud noises echoed around the passage. Nicola winced and shielded her ears. She hoped it wouldn't take them long to dig it out.

At that moment, however, she suddenly became aware of an increasingly loud noise from above them. Looking up, she could just about see something shifting around. It looked more like a mass of branches in the darkness of the tunnel roof were swaying in the wind than anything else.

Recognising the noises as cries, she pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it upwards.

" _Zubat, the bat pokémon. Zubat avoid sunlight because exposure causes them to become unhealthy. During the daytime, they stay in caves or under the eaves of old houses, sleeping while hanging upside down. They have no eyes and must instead rely on their ultrasonic cries for echo location to flit about in darkness._ "

"This isn't good." James grimaced as he looked up as well.

"Are zubat a problem?" Nicola asked nervously as she put her Pokédex away.

"Well…" James began.

At that moment, the zubat suddenly let out an ear-splitting screech and started swarming. The four trainers let out a shout as the colony descended on them, shrieking and batting at them with their wings.

"Run for it!" Richard shouted over the noise.

The four of them quickly raced off, running as fast as they could and winding their way through the passages in an attempt to throw their pursuers.

* * *

 _12:31pm, 29_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Use Uproar!" James shouted.

Muro quickly let out a loud shout, the soundwave travelling along and echoing off the sides of the passage. The zubat scattered, pained by the sudden attack. They emitted their own supersonic waves, but Muro stood firm, not bothered by the ear-splitting sound in the slightest. He let out another shout, causing more zubat to flinch and start to retreat.

"Great work, James, Muro!" Richard grinned at them as he panted to regain his breath.

"Try copying what they're doing!" James called to Muro. "See if you can make a sound like theirs!"

Muro nodded and started altering the pitch of his shouts. He gradually grew higher, causing the remaining zubat to wince in pain. They started flying in odd directions, as if disoriented and unsure where they were going. A couple crashed into the walls before eventually turning to flee.

James and Muro let out sighs of relief as the last of them vanished from sight.

"Great work!" James grinned, reaching down to pat the whismur on the head. "Not every pokémon had hold up that well against a colony of zubat."

Muro cried happily in response, clearly pleased with the praise.

"Still, I'm surprised." Richard stepped forwards to join them. "That was Supersonic, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "I figured that Muro was probably capable of using a sound-based move like that. Looks like I was proved right!"

"You won't hear me arguing," Richard replied. "I'm surprised he was able to pick it up so quickly though."

"It's not a particularly complicated move," James replied, reaching down to let Muro hop up onto his shoulder. "He just had to get the pitch right. I'm looking forward to using it in the future."

"It'll definitely be useful," Richard agreed. "Still," he began as he looked around. "It looks like we've got a problem."

"Yeah." James nodded.

Nicola and Will were nowhere to be seen. Had they run a different way in all the chaos?

"What do we do now?" Richard asked. "Go looking for them?"

"We can't really do anything else," James replied. "We need to keep moving though – if they've run away from the zubat, then they won't be in that direction."

"Sounds good to me," said Richard. "We can look for stones while we walk."

"I don't particularly mind that." James shrugged as the two of them started walking.

This part of the cave looked even more desolate than where they'd encountered the zubat. James was quick to pull out his torch and shone it at the ceiling to keep an eye out for any other colonies they might run into. They didn't want to repeat this whole process again.

"Any idea where we are?" Richard asked.

"Roughly," James said, pulling out his map of Granite Cave. Even in all the chaos, he'd been keeping an eye out for markers, so he knew which path they were on. How far along it, however, was anyone's guess.

The others didn't have a map, but James knew that he didn't have to worry _too_ much. There were a number of rangers who mounted regular patrols through the cave network to look for anyone who was lost. Even if they had no idea where they were, someone would eventually find them.

"Ah! Up ahead!" Richard suddenly cried.

"What is it?" James asked.

"It looks like there's some kind of gem stone up ahead!" Richard ran forwards. Sure enough, there was a watery blue gem stone jutting out of the wall.

"Oh? Looks impressive." James nodded as he walked up to join him. "You going to dig it out?"

"Hey, we paid good money to come here," Richard replied. "Of course I don't want to leave empty-handed." He pulled out the hammer and chisel and started carefully chipping away at the rock around the gem. After a short while, he paused to give it a tug. Still no movement.

"I guess you're going to need to dig further back," said James, observing him.

"Got it." Richard returned to hammering, the chink of each hit echoing along the passage. Finally, he struck at the rock above the gem stone and caused it to crumble. The gem stone suddenly fell forwards.

James quickly caught it before it could hit the ground. Sighing with relief, he handed it over to Richard.

"Thanks." Richard took the stone and peered closely at it.

"What do you think it is?" James asked.

"No idea," Richard replied. "But it feels kind of important when you look at it, doesn't it?"

"Yeah…"

The two of them suddenly jumped as they head an angry growl from around a corner. A shadow appeared from out of sight. Something was approaching them. And it didn't sound happy.

* * *

 _12:38pm, 29_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Use Quick Attack!" Will shouted.

Turkey cried out as he swung around and charged towards the pursuing zubat. He slammed into one, then a second and a third, sending the whole pile flying back and crashing into the passage wall.

"Now use Peck!" Will yelled, noticing another group approaching.

Turkey halted his previous attack and spun around to face the new threat. His eyes narrowing in determination, he flew towards the new group at high speed. His beak glowed bright white as he slammed into the first one and cast it aside. With a second blow, he'd scattered most of the group.

The remaining ones pulled back and started emitting loud soundwaves that echoed painfully off the walls of the tunnel. Turkey was disoriented by the intense sound and misjudged his position on his return, veering too close to the wall and clipping it.

"Go, Kipa!" Nicola called as Turkey crashed to the ground.

The mudkip burst out of the poké ball and adopted an aggressive stance. While Turkey started picking himself up, he prepared to face the zubat descending towards them.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa quickly fired a blast of water into the air, only for the zubat to all swerve and avoid it. As they descended closer, he prepared for impact.

"Use Bide!" Nicola cried at the last moment.

Kipa shouted in acknowledgement, hunkering down and focusing on absorbing the damage. The zubat swarmed over him, sinking their fangs in to drain his energy. He endured for what felt like an eternity before suddenly knocking all of them back with a powerful counter attack.

"We'll take it from here!" Will called.

Turkey was back up and had had a chance to regain his senses. He looked to Will for directions.

"Use Quick Attack!"

The taillow raced forwards, slamming into each zubat in turn and knocking them back. Appearing to have had enough, the zubat started retreating down the tunnel the way they'd come. As their high-pitched shrieks and the frantic flapping of their wings died down, silence fell around Will and Nicola.

"Teamwork!" Nicola grinned, holding up her hand.

"Yeah." Will slapped her palm. "Nice work holding off the zubat while Turkey recovered – we really needed that."

"No problem," Nicola replied. "I think Kipa and I were able to use Bide quite well this time. That'll be handy for if we fight any fast opponents in the future."

At that moment, they jumped at the sound of footsteps behind them. One of the rangers patrolling the passages had appeared.

"Sorry to startle you!" she called. "I heard the commotion and came running. Are you both alright?"

"I think so," Nicola replied. She looked around. "…We might be a little bit lost though."

"Don't worry, I can show you the way out," the ranger replied. "Follow me."

Will and Nicola recalled their pokémon to their poké balls and started walking after the ranger.

"Have you seen any sign of anyone else?" Nicola asked. "We got separated from our friends when the zubat attacked…"

"I haven't seen anyone other than you two," the ranger replied. "But we check all the passages fairly regularly, so we'll find them sooner or later. You don't have to worry about them."

"That's a relief," Nicola sighed.

"By the way." The ranger turned to look at Will. "How long have you been training that taillow?"

"About half a month," Will replied. "Why?"

"He seemed like quite the tough fighter," the ranger replied. "Though I guess that's true of all taillow!"

"We train with gym challengers," Will explained. "We've picked up a lot from that."

"I see." The ranger nodded. "You know, there's a man living in Granite Town who calls himself the 'Ironmaster'. He's constantly looking out for trainers and pokémon with promise. If you want to improve as a trainer, then you should swing by and see him once we get out of the cave."

"Sounds interesting," Will replied. "Where can I find this 'Ironmaster'?"

"He lives in a small house in the centre of town, close to the pokémon centre," the ranger replied. "If you get lost, then you can just ask anyone – everyone in this town knows who the Ironmaster is."

"I'll do that." Will nodded. He glanced at Nicola. "You coming too?"

"I suppose it'll be more interesting than hanging around waiting for James and Richard!" Nicola replied.

* * *

 _12:40pm, 29_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Huh?"

James and Richard stared in disbelief at the pokémon that emerged from around the corner of the tunnel. Expecting a large, intimidating pokémon, they were taken completely by surprise by the pokémon's small stature. It certainly didn't look like the kind of creature that they needed to fear.

Still, on closer examination, the pokémon's white body looked as though it was covered in rock or metal. It could probably do more damage than expected if they took it lightly. It moved slowly for now, but it looked as if it could move faster if it wanted to. It seemed like it was being territorial – they must have accidentally stumbled into its territory.

"What is it?" Richard asked as he pulled his Pokédex out.

" _Aron, the iron armour pokémon. These pokémon have bodies of steel. To make its body, an aron feeds on iron ore that it digs from mountains. Occasionally, they cause major trouble by eating bridges and rails. With one all-out charge, these pokémon can demolish even a heavy dump truck._ "

"Sounds like it could be a problem," said James. They were in a bit of a difficult situation. They could try and retreat and risk running into the zubat again, or face the aron and risk being hit by one of its tackles.

"I'll handle this," Richard assured him, stepping forwards and pulling out a poké ball. "Go, Dish!"

The lotad cried out as she burst from the ball and landed on the ground. She fixed her new opponent with a fierce glare.

"Use Absorb!" Richard quickly called, not wanting to give the aron an opening.

Dish was quick to react, firing a green beam of energy at the aron. She scored a direct hit, causing the aron to cry out in pain. He lowered his head and charged straight at Dish. He slammed into her and sent her flying back with the force of the impact.

"Hold on, Dish!" Richard called. "Use Growl!"

Dish skidded to a halt and turned back to face the aron. She growled in an attempt to intimidate him. However, the aron was quick to react and started charging forwards against, this time with one of his front claws becoming more metallic than the other.

"Watch out! He's using Metal Claw!" James warned Richard.

"Got it!" Richard nodded. "Use Astonish!" he called to Dish.

Dish suddenly sprang forwards, surprising the aron and causing him to temporarily lose focus. Dish struck him, but it was clear that she hadn't done much damage. As she pulled back, the aron started further stiffening the armour that covered his body. It was going to be tough to get anywhere using physical attacks.

"Alright, try using Absorb again!" Richard yelled.

Dish immediately fired a green beam of energy at the aron, who managed to just about dodge to the side at the last moment. Dish, however, reacted to the shift even quicker and altered the direction of the attack. The aron cried out in pain as he was hit.

"Now use Nature Power!" Richard shouted.

Dish glowed briefly with a green aura before suddenly gathering together a black ball of shadows. The aron let out a startled yelp as she fired it, scoring a direct hit and sending him flying back. There was a loud crash as he impacted with the passage wall, gouging a sizeable hole in it.

"Now Absorb!" Richard ordered.

Dish fired another green beam towards the aron as he struggled to get back up. It was a direct hit.

"We're clear," James sighed in relief as the aron slumped forwards.

"Yeah." Richard reached for an empty poké ball and threw it at the prone aron. It whirled through the air before finally striking its target.

"You're catching it?" James asked as the aron was sucked inside.

"It seemed like a bit of a waste otherwise," Richard replied with a shrug. The ball dropped to the ground and started rolling around. "Besides, I like the look of this one. He seems quite tough."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," James replied. "He only landed one attack on Dish, but it was pretty powerful."

Dish cried out in agreement.

The ball finally stopped rolling and clicked. The aron had been caught.

"Phew!" Richard let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't want to have to keep fighting after all that!"

"Got any ideas for names?" James asked as his companion walked over to pick up the poké ball.

"Keep it simple," Richard replied. "I was thinking 'Arro'."

"Sure, why not." James nodded.

"Anyway, nice to meet you, Arro!" Richard called out his new pokémon.

Arro materialised and gave himself a shake. As Richard crouched down to speak, the aron suddenly spun around and slammed into his leg.

"Richard!" James cried in surprise.

"Oww!" Richard yelped in pain as he fell on his back. Arro continued butting his head against Richard's leg aggressively, growling as he did.

"Are you sure you want to keep him?" James asked as Richard held up the poké ball and recalled Arro.

"Eh." Richard shrugged as he pulled himself back to his feet. "I'll just have to work on getting him to trust me." He smiled at the aron in the poké ball, who turned his head away dismissively.

"It'll be a challenge," said James.

"A challenge is nice sometimes," Richard replied with a grin. He recalled Dish to her poké ball. "Anyway, let's get back to Granite Town so we can meet up with Nicola and Will and find out what kind of stone I dug up!"

"You going to need a hand?" James asked, noticing that Richard was limping slightly.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Richard replied. "It just goes to show how tough my new pokémon truly is!"

"Make sure you don't get too badly hurt trying to train him…"

* * *

 _Granite Town, Hoenn_

 _1:17pm, 29_ _th_ _April 2006_

"Is this the place?" Nicola asked. She and Will were stood in front of a small house facing up the road they'd walked down from Granite Cave.

"I think so," Will replied. "I guess there's only one way to find out." He stepped forwards and knocked sharply on the door.

The two of them waited patiently for a few seconds before someone appeared on the other side of the door.

"Can I help you?" An old man with a tired look on his face slid open the door to face them.

"Ah, umm," Nicola stuttered.

"Are you the one they call the 'Ironmaster'?" Will asked boldly.

"They're still calling me that, huh?" The old man rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Yeah, that'll be me. How can I help?"

Will and Nicola looked at each other.

"One of the rangers said that I should come and see you," Will explained. "Something about you looking out for trainers and pokémon with promise?"

"Ooh, have you got a pokémon that might benefit from my training?" The Ironmaster's eyes lit up. "Come inside. Show me."

Nicola and Will followed him inside and walked through to a room at the back of the house. It looked like a training dojo. It was deceptively large.

"I have two pokémon with me at the moment," Will explained, releasing Toya and Turkey from their poké balls.

"Say no more." The Ironmaster leaned in to examine the two. "Hmm, yes. This taillow could certainly benefit from my training."

"What sort of things does your training involve?" Nicola asked.

"I've been in this area for a long time," the Ironmaster replied. "Over that time, I've learned all about steel type attacks. This taillow is capable of learning one… if you're willing to pay the price."

"How much?" Will asked.

"1,500 Poké."

"Deal."

"A wise decision. I'll teach your taillow how to use the move 'Steel Wing'."

Nicola watched the exchange with bemusement. She was surprised by how quickly Will had agreed to part with his money, but she guessed that he was just that keen to improve as much as possible. She had to admit that she was kind of curious as well.

"Focus your energy into your wings," the Ironmaster said to Turkey. "Imagine them not as feathers, flesh and bones, but as iron swords for striking your opponents."

Turkey turned his head to one side, seemingly confused. Then he gave a cry and a nod. He spread his wings and closed his eyes. Nicola, Will and Toya watched and waited with bated breath.

After about fifteen seconds, there was still nothing happening.

"Try stiffening up your muscles as much as possible," the Ironmaster said. "And don't worry – this is a tough attack to master."

Turkey nodded and closed his eyes to focus again. This time, they started seeing some progress. Once he'd stiffened his wings, they suddenly became much more rigid, as if they were fixed in place.

This part of the training continued for what felt like a long time. After a while, Nicola and Will had gone to sit by the side of the dojo while they watched. There wasn't an awful lot that Will could do to help anyway.

"I hope this is worth it," Nicola whispered to him.

"The ranger wouldn't have spoken about him if he wasn't the real deal," Will replied quietly. "And it does look like Turkey is making progress."

Indeed, Turkey's wings were growing harder once he locked them in place. He seemed almost at peace with himself as he stood, eyes closed and wings spread. He must have been focusing very hard.

"Ah!" Nicola suddenly cried as she spotted a glint on Turkey's wings. They had suddenly taken on a metallic sheen.

However, her cry had disturbed the taillow's concentration. The metal texture vanished and his wings went limp again.

"You're almost there." The Ironmaster nodded approvingly. He pointed at an iron pole sticking out of the ground at one end of the dojo. "Try striking that pole with your new attack."

Turkey seemed hesitant and threw a glance over at Will.

"Don't worry!" Will called reassuringly. "You just have to focus like you've been doing. I'm sure you can manage it!"

Turkey nodded and focused his attention on the pole. He took off and gained height. Hovering for a couple of seconds, he took aim. Extending his wings and focusing, he dove down towards his target. His wings stared to turn to steel as he approached it.

At the last moment, however, his concentration broke and the metal faded. He veered away from the pole before he could strike it.

"That was good for a first attempt." The Ironmaster nodded. "I've taught you all that you need." He turned to Will. "Now it's down to you to practise with him until he finishes mastering Steel Wing."

"Thanks," Will replied. "We'll do our best."

Turkey flew back to land on Will's shoulder as the Ironmaster showed him and Nicola to the door. As they stepped outside, they noticed James and Richard walking down the street in their direction.

"Oh! Nicola, Will!" James called as he spotted them. "You guys got out alright then?"

"Yeah!" Nicola called back. "We were just talking to someone."

"He taught Turkey how to use a new move," Will explained. "Steel Wing. But we still need to practise it some more."

"Sounds impressive," Richard said. He looked around. "I don't suppose you found out where we need to go to get stones appraised, do you?"

"You found something?" Nicola asked.

"Two things!" Richard grinned. He held up the blue gem stone and Arro's poké ball.

"You caught a new pokémon?" Nicola cried.

"His name's Arro," Richard replied. "…But we're not quite on good terms yet."

"We need to go this way." James interrupted them to point down the street. "I remember seeing an appraisers' on the way up here."

The four of them walked down the road until they reached the shop James had seen earlier. Stepping inside, they were immediately greeted by the appraiser.

"How can I help you today?"

"I found this while exploring Granite Cave…" Richard handed over the blue stone.

"Ah." The appraiser picked up the stone and briefly examined it. "This is a water stone."

"A water stone?" Nicola seemed confused.

"That's an evolution stone, isn't it?" said James.

"That's right." The appraiser nodded and handed the water stone back to Richard. "If you give this to certain pokémon, then they'll evolve into a new form."

"Really?!" Nicola exclaimed. "I've heard of evolution, but I've never seen it before! And this stone can cause it?"

"Yeah. They're still a bit mysterious, but it's been suggested that they contain energy that some pokémon need in order to evolve."

"I don't think we have any pokémon that can evolve using a water stone though," James added. "Pikachu like Kacha can use thunder stones to evolve, but we don't have one of those…"

"It's still a valuable item though," the appraiser said, turning to Richard. "If you don't want to keep it, then I'd be happy to give you a good price for it."

"That's fine, thanks," Richard replied. "I'd kind of like to keep it as a memento."

"Perfectly understandable," the appraiser replied.

"Thanks for telling us what it is," James said as the four of them turned to leave.

"My pleasure! Take care out there!"

The four of them stepped out of the shop.

"What next?" James asked.

"Back to the pokémon centre?" Richard suggested.

"I think we're all a bit worn out after today," Nicola sighed.

"It's lunchtime anyway, so it's a good opportunity to stop," said Will.

"Let's get moving then!" James grinned, leading the way back towards the pokémon centre.

* * *

 **Surprise!**

 **I'm on holiday for a week starting tomorrow in the desolate wifi wasteland that is North Cornwall, so I wasn't able to upload this on Sunday. So, I decided to give it to you early instead.**

 **So, I wanted to look at Granite Cave somewhat this chapter, though I probably could have gone into more detail had I wanted to. Developments for three of our trainers this time – Muro and Turkey have both learned new attacks, while Richard has captured a new pokémon. I tried to be relatively balanced between all of the main characters this time, but inevitably some get pushed to the side as others take more of the centre stage. I guess, ultimately, the judgement is yours!**

 **Anyway, I'm planning to work on Chapter 8 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **while I'm away and it should hopefully be up on either next Thursday or Friday.** _ **Hoenn**_ **updates should resume as normal on the Sunday after that.**

 **As ever, I welcome any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Taillow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing (in progress), Double Team and Quick Attack.


	29. Race to the Sea!

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 29 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group reach Granite Cave, where Richard was able to dig out a water stone and caught a wild aron who he nicknamed 'Arro'. Meanwhile, Will met a man called the 'Ironmaster', who taught Turkey how to use the move Steel Wing.**

 **Upload Date: 21** **st** **September 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 29: Race to the Sea!**

 _Dewford Island, Hoenn_

 _12:49pm, 1_ _st_ _May 2006_

"…I don't suppose they'll want to stop sometime soon?"

"Yeah, it's starting to irritate me as well."

Nicola and Richard both sighed as they sat on a log by the side of the road.

"Use Peck!" Will shouted.

Turkey called out confidently as he gained height. He dove down towards his opponent, his beak glowing white.

"Keep your distance and use Supersonic!" James called.

Nulin nodded and, with a powerful flap of his wings, propelled himself back. However, a sudden gust of wind caught him before he could start his attack. Turkey was buffeted, but managed to remain on course. He slammed into the wingull and knocked him down to the ground.

"Alright!" Will grinned. "Nice hit, Turkey!"

"Not so fast!" James also grinned. "We're not done yet!"

Nulin cried out defiantly as he pulled himself up again and took off.

While Nicola had quickly learnt that spontaneous battles between her companions were just something that happened from time to time, she wished they could have chosen a better time and place. The narrow road leading along the side of a forested valley meant that they were technically blocking the route. It would be so embarrassing if someone were to come along…

To top it off, it was raining. James and Will didn't seem to mind, but Nicola and Richard were getting colder as they sat by the side of the road.

Nicola let out another sigh. After their foray into Granite Cave, they'd decided to head down towards the southern tip of the island before following it round until they were back in Dewford Town. That was fine by itself, but it had meant that they'd spent most of the previous day backtracking along the coast.

Now that they were finally on an unfamiliar path again, Nicola was keen to keep moving…

"Water Gun!" James yelled.

Nulin fired a jet of water towards Turkey, scoring a direct hit and sending him flying back.

"It was a mistake to challenge me in this weather!" James grinned. "Don't you know that water type attacks are more powerful when it's raining?"

"…I'll keep that in mind," Will replied. He nodded at Turkey. "Use Steel Wing!"

Turkey nodded resolutely. Focusing himself, he extended his wings and dove towards Nulin. His wings suddenly turned to steel as he approached. Yet, at the crucial moment, his concentration faltered and his wings returned to normal.

"Water Gun!" James called.

Nulin cried out and fired another jet of water upwards. Turkey was struck directly and blasted back. As he tumbled from the water, he dropped down and crashed to the ground.

"Well, it was a nice try, Will!" James called. "But you've still got a long way to go!"

"I'll get you eventually," Will replied, recalling Turkey to his poké ball. "You put up a good fight, Turkey."

"I think you're starting to get close with Steel Wing," said Richard, standing up and walking over to join them.

"Yeah, you put in a lot of effort training him yesterday!" Nicola added as she jumped to her feet as well.

Will certainly had spent a lot of time the previous day focusing on Turkey's new move. Though they hadn't really stopped except to have lunch, he'd had Turkey flying alongside them, practising using Steel Wing on the trees they passed. It had been an inventive way to keep working while on the move.

"Yeah, but it's still not enough," Will replied. "We'll have to work on it some more later."

"I don't think you need to push yourself that hard." Nicola frowned. "After all, you not challenging the gyms."

"It seems that you don't understand, Nicola," Richard said, shaking his head. "Even though he isn't challenging gyms, Will wants to get stronger just as much as we do."

"Exactly." Will nodded. "I'm not travelling with you so that I can fall even further behind."

"I see…"

Why didn't he just challenge the gyms then?

"Anyway, sorry for holding us up," James said, patting Nulin on the head as he landed on his shoulder. "Shall we get moving again?"

"Sure." Richard glanced at the sky. "It doesn't look like the weather is going to improve, so the sooner we get to the next town, the better."

"I wish there was a more direct route," Nicola sighed as they started walking again.

There was no road that ran directly along the coast and it had seemed easier to stick to the one they'd been following. This, unfortunately, meant that they had ended up heading inland. They had finally reached a turn in the road not long before James and Will had had their battle and were now on their way back towards the sea, but still…

"The forest here really is thick, isn't it?" Richard said as he glanced around.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

Exactly. According to the map, they'd have needed to find their way through the forest and over a mountain to get to the next town. It probably would have taken longer to have gone that way. That's what James had said and it was what Nicola was trying to convince herself.

After walking for a short while longer, they found themselves approaching a wider area. To the right of the road, there was a flat stretch of grass nestled into the side of the valley.

Not only that, but there was something there as well.

The banner reading 'The Race to the Sea' was the most immediately obvious, while a small covered stand that stood below it. An old pickup truck sat to one side. As the four trainers reached the site, they noticed that there was someone there as well.

"Oh?" A man stood by the stand noticed them. "Hey, kids! You're on your way to Enivra Town? Take care – the roads can get slippery in the rain!"

"Thanks for the warning," Richard replied. He looked around at the stand. "What exactly are you doing out here?"

"This?" The man glanced at the banner. "This is normally the starting point for the 'Race to the Sea', but today…"

"What's the 'Race to the Sea'?" James asked.

"Do you really need to ask?" Will raised an eyebrow.

"The name _is_ pretty self-explanatory," the man added. "But essentially, we host a small-scale race here throughout the league season. Teams of one trainer and their flying type pokémon race each other down the valley to Kotsu Town on the coast."

"How far is that?" Richard glanced at both the man and James.

"About 5km," James replied.

"Isn't that quite far?"

"It isn't a challenge for the faint-hearted." The man grinned at them.

"Is that the only appeal?" Nicola asked sceptically.

"Why else would you do it?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Just for fun?" Will suggested.

"We usually have rare poké balls to give as prizes to the winners," the man explained.

"So, is it not running today?" Nicola asked, looking around. "I don't see anyone getting ready to race…"

"On a day like today, we tend not to run it," the man explained. "Not as many people are willing to come out in the rain."

"That's kind of a shame," James sighed. "It sounds interesting."

"You mean you're chickening out because of a bit of rain?" Will asked, shooting a smirk at his brother.

"…Is that a challenge?"

"It might be…"

"Do the two of you both have flying type pokémon?" the man asked.

"It just so happens that we do." James gestured to Nulin perched on his shoulder, while Will pulled out Turkey's poké ball.

"Well, we can't have an official race in these conditions," the man said. "But if you want to race each other, then I can monitor the start and get my colleague in Kotsu Town to wait for you at the finish line."

"I thought he told us that the road gets slippery in the rain?" Nicola muttered to Richard.

"Yeah, I heard it to." Richard nodded cynically.

"Sounds good to me," Will replied, throwing down the gauntlet.

"Same here." James nodded.

"Oh, and just to make it clear," the man said. "There's normally a small fee to enter the race. I won't charge you, since it's an unofficial race, but in exchange, there won't be a prize waiting at the end. Is that okay?"

"Beating James will be a good enough prize," Will replied.

"Oh? You sound pretty confident today?" James grinned. "Didn't that battle earlier end badly for you?"

"Different kind of competition, James, different type of competition," Will said, shaking his head.

"I'll set things up with my colleague in Kotsu Town," the man said. "In the meantime, how about you start warming up and getting your pokémon ready to fly?"

"Got it!" James and Will nodded.

"…What are we going to do?" Richard wondered aloud.

"We aren't racing," Nicola replied firmly. "It's a bad enough day without getting sweaty for no reason."

"I wasn't going to suggest it," Richard said with a grin. "Someone needs to carry the bags after all!"

* * *

 _1:03pm, 1_ _st_ _May 2006_

"So, you guys are clear on the rules?"

"I think so!"

"Repeat them to me!"

James and Will glanced at each other. Now that they were warmed up and ready to go, they didn't really want to be hanging around. Still, it was good to double check that they understood.

"We follow this road straight down until we reach Kotsu Town," James replied.

"Both pokémon and trainer have to finish the race." Will continued. "But the pokémon's time is worth more than the trainer's."

"And no fighting," James added.

"That's right!" The man nodded.

He, James and Will were stood in the middle of the road, facing in the direction of the coast. The weather was still poor and it felt like the wind might be picking up slightly. It probably wouldn't have any effect on the trainers, who would be running through the forested valley, but the pokémon would be flying straight through it. It would get tougher the longer they left it before starting.

Over by the side of the road, Richard and Nicola were stood holding all of the bags between them.

"Remind me why we have to do this again?" Nicola asked bitterly, not impressed by her extra load.

"I _did_ offer to take both bags," Richard replied. "You're the one who insisted on helping."

"Come on, there's no way you could make it all the way down to Kotsu Town with three of the bags!" Nicola exclaimed. "You don't want to hurt yourself!"

"Which was a fair point." Richard nodded. "It was still your decision to take one of them."

"…We just have to follow this road, right?" Nicola changed the subject. "There's no risk of us going wrong, right?"

"That's right." Richard nodded. "We'll be fine – it's them that I'm worried about."

Now that James, Will, Nulin and Turkey had finished warming up, they were waiting on the starting line impatiently to start.

"Here." The man offered a small armband to each of them, green ones for James and Nulin, blue ones for Will and Turkey. "You'll need to give those to my colleague in Kotsu Town. Make sure you don't lose them."

"Got it!" James and Will both nodded.

"Same to you two!" The man looked up at Nulin and Turkey. The wingull had the armband clasped firmly in his beak, while Turkey was holding his in his talons. Both pokémon were perched on their trainers' shoulder, waiting for the order to start.

"Alright!" The man stepped back. "On your marks!"

James and Will both prepared themselves.

"Get set!"

Both trainer and pokémon tensed themselves up, poised to begin.

"Go!"

With a shout, James and Will immediately started running. Nulin and Turkey both took off and soared up into the air before flying in the direction of the coast.

Richard and Nicola watched as their companions started racing down the road. After a short while, they turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

"Are you two sure that you don't want to compete?" the man asked as he walked back in the direction of the stand.

"We don't have any flying pokémon," Richard replied.

"I see." The man nodded. "Well, if you just follow the road, it'll lead you down to the finish line. You can meet up with your friends there."

"Got it!" Richard nodded. "See you!"

He and Nicola started walking down the road.

"It's going to be a long walk, isn't it?" Nicola sighed.

"It would feel like a longer run," Richard replied.

* * *

 _1:17pm, 1_ _st_ _May 2006_

"They're… moving… much… faster… than us!" James gasped as he and Will jogged along the road as it ran along the side of the mountain. Foliage clung to both the slope higher than them and the one below the road. It made them enclosed on the ground, though they were hardly under cover.

The sky was clearly visible, and both trainers could see Nulin and Turkey struggling against the wind further ahead. The pokémon had a shorter route since they didn't need to follow the road. But that also meant that they were more exposed to the elements.

By this stage, both were too far ahead for James and Will to really be able to tell what was happening, but it seemed to James that Nulin was the one who was coming off worst. Still, he was flying faster than he and Will were jogging.

"Don't… waste… your… energy… on talking!" Will responded to him, shooting a glance at him. He was slightly ahead of James now, but both of them were trying to conserve energy after their hasty start. As long as he kept a burst of energy back for later, James should have no problem overtaking him again.

It had been over ten minutes since they'd started and they were already starting to feel tired. Yet there was no sign of the sea and the pokémon seemed to be making no effort to descend. That probably meant that they had a long way to go before they reached the finish line.

Gritting his teeth, James focused on trying to regulate his breathing. A cold gust of wind suddenly blew past. Though the coolness was a relief to the runners, the wind blowing in their faces made it suddenly that little bit harder to advance. Their pace slowed as it passed, before picking up again afterwards.

Both of them were soaked, mainly due to the rain. The strain of running was keeping them warm, as was the adrenaline, but that would only do so much. James was looking forward to having a warm shower once this was over.

* * *

Up in the sky, Nulin struggled forwards as another gust of wind blew past. Glancing below, he could just pick out James and Will moving along an open part of the road. Their pace seemed painfully slow to him, but then so did his own.

Nulin's wings were built for gliding – without the wind on his side, it was harder than for most other flying pokémon. Though his wing span was about the same as Turkey's, the taillow was able to stay ahead. There wasn't much in it though – he could still catch up if he tried harder.

Narrowing his eyes, Nulin flapped his wings with renewed determination. Though the conditions were bad, he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

Ahead, Turkey threw a glance back over his shoulder at his opponent. Though he was winning the race in the air, he was aware of the continuing aches and pains left over from his earlier battle with Nulin. The wingull probably thought that he was at a disadvantage, but Turkey was struggling just as much as he was.

As the only two flying type pokémon between James, Richard, Nicola and Will, he and Nulin were used to training together and competing against each other. Their time together had created a bond, perhaps even friendship, yet both considered the other a rival at the same time. Just as James and Will were competing in this race, so too were Nulin and Turkey, for themselves as much as for their trainers.

Turkey grimaced as a particularly strong gust of wind suddenly blew past. It caught his wing badly and he wobbled. He suddenly dropped, his wing folding down from the force of the gust. Reacting quickly, he tucked in his other wing and rolled before extending them again.

From above, he heard Nulin cry out to him, muffled by the armband in his beak. Though the wingull was fighting with the wind himself, there was a hint of concern in his eyes.

Turkey smirked. He didn't need Nulin to worry about him.

With a powerful flap of his wings, he regained his height and tried to pull away from Nulin. The wingull wasn't prepared to let him get away that easily though. He grinned fiercely as he flapped his wings more intensively.

Unlike their trainers, the two flying types could see the grey sea in the distance and their target, a small town, resting just by it. They both tried to pick up as much speed as they could against the wind.

Neither pokémon wanted to lose. Their pride wouldn't allow it.

* * *

 _1:21pm, 1_ _st_ _May 2006_

"Whoa!"

Nicola let out a cry as she suddenly felt her left foot slip out from under her. Before she could fall, she felt Richard grab her arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he pulled her back.

"I'm fine." Nicola nodded. "Thanks."

The road hadn't been as bad as they'd originally thought. This was the first time that one of them had slipped. Still, it was a strong reminder that they needed to keep alert and tread carefully.

There was no sign of James and Will, nor of Nulin and Turkey. That didn't surprise Nicola – they were walking normally while they were racing – but it was still somewhat disappointing. It meant that they still had a long way to go.

"Who do you think will win the race?" she asked, looking for something to distract herself.

"James will probably win on the ground," Richard replied. "He's got longer legs."

"And the pokémon?"

"No clue. I've seen both of them fly really fast before."

"And if you had to give an answer?"

"How about you give yours before asking mine?"

"My answer?" Nicola frowned as she thought. "Well, Nulin looks like he could glide more easily. Turkey would need to flap his wings more and get tired quicker."

"Sounds like James has this in the bag then!" Richard grinned. "But Will and Turkey could surprise us!"

"The air race is worth more than the ground race, right?"

"Yeah. If Turkey beats Nulin then he and Will will win."

"Isn't there anything James can do?"

"Well, if he beats Will by enough, then he could make up the difference for Nulin, but I think that would be a struggle."

Nicola shuddered as a gust of cold wind blew past, splattering the two of them with rain.

"I'm glad that I'm not racing…"

"I don't know," Richard sighed. "It would keep us warm, and we wouldn't have to carry our bags either!"

"Think about how bad it would be at the end though…" Nicola grimaced. "I'd be cold, wet, sweaty… there's a pokémon centre in this town, right?"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "I had a look at the map before we set off."

"That's good."

The two of them continued walking in silence for a while, steeling themselves against the wind and rain and thinking about their companions further down the road.

Now that Nicola thought about it, she really needed to get to work on seriously training for her rematch with Brawly. She hadn't been doing nothing since the battle, but she hadn't spent as much time training as the other three. Perhaps there'd be an opportunity to have a serious training session the following day…

She glanced at Richard. Though he didn't need to battle Brawly again, he was still just as dedicated to training as her and James. She supposed that he was already thinking about the next gym. She needed to learn from his example.

"It must be nice to do something like this alongside your pokémon," Richard said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, working together to achieve something that isn't battling."

"Ah, I guess." Nicola nodded.

"I wonder if doing something like this would help me bond with Arro," Richard sighed. He glanced down in the direction of the poké balls attached to his waist, currently hidden away beneath the bottom of his hoodie.

Ah, of course.

Arro had been causing problems for Richard ever since he'd first caught him. They'd attempted to have an all-pokémon training session the previous day, but the aron had spent most of it chasing his trainer around. It was difficult to think of how he could win it to his side.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to keep working at it!" Richard grinned. "I'm sure he'll warm up to me eventually!"

"I hope so too," Nicola mumbled.

The aron was heavy and his body was coated in steel – his tackles could do quite a bit of damage to Richard. Nicola suspected that this was part of why he'd decided not to take part in the race. His legs were still weak after the punishment they took yesterday.

"Anyway, we need to focus on getting down to Kotsu Town ourselves!" Richard said cheerfully, his tone out of place as he braced against another gust of wind.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

* * *

 _Kotsu Town, Hoenn_

 _1:39pm, 1_ _st_ _May 2006_

"Oh?"

A young man stood by a stand on the outskirts of Kotsu Town suddenly noticed two specks appear in the sky overhead. He narrowed his eyes and held up his hand to focus his vision.

Sure enough, a taillow and a wingull were hurtling down through the air. They both held armbands in their talon and beak respectively.

Turkey risked a glance back as he dove towards the ground. Nulin was still behind him and, though he was gaining speed as he dropped, he seemed exhausted. As long as he could maintain his speed…

The taillow tucked his wings in as tightly as possible. He sped up as the ground rapidly approached. He spotted the finish point of the race and started to direct himself towards it.

A cry from behind him told him that Nulin was close, but he no longer had the luxury of being able to look back. He had to focus everything on his landing.

"Whoa!" The man let out a cry of surprise as the two pokémon raced down towards him. In a split second, the taillow landed on the desk in front of him, thudding as he landed slightly more heavily than he'd intended. He offered the arm band clasped in his talon.

Scarcely a few seconds later, the wingull landed next to him. Clearly disappointed at arriving second, he nonetheless offered the arm band in his beak.

"Well done on getting here in this weather!" The man grinned at them as he took their arm bands. "Looks you won the air race." He nodded at Turkey. "I wonder which trainer will win the ground race."

Both flying types let out long sighs and grinned at each other. One way or another, it had been a great race.

Oddly, Turkey felt as though he was bursting with energy. His heart rate had picked up and he suddenly felt tense.

Nulin had turned to look back towards the road the others would be coming in from. Turkey started turning to do the same when his body suddenly started to glow a bright white colour…

* * *

Only the sounds of the weather and their trainers scrunching on the ground accompanied James and Will as they raced along the road into Kotsu Town. A small river ran to their right, while farmland lay on their left. Fortunately, there was no one outside today to watch them as they raced towards their goal.

Finally spotting the big banner proclaiming the end of the Race to the Sea, James and Will put all their remaining energy into a final sprint. They veered off the road and across the grass field that hosted the finishing point.

James reached the desk just before Will and slammed his arm band down.

"I did it!" he gasped as Will threw his down.

"It's not just our race that matters," Will replied, panting to regain his breath. "Where are Turkey and Nulin?"

"About that…" The man cast a guilty look over to a crate by the side of his stand.

Nulin was perched on top of it, looking pretty worn out after the race. Next to him was an unfamiliar bird pokémon with an uncanny resemblance to Turkey. Much larger, he dwarfed Nulin, while he sported two long tail feathers instead of one short one.

"Is that…" Will began.

The two pokémon spotted James and Will and immediately flew over to them, crying out happily.

"The taillow evolved not long after arriving here," the man explained as the new pokémon perched himself on Will's shoulder, a smug look on his face.

"So, this is Turkey?" Will grinned.

Turkey nodded at him.

"He looks much more impressive now," said James, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Swellow, the swallow pokémon and the evolved form of taillow. Swellow are very conscientious about the upkeep of their glossy wings. Once two swellow are gathered, they diligently take care of cleaning each other's wings. A swellow dives upon prey from far above. They never miss their targets. They take to the skies in search of lands with a warm climate._ "

"So, who won the race?" Will asked.

"It was very close, for both races," the man replied with a grin. "Your taillow arrived at the finish line just before the wingull, and you were just behind wingull's trainer."

"Well, we already know that the real winner is you, Will!" James laughed.

"The taillow's victory takes priority over the ground race in this case, so yes." The man nodded.

"Whew!" Will grinned. "Looks like we got you back for this morning!"

"I concede defeat," James sighed. He smiled at Nulin. "You put up a great fight up there, I'm sure of it!"

"What now then?" Will asked. "How long do you think it'll take the others to get here?"

"Probably not that long," James replied. "They'll come here, so we should probably wait for them."

* * *

After about ten minutes or so, Richard and Nicola finally appeared and crossed the field to meet up with them.

"Thanks for carrying the bags," James said as he took his bag back. "It must have been a tough walk."

"It wasn't too bad," Richard replied.

"Thanks, Nicola." Will took his bag back from Nicola.

"You can repay me by carrying my bag tomorrow," Nicola replied.

"…I'll think about it."

"So, who won the-" Richard suddenly noticed the swellow on Will's shoulder. "Whoa! Turkey evolved?!"

"Yeah, he evolved just after he won the race!" Will said proudly. "Looks like we're getting stronger too, huh?"

Turkey nodded eagerly in agreement.

"Wow! I've never seen a pokémon evolve before." Nicola stepped forward to look more closely at Turkey. "He looks different, but you can still tell that he's the same pokémon."

"He looks much stronger." Richard nodded. He pulled out his own Pokédex to scan him.

"I thought that pokémon evolved through battling though." Nicola frowned. "I thought that they weren't allowed to attack each other during the race."

"Evolution is kind of a complicated process," James explained. "In a way, it was battle to fight through this weather."

"Ah, I see." Nicola nodded. "But then, why didn't Nulin evolve as well?"

"Different pokémon evolve at different rates," Richard replied. "Our pokémon have been through more intense battles, but they haven't evolved yet. Turkey has mostly just fought practice battles, but has evolved."

"Does that mean that I'm doing something wrong?" Nicola asked in concern.

"No, you're doing fine." James smiled reassuringly at her. "Your pokémon will evolve when they're ready. And they can still be strong even if they don't."

"I heard a theory that pokémon react to the trainer's determination," Richard added. "I guess you're pretty determined to get stronger, even though you aren't challenging the gyms, Will!"

"That's right." Will nodded.

"As interesting as this conversation is, can we save it for when we're inside?" Nicola asked, shuddering in the cold.

"Ah, sure!" James nodded.

"Do you remember the way to the pokémon centre, Richard?"

"Of course!" Richard replied indignantly. "I wasn't about to forget!"

"Just checking!" James laughed.

Will shared a grin with Turkey before starting to follow the other three towards the pokémon centre.

It had been an exhausting day, but he somehow felt more driven than ever.

* * *

 **So, the first evolution of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **.**

 **This chapter has been somewhat haphazardly put together over the course of two days (I got distracted over the weekend and the first half of this week, for which I apologise), so it may need to be revisited later. Hopefully, this chapter does enough to reintroduce the basic concept at least.**

 **Anyway, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing (in progress), Double Team and Quick Attack.


	30. Giants of the Ocean

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James and Will and Nulin and Turkey compete in a race down one of Dewford Island's many valleys, with Turkey evolving into a swellow as a result.**

 **Upload Date: 27** **th** **September 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 30: Giants of the Ocean**

 _Dewford Island, Hoenn_

 _12:42pm, 2_ _nd_ _May 2006_

"I'm sure this route will be faster."

"Hmm. I'm not so sure. It doesn't really cut off much from the journey."

"But it gets us down into town quicker."

"Yeah, but not the part of town that we need. I still think it's best to take the south route."

"But a smaller road like that…"

Richard yawned as he listened to James and Nicola debating their route towards the next town. Since they'd stopped for lunch anyway, there was no harm in him enjoying the sunshine while they had their discussion. Still, he was surprised by how much Nicola had picked up on map reading while they'd been travelling. It wasn't always an easy task and Richard had never felt able to argue with map reader, either now or the previous year.

Turning his attention away from James and Nicola, he glanced over at the patch of grass on the far side of the road. Will and Turkey were busy practising using Steel Wing, the air occasionally being pierced by the sound of slashing.

His evolution into a swellow had given him more confidence and he'd been making great progress in training ever since. The added strength of his now-larger frame helped as well. Richard thought that he was on the verge of a breakthrough with it.

While all this was going on, the remaining pokémon were keeping themselves entertained. Charka and Mushy had taken a cue from Richard and were flaked out enjoying the sunshine. Unlike Richard, however, they had a reason to rest up – both had been training hard earlier in the day. Mushy looked particularly worn out.

Kacha, Muro and Zaggy were racing around, chasing each other in a wild game. Richard was keeping one eye on them just in case someone came along the road. It was a game that seemed rather one-sided though – Kacha was easily the fastest of the three, while Zaggy was constantly weaving from side to side as he was momentarily distracted by things he caught sight of by the side of the road. Muro was trying his best, but his little legs weren't up to the task of keeping pace with his four-legged friends.

Toya, Kipa and Dish had all found a small pool of water just behind the trees and were busy splashing around in it. Nulin was watching them from above, perched on the branch of a nearby tree. He'd been down there with them for a short while, but had almost been crushed when Toya nearly fell on him. He now seemed a bit put out as he turned his beak skywards. The remaining water types paid him no attention.

Meanwhile, Naro, Chena and Arro were playfighting together not far from where Will and Turkey were practising. Richard felt as though the aron was starting to warm up to him (if only slightly), but he'd been relieved that he seemed to get along perfectly well with his team mates. Naro liked having a sparring partner who was capable of enduring many of his hits, while Chena appeared to admire the steel-rock type's determination and aggressive battle style.

Richard let out a sigh. He should be glad that the aron now only attacked him if he tried to give him an order, rather than any time he was let out of his poké ball, like before. But he still wished that they could quickly reach the point where they could fight together properly.

"Shouldn't we get moving?" Will had stopped training with Turkey and walked over to James and Nicola. "We've been stopped for quite a while now."

"Ah, let's get Will's opinion!" Nicola quickly turned to him. "Which way do you think would be better? This road through the forest, or this one through the centre of the valley?" She pointed at two lines on the map in James' guidebook.

"This one is slightly longer, but gets us straight to where we need to go," James explained. "This one is shorter, but doesn't take us directly there."

"They never asked me for my opinion," Richard muttered.

"Hmm." Will pondered for a couple of seconds. He pulled out a coin. "Heads is the valley, tails is the forest."

"Huh?" James and Nicola both looked at him as he flipped it.

The coin spun through the air before landing in Will's palm. He quickly slammed it onto the back of his other hand.

"Tails."

"That's a relief!" James grinned. "I guess that decides it!"

"Will, you traitor!" Nicola moaned.

"Don't blame me – it was all down to luck!" Will protested.

"I guess we're heading off again." Richard pulled himself to his feet. "Guys, back in your poké balls!"

The pokémon all scurried over as the trainers pulled out their poké balls. Including one who immediately dove at Richard.

"I'm just trying to put you back in the ball! I'm not giving you an order!" he yelped as he jumped to the side to avoid Arro's tackle. He continued running as the aron changed direction.

"I wonder if he and Arro will ever get along?" Nicola sighed as they watched the two of them jumping and running around.

"One day, perhaps," James replied vaguely.

"Well, whatever." Will recalled Toya and Turkey to their poké balls. "Let's get moving."

* * *

 _Enivra Town, Hoenn_

 _1:18pm, 2_ _nd_ _May 2006_

Most of the settlements that dotted the coast of Dewford Island were small, some barely even worthy of a pokémon centre. The only really major settlement on the island was Dewford Town itself.

But probably the closest contender on the southern part of island was Enivra Town. About half the size of Dewford Town, it was still tiny in comparison to some of the other places they'd visited in Hoenn so far. But the tightly packed streets had much more in common with Dewford Town than with the sparser ones they'd passed through on the way here.

"So, what do you want to do?" Richard asked as they walked along one of the streets in the direction of the pokémon centre.

"Is there anything to do in Enivra Town?" Will added.

"Good question," James replied, scanning the guidebook.

"It's still quite early," Nicola sighed. "Do you think we should try and cover more ground?"

"Nah." Richard shook his head. "We've made some good progress. I think we've earned the rest of the day off!"

"We've done quite a bit of training as well." James nodded. "And if there's any place on Dewford Island to take the day off, then I think it'd be here."

"Not Dewford Town?"

"…Okay, Dewford Town would probably be the best, but you know what I mean!"

"So, what does the guidebook say?" Nicola asked.

"It doesn't really say that much at all," James sighed. "The section on Dewford Island talks mostly about Dewford Town itself, Granite Cave and the north of the island. It doesn't go into much detail about the south."

"I guess most people would just visit Dewford Town," said Richard. "And maybe Granite Cave."

"Yeah." James nodded. "It's always really inconvenient when someone writing a guide decides that somewhere 'isn't worth' writing about."

"Well, let's get to the pokémon centre first," said Will. "We're going to be staying the night here, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then we can work out what we're going to do after that. We can probably find someone who can give us some ideas."

"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Richard replied.

"I don't know though," Nicola said as she looked around. "I'm starting to think that this town might just be that sleepy…"

She had a point.

Though Enivra Town was larger than the other towns they'd passed, that didn't mean that it automatically had more to see. After all, they weren't on the Hoenn mainland – this town was far off the beaten track for most pokémon trainers. There probably wasn't any need for attractions for them.

Still, James refused to believe that the town had absolutely nothing to offer. Even if it was only a sandy beach for them to laze on.

"I guess we can just laze around in our rooms if we need to," Will said. "That's kind of nice every now and again."

"Or in the trainers' lounge," Richard added with a nod.

"Don't sound like you're giving up!" James cried. "We can head out after this and explore the town – I'm sure there'll be something!"

"Sure, got it." Richard nodded.

"Don't worry, James," Nicola said reassuringly. "I'll come with you even if these two aren't!"

* * *

 _1:46pm, 2_ _nd_ _May 2006_

In the end, they decided not to ask at the reception desk in the pokémon centre and went straight back out to explore the town.

"Even if we don't find anything, it'll be fun just exploring," Richard had said.

That was true, in a way, and James didn't dislike the idea. He'd quickly worked out that the coast was mainly rocky and that there wasn't going to be a nice sandy beach for them to lay on anyway.

At the same time, exploring a small town didn't take that long. There only really one place of interest besides the pokémon centre and the local Poké Mart, and that was the port.

Although, perhaps 'port' was too generous a term.

Really, it was just a small harbour which the local fishermen used. The quay looked pretty full at the moment. Most, if not all, of the fishing boats must be in at the moment. The sight of them calmly and peacefully resting in port really gave the place a gentle atmosphere.

"Well, this is the port," said Will. "Anything you feel like doing?"

"I kind of feel like I could just sit here and paint the scene," Nicola sighed.

"You can paint?" James, Richard and Will asked, almost in unison.

"A-Ah, no!" Nicola quickly replied, shaking her head. "I just meant it gives me that kind of feeling."

"I think I know what you mean," James said.

"Yeah, it feels peaceful, doesn't it?" Richard added.

The four of them lapsed into silence for a couple of seconds.

"Hey! We didn't come here just to stare at boats!" Will frowned. "If we haven't got anything else to do, then should we head back to the pokémon centre and do some training?"

"Not more training!" Nicola groaned.

"Hang on! We haven't explored the town yet!" Richard cried.

"Let's just keep moving for now," James said, taking command of the situation.

The four of them continued walking along the seafront until they reached the foot of the quay.

"What's that?"

They stopped as Nicola suddenly spoke. She was pointing at a nearby sign.

"Some kind of boat trip?" Richard stepped closer to have a look at it.

"What's a 'wailord watching trip'?" Will asked.

"Must be where you go out and look for one of these." Richard pointed to a cartoon picture of a large, blue and white whale on the sign. For some reason, it seemed oddly familiar to James.

"How much does it cost?" Nicola asked, stepping alongside Richard to get a better look.

"500 poké per person," Richard replied as she scanned the sign.

"That's not too much, is it?"

"I think… Did we pay that much to get into the Safari Zone back in Fuchsia City?" Richard turned to James.

"It was a long time ago," James sighed. "I can't remember." He looked at Nicola. "So, do you want to do this, Nicola?"

"Sure, why not!" Nicola nodded. "It seems like a shame not to go out to sea when it looks this calm!"

"I'm okay with it as well," said Will.

"Let's go and see if we can get tickets then."

* * *

 _2:03pm, 2_ _nd_ _May 2006_

As it turned out, the wailord watching trips were what Enivra Town was most famous for. A more detailed glance through the guidebook had finally led them to a page further on that had given more details on both them and Enivra Town itself.

They only ran once a day, but they'd been fortunate enough to arrive in time. After buying their tickets, they had taken their seats on the boat and waited for departure. The weather was still calm and pleasant as they left the dock and moved out of the harbour.

"Do you know anything about wailord, Nicola?" Richard asked.

"I've never even heard of them before," Nicola replied. "I've only been living in Hoenn for a few months, remember."

"I guess we can use our Pokédexes to find out more when we see them," said Will.

"We can rely on the Pokédex. It's a machine after all," James sighed, nursing his wounded pride after the mix-up with the guidebook.

"How long do you think it'll take to find them?" Richard asked, turning his attention to one of the crew members.

"There are usually several pods of wailord in the area at this time of year," he replied. "But they're huge pokémon, so we need to get further out to sea before we'll be able to see them. Wouldn't you say, Captain?"

"Aye!" The boat's captain, an old man with a bushy grey beard, nodded. "I've been watchin' the wailord for years now. I know exactly where they'll be!"

"Well, I'm glad that the weather's nice," Nicola said, turning to look back out to sea.

Now that they'd left port, the sea had become slightly choppier, but the wind was still quite gentle. The sunlight glittered off the water's surface as they sped easily further out. They'd already lost sight of Enivra Town, though they were still in sight of Dewford Island itself.

"You say that wailord are huge pokémon," James began. "How big are they exactly?"

"Well, you have to see it yourself," the crew member replied with a grin. "But they're pretty big."

"Bigger than this boat?"

"Definitely."

"…And you said that there'll be a whole group of them?"

"That's right!"

James shared a brief, worried glance with the others. "Isn't there a chance that they could hit the boat?"

"That's why I'm here, my boy!" The captain grinned. "I know how to navigate around the wailord pods."

"Wailord are mostly docile anyway," the crew member added. "There's no way that they'd deliberately attack the boat."

James supposed that they must be confident in the safety of the trip, otherwise they wouldn't have kept it running for years. Still, it was surprising that there weren't more people on the trip given how popular the guidebook suggested it was.

"It's always like this early in the season," the crew member explained when James asked about it. "Younger kids are still in school and trainers are usually still on the mainland. Our peak months are over the summer, once everyone has started taking summer breaks."

"Ah, that makes sense." James nodded.

Thinking about it, if they were among the few who came to Dewford Island this early in the season, where were all the other trainers in Hoenn heading at the moment? Obviously, there'd be people heading in all directions, but James couldn't help but wonder which was the 'most popular' route at the moment.

Not that it really mattered to them. He liked travelling away from the crowds anyway.

"Ah!" Nicola suddenly let out a cry. She pointed further out to sea. "Did you see that?"

"What was it?" Richard asked, following her finger.

"I think I saw a splash over there!"

Just as James was about to speak, there was suddenly another splash. They briefly caught sight of something blue just poking above the surface before disappearing again.

"We've found 'em!" The captain grinned, steering the boat in that direction.

As they got close, they spotted more splashes. More of the wailord were coming to the surface, perhaps in curiosity about the approaching vessel. One of them surfaced completely, one eye watching the boat with mild interest.

Nicola could only gape at how large it was – easily larger than the boat they were riding on. Its skin was as blue as the sea, while its side and tail fins rested on the waterline. It opened its enormous mouth to let out a yawn before starting to sink back into the water.

"Pokédex, Pokédex." Will quickly pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

" _Wailord, the float whale pokémon and the evolved form of wailmer. Wailord are the largest of all currently identified pokémon. These giant pokémon swims languorously in the vast open sea, eating massive amounts of food at once with their enormous mouth. When chasing prey, wailord herd them by leaping out of the water and making a humongous splash. It is breathtaking to see these pokémon leaping out of the sea with others in their pod. They breathe through nostrils that they rais above the sea. By inhaling to their maximum capacity, wailord can dive close to 10,000 feet beneath the waves._ "

"What an impressive pokémon," Richard gasped as he watched more wailord breach the surface and then disappear again.

"Could I even catch one?" Will wondered aloud.

"Apparently, there are people out there who train wailord," the crew member explained. "But, given their size, they're difficult to take care of. And you would certainly need to live by the sea!"

"I don't think I could handle that," Nicola sighed.

"Can we touch them?" one of the other passengers asked the crew member.

"This particular pod are quite friendly, so that shouldn't be a problem," the crew member replied.

"Is that so..?" Nicola hesitated for a second before reaching out her hand towards a wailord that had just surfaced nearby. She flinched as she brushed her fingertips against the rubbery surface of its skin.

The wailord didn't seem to react. Perhaps it was so large that it could scarcely feel more than a tickle.

"Ah, look!" Richard cried, pointing.

The others looked around.

There was a loud splash as one of the wailord suddenly leapt out of the water. It spun in the air before crashing back into the sea, sending water flying everywhere.

"Ugh!" Nicola groaned as water hammered down on the deck.

"Whew! What a sight!" Richard grinned, watching as another wailord started to jump. "Hmm? You okay, James?"

"Huh?" James had been staring at the wailord and suddenly snapped back to reality as he heard Richard calling to him. "I'm fine."

"You were spacing out!" Richard grinned. "Admiring the wailord?"

"Ah, I guess." James frowned. "I kind of feel like I've seen this before."

"Huh? Really?" Nicola joined the conversation. "You've seen a wailord before?"

"When you were younger?" Richard asked.

"If he did, then it wasn't with me," Will said.

"No, it was more recent," James sighed. "Ah! I remember! I think I saw something like this when we were at Cerulean Cape last year!"

"Really? At Cerulean Cape?" Richard didn't look convinced. "But I don't remember seeing it."

"It was only me and Livvi at the time," James replied. "It was quite a long way away, but I think it looked a lot like this."

The wailord finally started swimming away from the boat, its occupants soaked from the splashes, but full of excitement. As soon as the wailord were clear, the captain fired up the engine and turned back for Enivra Town.

* * *

 _7:43pm, 2_ _nd_ _May 2006_

"You know, I'm actually pretty happy with how today went."

"Yeah, same!"

It had been a lazy afternoon. After showering and changing clothes, James, Richard and Will had spent the rest of their time lazing in their room, exchanging thoughts on strategies and doing some planning for their next stop after returning to Dewford Town.

Now, they were sat around a table in the pokémon centre's restaurant. They were still waiting for Nicola to appear, their stomachs growling in protest at the delay.

"You said that there wasn't really anything else that we'll be able to do before we get back to Dewford Town, right?" Will asked.

"Yeah." James nodded. "If we follow the coastal route, then there's just a handful of small villages between here and Dewford Town. It'll just be training for rematches from now on."

"Well, we couldn't play around forever!" Richard grinned.

"We've hardly 'played around' at all!" James replied sharply, snapping his guidebook shut. "We're either walking or we're training."

"Well, that's the life of a pokémon trainer, right?" Will grinned.

"Can't argue with that!" Richard sat back in his chair and glanced in the direction of the door to the lobby. "Oh! She's here!" He waved as he spotted Nicola appear in the doorway. She made her way over to join them.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," she said.

"No problem," James replied. "Shall we head up and get some food?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Richard grinned. He and Will jumped up and set off towards the food counter.

James was about to follow them when he felt Nicola tug on his sleeve.

"I spotted this earlier. I didn't know if you'd be interested…"

"What is it?" James took the piece of paper Nicola was holding out for him. "Contest taster session?"

"Yeah." Nicola nodded shyly. "It seems there a place in one of the villages between here and Dewford Town that gives people a chance to try competing under contest conditions to see if they like it. I was wondering if you wanted to go along together?"

"Sure, why not." James nodded, handing the paper back to her. "It seemed pretty interesting when we saw that one back in Tanero Town."

"That's a relief," Nicola sighed. "I'm not sure I could have gone by myself!" She laughed nervously. "You don't think the others will mind, do you?"

"It's not like they've got anything they need to get to," James replied. "They'll be fine."

"That's good." Nicola smiled. She turned to look in the direction of the food counter. "A-Anyway, let's go and get some food! I'm starving!"

"Right behind you!" James grinned.

* * *

 **Just 100 chapters to go until we reach the end of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **! :P**

 **So, a more relaxed filler chapter this time. With hindsight, I probably could have combined what I had for this chapter with something else, but whatever. Hopefully, it was still enjoyable.**

 **Anyway, having put off the contest scene for long enough, it's time for James and Nicola to try their hands at it. You'll have that to look forward to next chapter.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Horn Attack, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing (in progress), Double Team and Quick Attack.


	31. The Path of the Coordinator

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 31 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group stop off in Enivra Town to go on a wailord watching trip. Afterwards, Nicola found out about a contest taster session that was being held in a nearby town…**

 **Upload Date: 2** **nd** **October 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 31: The Path of the Coordinator**

 _Dewford Island, Hoenn_

 _12:04pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

The southern tip of Dewford Island was mountainous and forested, much like the rest of the island. The main road leading along the coast wound its way along mountainsides and atop cliffs, leading to some pretty spectacular views of the sea if the trees parted for long enough.

The path dipped down low every time it reached another village nestled in a valley by a cove in the rocky coast, which was more often than expected. The constant walking down and then up hills was exhausting work. It definitely made the idea of being able to fly more appealing.

Normally, Richard was used to this kind of travelling, but James and Nicola had been putting everyone through a particularly tough schedule today. Their target, a small settlement named Serian Town, was apparently only a short distance down the coast. The other two had insisted that they attempt to make it all the way there in one go, no stops. As it turned out, the route was longer and more demanding than they'd been expecting. But the other two had kept them pressing on regardless.

"Are we almost there?" he rasped as they emerged from yet another tunnel through the mountainside and back into the light. The road stretched out before them before vanishing around a corner.

"Serian Town is the next town we'll come to," James replied. He'd been saying that since they'd left the last village over half-an-hour ago.

"Just one final effort! We're almost there!" Nicola called. She was trying to sound enthusiastic, but it was clear that she was as worn out as the rest of them.

"And we can't rest because..?" Will frowned.

"Because we're almost there!" Nicola repeated. It was starting to sound more ominous the more she said it.

"We can stop to catch our breath a bit further along," James said, glancing at the map in his guidebook. "The view should be pretty good as well."

"Well, that's a relief," Richard muttered. He was hungry, but lunch breaks had been forbidden before they got to Serian Town.

They continued walking along the road, enclosed on both sides by foliage. After a short while, the trees blocking the seaward side of the road stopped and they were greeted with a commanding view of the bay below. A couple of dirt paths ran down the hill below them, linking up a handful of rice paddies and fields on the run down to the sea. A smaller headland jutted out to the left of their vision, obscuring the part of the bay that Serian Town looked out on.

Richard had to admit that it was a fantastic view. Just seeing the tree-covered mountains descending to meet the sea was enough to get him excited. That the sun was out and the water looked invitingly cool after the long, hot hike through the mountains was an added bonus.

They all took in the view as they rested, leaning against the fence by the side of the road. After what felt like a short period of time, James pushed himself back from the fence.

"Right, we should get going again!"

"Urgh!" Richard and Will followed his lead.

"Come on, guys!" Nicola called as she moved to the head of the group. "We're almost-"

"We know!"

Any more of this and they were going to lose their minds.

* * *

 _Serian Town, Hoenn_

 _12:37pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

It felt like a long time before they finally started descending towards the next valley. The main road continued on north-east towards Dewford Town – they'd be back here tomorrow, most likely, when they wanted to get moving again. A smaller road weaved its way down the steep slope of the valley side and led them into a small town.

In fact, it really felt like a town in name only.

Apart from a main section of houses by the harbour, the rest of the settlement was made up of a handful of fields and some scattered houses here and there. Everything looked rather old in this town as well. Even the pokémon centre looked as if it could do with some patching up and a new paint job. And that was before they realised that it didn't have automatic doors.

The upside was that it meant that there weren't many other trainers staying there. Getting rooms was quick and easy. James got the feeling that most of the other trainers staying at the centre were probably here for the contest taster session as well.

"Do we know when it starts?" he asked Nicola as the four of them sat together in the trainers' lounge.

"I think it starts at one," Nicola replied, pulling out the flyer she'd brought with them from Enivra Town. "Yeah, one."

"So, we've got twenty minutes," James sighed, glancing at his watch. He felt oddly nervous. He was used to performing in front of people thanks to his participation in the Kanto League last year, but the thought of trying to learn to take part in contests as part of a class of multiple people seemed daunting.

Fortunately, Nicola seemed just as nervous. Her constant fidgeting was giving that away. Perhaps she felt as self-conscious about it as he did.

"So, what are we going to do, Will?" Richard asked, turning to look at the younger trainer.

"Up to you," Will replied. "I figured that you'd want to do some training or something."

"Sounds good to me," Richard replied. "How long will your contest thing last?"

"About three hours, I think," Nicola said, checking the flyer again. "It could be longer, depending on how many performances there are."

"We've got plenty of time then." Richard sat back in the sofa and put his hands behind his head. The rather diminished cushion sank beneath him. It needed re-stuffing.

"How about the two of you explore the town before you train?" James asked. "I'm sure that'll kill a bit of time."

"Yeah, like about ten minutes," Will replied.

"Well, it's still something," said Richard. "It might be tough if we're training for the whole three hours."

"What about us?" Nicola turned to James. "When should we head over?"

"Where is it being held again?"

"In the town hall."

"That's quite close to here. We can probably wait for a while."

"Maybe we should all go out and explore the town together," Richard suggested. "You guys need to kill some time as well, after all!"

"I'm up for that." James nodded, standing up.

"Same here!" Nicola jumped to her feet.

The four of them set off out of the pokémon centre and back into the open air.

* * *

 _12:58pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

The town hall seemed as run down on the outside as the rest of the town. The interior, however, was comparatively more well-kept. The entrance lobby was clean and, while not as sleek as some of the buildings they'd seen on the mainland, there were few signs of wear-and-tear from years of use. It looked like the kind of place that was well-maintained.

Still, James and Nicola felt nervous as they walked across the lobby to the small reception desk located by the far wall. There was something prideful, almost majestic, about the building. Something that made them feel almost like they needed to be on their best behaviour.

"Hello!" The receptionist's cheery smile didn't make them feel any more at ease. "Are you here for the contest taster sessions?"

"Yes." James and Nicola both nodded.

"Okay, can I get you to write your names here?" The receptionist handed them a pad of paper. They quickly added their names to the list of those who'd already arrived and handed it back. "Fantastic! If you head down this corridor and turn left, you'll find the door to the main hall on your right. That's where you need to be."

"Thank you." James and Nicola thanked her before setting off.

They walked down the corridor in silence and eventually found themselves standing outside the hall.

James stepped forwards and pulled the door gingerly open.

"Ah, some more for the contest taster session?"

They were greeted by a young woman stood at one end of the hall. Three other people, all around their age, were sat nearby. All eyes had turned on them the moment they entered the room.

"Come on in!" The woman beckoned to them. "I'm Grace Rhodes, I'll be leading the session."

"Nice to meet you," James replied as he and Nicola walked over to join the other participants, two boys and one girl.

"We'll give it another couple of minutes, and then we'll get started," Grace said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "In the meantime, why don't you all introduce yourselves?"

"Sure." One of the other boys turned to face them. "I'm Ellis Nolan. I'm from Granite Town. Ten years old. I just became a trainer and thought I'd give contests a go. Nice to meet you!"

There was a chorus of 'nice to meet you' from the others.

The second boy now started to speak: "My name's Bradley Jennings. You can just call me Brad for short. I'm twelve years old, from Dewford Town. I've been a trainer for the last two years and wanted to try something new. Nice to meet you all!"

Once again, there was a chorus of 'nice to meet you' as Brad stepped to one side and the girl started to speak.

"Anna Cooke," she said, looking around at the others. "I'm eleven years old and also from Dewford Town. Some of my friends took part in contests last year and were really enthusiastic about it, so I thought I'd give it a try. I hope we'll get along!"

All eyes turned on Nicola, who was next in line.

"I'm Nicola Hewitt," she said nervously. "I'm ten years old and I'm from Littleroot Town. I saw a contest while travelling last month and wanted to find out more about them. It's nice to meet you all."

There was another chorus on 'nice to meet you' as everyone turned their attention on James.

"My name's James Burton," he said. "Eleven years old. I come from Pallet Town in the Kanto region. I'm aiming for the Hoenn League, but contests seemed pretty interesting as well."

"Wow! You've come from such a long way!" Anna gasped. "I didn't think that there'd be anyone here from outside the island, but from another region?"

"They say Kanto's got some really big cities – you can get anything there. Is that true?" Ellis asked.

"My hometown is kind of out of the way," James replied. "But some of the cities are pretty big."

"So, why did you decide to come to Hoenn?" Brad asked. "Get bored in Kanto?"

"Something like that." James nodded.

"Alright, everyone!" Grace called. "Let's not get too distracted!"

At that moment, the door flew open and another girl tore through, panting for breath.

"S-Sorry I'm late!" she cried.

"You're just in time," Grace replied. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Sure!" The girl paused briefly to regain her breath before straightening up and looking at the others. "I'm Ava Bennett, ten years old, I'm from Enivra Town!"

"Nice to meet you," the others all replied.

"Alright, everyone," Grace called. "Shall we get started?"

* * *

 _1:02pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

"So, what do you want to do now?" Richard asked Will.

"Guess we should go and do some training," Will replied.

The two of them were sat on the sea wall, looking back towards the town hall James and Nicola had entered. The four of them had pretty much covered everything they thought Serian Town had to offer during their ten-minute exploration and had parted ways a few minutes before. Now that they had effectively three hours to kill by themselves, Richard and Will were working up the enthusiasm to actually start training.

"What kind of training do you want to do?" Richard asked.

That was a pretty desperate attempt to extend the conversation.

"Practice battle?" Will suggested.

Both of them were worn out after the journey from Enivra Town. It had been easy to talk about heading down to the beach to do some training while the others were at the taster session, but now that they were sat here, still recovering from the walk, it was hard to work up the motivation.

"Well, I guess we've got to start somewhere." Richard pushed himself forwards and dropped down onto the beach, the numerous grey pebbles crunching together under his feet as he landed.

Will jumped down as well. Now they just needed to decide which pokémon to train first…

* * *

 _1:24pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

"Since I'm sure some of you have never heard the procedure and rules for pokémon contests, that seems like a good place to start."

With these words, Grace had started the taster session.

The explanations were relatively quick and James sometimes found it slightly difficult keeping up. From what he gathered, contests consisted of two main rounds – an 'appeals' round and a 'battle' round. A coordinator had to get through both in order to win the contest. To make things trickier, they could only use one pokémon for each round.

The appeals round was always first. The focus here was on using a pokémon's moves and something called its 'condition' to appeal to the crowd and the judges. The more the pokémon was able to show off, the better it would score and the more likely it would be that it moved on to the battle round.

After the appeals round, the top eight coordinators moved up to the battle round, while the rest were eliminated from the competition. This meant that most of the people who entered the contest wouldn't even make it beyond the first hurdle – hardly an encouraging thing to hear!

The battle round consisted of three sets of battles. If they lost, they were eliminated. If they won all three, then they won. This round had seemed the simplest to James so far, but it turned out that these battles were expected to be of a different calibre to the kinds he was used to.

If a coordinator won a contest in a town, then they received that town's contest ribbon, much like defeating gym leaders earned them badges. There was a big, region-wide event called the Grand Festival that coordinators could enter if they managed to win five ribbons from across Hoenn. Apparently, it was quite the spectacle and was far more visually impressive than the league.

"So, what about 'condition'?" Anna asked as Grace reached the end of her explanation.

"Condition is a bit of a difficult concept to explain," Grace replied. She pulled out a poké ball and called out a dustox. Reaching out, she brushed her hand against the dustox's carapace. "Do you see how smooth and sleek Dusty's body is?"

"Now that you mention it…"

There was a sheen to it. It looked more well-taken care of than a regular dustox's body.

"If your pokémon has a high condition, then their body should look a little like this," Grace explained. "You can improve their condition in many ways, including keeping them well-groomed and some types of training. The easiest way, though, is to feed them a special kind of treat that helps their body gain and retain a sheen. That's what I'd recommend to you."

"Oh, I think I've heard about those!" Ava called. "I think they were called 'poffins'..?"

"Poffins are one type," Grace replied. "But they're a speciality in the Sinnoh region. Here in Hoenn, the most common type is the pokéblock."

"So, how do we get these 'pokéblocks'?" Brad asked.

"Most Poké Marts stock them," Grace replied. "But you can also make them yourselves with special berry blenders. They normally have at least a couple in the lobby at contest halls around the region. I know there was a recent petition to have them installed in pokémon centres as well, but I don't know if anything ever came of it…"

"I guess we should look out for some pokéblocks the next time we're at a Poké Mart," Nicola said to James.

"Agreed." James nodded.

"Anyway, enough of my explanation!" Grace nodded at Dusty. "We'll give you a demonstration of an appeal."

Dusty immediately gained height and started spinning while flapping his wings. A wind full of small, silver particles blew up around him, circling him like a tornado. Dustox suddenly flew up out of the vortex and fired a purple beam of psychic energy down into it. There was a burst of purple energy which scattered in all directions. The silver particles glittered in the light, making it seem almost as though there were stars twinkling in the room.

Blasting another gust of wind full of silver particles at the ground, Dusty swept low and spun around again, spinning the particle-laden wind into a low twister. As it spread out from him and drifted up, he suddenly tucked himself in, a pale blue sphere appearing around him. He burst out again just as suddenly, sending the silver wind flying outwards before settling down to the ground again.

The gathered participants immediately applauded.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it!" Grace grinned. "Remember when you're performing that your aim is to make sure that the audience is enjoying themselves as much as possible!" She looked around at them. "Right, how about we get you planning and practising some appeals of your own?"

* * *

"Hold position, Naro!" Richard called.

Naro responded with a shout and a nod. He stood firm as Turkey circled above him. Letting out a cry of his own, the swellow dove down towards his opponent. His beak started glowing white as he got closer.

"Now use Poison Sting!" Richard yelled.

Naro swung his horn at the perfect moment, catching Turkey unawares and knocking him to the side. Losing his balance, he toppled down towards the ground, but managed to save himself just in time.

"Hang in there, Turkey!" Will called. "Use Peck again!"

"Hit them with Horn Attack!" Richard shouted.

With a roar, both pokémon charged at each other. As they approached, both Naro's horn and Turkey's beak started glowing a white colour. At the last moment, Turkey spun to the side, just managing to avoid Naro's attack. He swung about and slammed into Naro's exposed side.

Naro let out a roar of pain and swiped to the side with a wildly aimed punch. Turkey easily avoided it and pulled back to wait for further orders.

"That was a nice hit." Richard nodded with satisfaction. "You're getting good at exploiting openings."

"I really hope that you're deliberately leaving them open to help me practice," Will replied.

"Haha! Yeah, totally!" Richard laughed awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm surprised that you didn't want to keep practising using Steel Wing. From what I saw yesterday, you nearly had it."

"I still want to spend some time working on Steel Wing," Will replied. "But I thought I should save it for when we went up against Arro."

"Up against Arro?" Richard glanced at the poké ball at his waist. "I mean, I guess I could send him out, but won't he just attack me instead?"

"I need to work on Steel Wing," Will said. "And you need to work on getting Arro to listen to you. I figured we could do both at the same time."

"Well…" Richard grimaced. "I guess I've got to brave it sooner or later." He recalled Naro to his poké ball and threw out Arro's.

The aron burst out and landed with a thud on the stony beach. He shot a rather disgruntled look at Richard.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea!" Richard exclaimed quickly.

"Turkey and I are challenging you to a battle, Arro!" Will called. "I hope you're not going to back down on us!"

Arro didn't seem all that impressed by the declaration. Still, the fact that he hadn't immediately tried to tackle Richard was a good sign. Maybe they'd eventually get through to each other after all.

"Use Steel Wing!" Will ordered, deciding to attack anyway.

With a cry, Turkey turned his wings to steel and dove towards Arro. Though the steel weakened as he approached, it remained in place as he slammed into the aron.

Arro grunted in displeasure as the swellow smashed into his forehead. Irked, he kicked some mud into the air, only for Turkey to avoid it easily.

"You need to try using a different move!" Richard called out.

Arro shot him another angry look, but quickly turned his attention back to Turkey.

"I'm starting to think that you might be a bit of a pushover, Arro!" Will grinned. He nodded at Turkey. "Use Steel Wing again!"

Turkey gave a confident nod in response, buoyed by the success of his previous attack. He flew at Arro a second time, striking him along the flank. Arro made an attempt to strike him with one of his claws, but moved far too slow to catch him.

"Arro!" Richard called. "I know that you're not too keen on working together, but can't we at least team up to beat Will and Turkey?"

Arro kept his eyes fixed on Turkey as he listened. He was still angry with Richard, but right now he was more irritated by Will and Turkey's continuous attacks. He knew from the others that they trusted Richard's lead. Perhaps he could tolerate working together with him, just for this battle.

Fixing Richard with a stare that made it clear that this wasn't going to be a friendly alliance, he slowly nodded his head.

* * *

 _2:14pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

"Okay, Nulin, give it a try!" James called.

Nulin gave a cry and jumped into the air. He started rotating around as fast as he could and fired a jet of water.

"Ah!" Nicola yelped in shock as she was suddenly hit by the cold water. "Watch out, James!"

"Sorry!" James cried.

This whole appeal business was tougher than it looked.

James had tried to copy the kind of moves Dusty had used during the demonstration, but Nulin's Water Gun was too powerful and keep extending too far out. He'd already drenched Ava, and now Nicola. He wasn't entirely sure if there was much more he could use though – neither Wing Attack nor Supersonic were particularly visually appealing…

"You've got the same problem as Brad," said Grace, walking over to observe him. "You're both too used to kind of power-based fighting you need to win at gym battles. The moves you use in a contest don't need to be powerful, but do need to be inventive."

"So, we're still putting too much power into our move?" James asked.

"I'd say so." Grace nodded as she studied Nulin. "Okay, try this out." She beckoned for Nulin to take off again. "First, fire a small burst of water into the air."

Nulin nodded. Turning his beak skyward, he shot some water into the air. An amount that small would be scarcely an annoyance if it hit another pokémon in battle.

"Good!" Grace praised him. "Now quickly hit it with a slightly more powerful jet of water!"

Nulin obeyed, firing a second blast of water. It struck the earlier move as the water started dropping back towards the ground. There was a splash upon impact and drops of water and a fine mist settled down around him. The lighting in the room reflected off the water, making it sparkle as it descended.

"Wow!" James gasped.

"Do you see?" Grace smiled. "A move like this is one of the most basic ones, but it's still popular and effective."

"I see." James nodded. "I'd never have thought of using Water Gun twice to do something like that."

"Don't think that your other moves are useless either," Grace said. "Supersonic and Wing Attack, did you say it was?"

"And Growl."

"Hmm. Growl can be used to reinforce appeal. But the others, you could easily use them to break up the initial blast of water instead. Imagine the sight of Nulin breaking through the water with Wing Attack, water flying out behind him and sparkling in the light…"

"Yeah, that sounds good!" James nodded enthusiastically. "I'm going to get back to planning!"

"Great! Keep up the good work!" Grace gave him an approving reply as she turned to look at Nicola.

"Umm…" Nicola mumbled awkwardly.

By her feet, a mud-covered Kipa was stood in a muddy puddle produced by a combination of Mud Slap and Water Gun.

"…" Grace stared for a couple of seconds. "W-Well, I can think of at least one judge who would like something like that!"

"If I'm doing something wrong, please tell me!" Nicola cried.

* * *

"Alright, use Headbutt!" Richard yelled.

Arro raced forwards, lowering his head as he approached Turkey. The swellow quickly swept to one side to avoid the attack and raced around behind him.

"Steel Wing!" Will ordered.

Turkey was quick to react, diving down to strike at Arro's exposed rear.

"Use Harden!" Richard quickly shouted.

Arro nodded and stiffened the steel coating his body. Turkey struck him and sent him flying, but the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Use Metal Claw!" Richard shouted.

Arro leapt back to his feet and spun around to face his opponent. He charged forwards, gaining speed as he raced towards Turkey.

However, the swellow quickly gained height to put himself out of his opponent's reach.

"Use Double Team!" Will ordered.

Turkey cried out and nodded. Suddenly, a whole group of copies of Turkey appeared in the air, all screeching loudly and flying in circles around Arro. The aron watched the circling images as he waited for the real Turkey to make a move.

"Now use Steel Wing!" Will called.

"Use Harden!" Richard yelled to Arro.

Turkey and the copies immediately turned their wings to steel and dove down towards Arro. The aron, still watching carefully, stiffened the armour around his body.

"Now use Metal Claw!" Richard suddenly shouted as the group of copies drew close.

Arro looked momentarily surprised, but reacted quickly. Just as they reached him, he suddenly leapt up into the air and slashed forwards with his steel-coated claw. Several of the copies immediately disappeared as he struck them and, miraculously, he managed to hit the real Turkey with a glancing blow. As he fell backwards with a cry, the remaining doubles vanished from sight. Arro looked quite pleased with himself at finally managing to score a direct hit.

"Now use Headbutt!" Richard called.

Arro was momentarily taken aback. He'd managed to knock the foe back. He hadn't expected to launch another one so quickly. Nonetheless, he started propelling himself forwards as soon as he landed. Turkey had managed to recover, but was still in the process of gaining height as Arro reached him.

"Turkey!" Will cried in alarm as the swellow was thrown back by the second attack.

Turkey was quick to recover and made haste to get back in the air as Arro started forwards for another attack.

"Use Steel Wing!" Will ordered.

Turkey nodded and dove down towards Arro again. Though the aron tried to duck low, Turkey had enough time to adjust course and struck his forehead with his wing. Arro was forced back, while Turkey quickly gained height to get away from any counter attacks.

"Whew!" Richard wiped his forehead. "You've really gotten Steel Wing down perfectly!"

"Thanks," Will replied. "You and Arro have been doing better than I thought you would as well!"

"Thanks for that!" Richard grinned. He nodded at Arro. "You're doing great out there!"

Arro turned his head away dismissively, but got ready for his next order.

* * *

 _3:45pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

"The second part of a pokémon contest is the battle round," Grace had explained once they'd concluded their appeal practices. "Though this is a battle between two pokémon, you need to keep in mind that it's completely different to a regular pokémon battle."

"How so?" Brad had asked.

"For a start, both pokémon have a points bar, which is full at the start of the battle. As you use moves that enhance your appeal and reduce that of your opponent, their health bar will fall," Grace had started drawing a diagram on a nearby flipchart. "The same goes for you if your opponent is appealing or reduces your appeal. Straight up strength isn't really an effective way of winning a contest battle."

"Anything else we need to keep in mind?" Ellis had asked.

"The battles last for five minutes," Grace had replied. "The pokémon with the most points left is the winner. Of course, a pokémon automatically loses if they run out of points, or if they're knocked out."

"So, what's stopping Brad and James from just knocking out their opponents as quick as they can?" Ava had asked.

"People watch contests for the beauty, elegance and skill of the pokémon, coordinators and the moves they use. They wouldn't like watching someone striking their opponent down as quickly and ruthlessly as possible," Grace had said. She'd then given them a knowing smile. "Of course, if you could do that using beautiful and appealing moves, then there'd be no problem…"

However, as James had quickly found, it was far more challenging to try and make strength-based knockouts visually appealing than to focus on making moves appealing in the first place. They'd been fighting constant practice battles since then, rotating around so that they fought different people. The aim, of course, was to try and learn from each other. Grace was hanging back and watching. They could look forward to her concluding remarks once they were finished.

"Hmm." Ava, his current training partner, frowned as she gazed at her surskit. "Hey, James! What do you think of trying to use Bubble Beam to cover the opposing pokémon so that the crowd can't see it?"

"I'm not so sure about that," James replied, a touch of impatience in his voice. Ava had been like this pretty much since they'd started – too much time thinking and not enough time actually testing the ideas. "How about you give it a try?"

"Alright." Ava nodded. "Rita, use Bubble Beam!"

Rita the surskit quickly fired a cluster of bubbles towards Nulin. Unlike in a normal attack, this time she'd taken steps to pack the bubbles as densely as she could. The attack quickly engulfed Nulin and did indeed obscure him from sight.

"Use Wing Attack!" James called.

There was a cry as the bubbles suddenly burst. Nulin swung his wings from side to side, popping each other the bubbles and letting a fine mist settle around him.

"Wow!" Ava gasped. "In the end, it just made you look better…"

"That's what I thought," James sighed. "Still, at least we both know that it's a good idea to try and turn your opponent's attack against them. Do you want to try doing something like that against me?"

"Sure!" Ava nodded eagerly. "But what?"

"You need to think about that!" James grinned. He nodded at Nulin. "Use Water Gun!"

"A-Ah!" Ava cried out in surprise as Nulin started his attack. As the jet of water shot towards Rita, she suddenly called out. "Use Quick Attack! Go up the water!"

Rita nodded. She jumped forwards with a flash of light, landing on the water Nulin was firing and skated elegantly up, so fast that James and Nulin scarcely had a chance to react.

The wingull finally stopped his attack, but Rita was too close. She jumped from the end of the water and slammed into him, knocking him back.

"Whoa!" James gasped. "That was pretty good!"

"I can't believe that worked!" Ava seemed pretty pleased with herself. "Great work, Rita!"

"I'm sure that'd score loads of points in a contest!" James grinned. "Now, how are we going to respond?"

As he was thinking, there was a sudden interruption.

In front of him, Nulin suddenly let out a loud sneeze. He involuntarily expelled a white mist that settled around him and lingered in the air.

"Oh? Was that a new move?" Ava asked.

"Was it?" James was equally confused.

"That's Mist."

The two of them turned to see Grace approaching them.

"What does it do?" James asked. It seemed similar to Charka's Smokescreen, but this was clearly useless for hiding in – it was still obvious where Nulin was.

"Mist is an odd little move that prevents pokémon inside it from getting status effects as long as it's there," Grace explained. "But it's a good move to use in contests, depending on how you use it."

"I'll keep that in mind," James replied.

"So, why don't you give it a try?" Grace asked. "Try making a combination using Mist!"

"Alright." James nodded. If Mist's appeal came from the fact that it was good visually, then he had to come up with a way to exploit it. Perhaps by flying through it while using Wing Attack? That would catch some of the mist and trail it behind Nulin – it would look pretty good if it worked. He quickly explained the plan to Nulin.

The wingull nodded to show that he understood. He fired out another cloud of mist. Dropping down behind it, he flapped his wings and tore forwards. Wings glowing white, he raced through the mist, successfully carrying some of it with him, though the magnificent trail that James had seen in his head didn't materialise.

"Hmm. That was pretty good," Grace said as Nulin slowed down and started hovering. "It doesn't leave much of an impression though…"

"I was trying to gather up some of the mist so that it would trail behind him," James explained.

"It looked kind of good." Ava added her opinion.

"I think it has promise," Grace replied. "If you can find a way to make the mist trail more defined, then it could do well. It might be easier to come up with a solution than you think."

"I'll see what I can come up with," James replied. "Thanks."

Across the arena, there was a sudden stir.

"Whoa! Nice!" Ellis called out.

"I was a little worried for a second, but it looks like it worked!" Nicola grinned.

Kipa, stood in front of her, had just endured several blows from Ellis' zubat. A watery aura had burst forth and encircled his body. It actually looked rather impressive.

Still surrounded by this aura, he charged forwards to launch his counter attack, slamming into the zubat with a powerful blow.

"She let her mudkip take enough damage to trigger Torrent?" Brad mused. He and Anna had stopped to watch Ellis and Nicola's practice battle.

"It looks prettier than I thought it would," Anna added.

Ellis's zubat had recovered from Kipa's counter attack and dove low to strike Kipa again. However, the mudkip quickly fired a jet of water at the ground, propelling himself into the air while forcing the zubat to screech to a halt before he hit it. Once he was stopped, Kipa dove towards him and struck him with a solid tackle.

"Nice one!" Brad called.

"It looks like you've picked up a lot, Nicola," Grace said. "That was a great combination."

"Thanks," Nicola replied, smiling happily. "I was kind of worried after I didn't do so well at the appeals…"

"That's still something that you need to work on," Grace replied. "Remember, you need to pass the appeals' round in order to get to the battle round."

"I'll keep working on it," Nicola said.

"Good." Grace nodded with satisfaction. She glanced at the clock. "Well, it looks like we've more or less reached the end of the session. You've all done really well today, so I hope that you'll start competing in proper contests soon. Thank you all for coming today!"

"Thank you for teaching us!" The six participants all thanked her as well.

"I guess I should start on the way home," Ava sighed as she recalled Rita and started walking towards the door.

"Are you heading back as well, Brad?" Anna asked.

"Nah. I'm staying at the pokémon centre tonight. I'll head back tomorrow morning."

"I'll do the same then."

"Ugh. I need to wait for my mum to come and pick me up," Ellis sighed. "I wish it wasn't so far to Granite Town…"

James and Nicola followed the others out.

"So?" James turned to her. "Thoughts?"

"There's still a lot I don't get." Nicola frowned. "But I feel like I want to keep trying."

"Same here." James nodded. "But I don't think that there are any contests being hosted here on Dewford Island. And we need to focus on our rematches with Brawly after this."

"But we can start looking for contests after that, right?" Nicola asked.

"I don't see why not."

* * *

 _4:23pm, 3_ _rd_ _May 2006_

"Whew! That was a good battle!" Richard grinned tiredly as he and Will walked towards the pokémon centre.

"I can't believe that we ended up dragging it out that long," Will sighed. "You really need to work on Arro's accuracy – once Turkey and I had worked out the best way to dodge you, you could hardly get a hit in!"

"Yeah, there is that," Richard replied. "But we won in the end, didn't we?"

"Only because of your ridiculous defence." Will shrugged. "Still, I guess that means that there's still a lot for me and Turkey to work on."

"Training pokémon is a process that never ends," Richard replied with a grin. "Don't expect things to come easily!"

"I'll keep it in mind." Will nodded. "Anyway, I was kind of surprised that Arro was as willing to listen to your orders as he was."

"So was I!" Richard agreed. "I think he might be starting to warm up to me… slightly."

Arro had been pleased with the win, Richard thought, though he didn't show much gratitude to Richard's directions. He'd returned to his poké ball without making a fuss though, so maybe there was hope yet.

"I wonder how the others got on," Will said as they reached the door.

"Guess you'll have to ask them," Richard replied as he pushed the door open.

They stepped inside and headed over to the reception desk to turn over their tired pokémon.

"If it's just a standard rest and recovery, then they should be ready for you to collect in a couple of hours," the nurse said as she took the poké balls.

"Got it!" Richard nodded. "We'll check back here in a bit."

"You guys are back?"

They looked around to see James and Nicola approaching them from the entrance to the trainers' lounge.

"We couldn't find you anywhere," Nicola said.

They'd found an isolated part of the beach to train on after being told off by some locals earlier in the day. It was no surprise that James and Nicola hadn't been able to find them.

"Sorry about that," Richard replied. "I guess we were pretty focused on our training!"

"I'll say," Will added.

"How was it?" James asked.

Richard and Will quickly explained. About Turkey finally getting the hang of using Steel Wing, about Arro finally being willing to battle alongside Richard (kind of) and about the long battles that they'd ended up fighting.

"It sounds like you've had a really full-on day!" Nicola gasped.

"Anyway, how about you guys?" Richard asked. "How was the taster session?"

"Yeah, it was good!" James nodded. "We're both looking forward to having an opportunity to put what we learned into practice."

"But we've got our rematches with Brawly to worry about first," Nicola replied with a sigh.

"Yeah, there's that." Richard nodded. "Don't worry – I'm there to help you train!"

"Glad to hear it!" James grinned. "But I think we've all had enough for today."

"Yeah, I could use a rest," Will added.

"And we need to be ready for tomorrow," Nicola said. "It's still a long walk to Dewford Town."

"Well, I'm in the mood to just crash." Richard stretched his arms above his head. "We can worry about everything else later!"

* * *

 **So, I did originally intend to get this chapter out yesterday, but it needed a lot more attention than I predicted in the end. On the plus side, I've actually put a lot of thought and effort into the contest taster session itself.** **I've also taken the time to proof read what I've written, so typos and errors should be far less of these this time. Please let me know if there's anything that slipped through the net!**

 **Anyway, we're starting to move towards the end of the Dewford Island arc. It won't be long before James and the others need to start planning where they're going next.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	32. Renewed Vigour! (Part 1)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **After stopping off in Serian Town for a contest taster session last chapter, the group are now on their way back to Dewford Town so that James and Nicola can fight rematches with Brawly for the Knuckle Badge.**

 **Upload Date: 8** **th** **October 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 32: Renewed Vigour! (Part 1)**

 _Dewford Town, Hoenn_

 _12:26pm, 5_ _th_ _May 2006_

"It feels like such a long time since we were last here," Nicola sighed, looking around at her vaguely familiar surroundings.

It had been over a week since they'd departed Dewford Town to start exploring the southern part of the island. But, with everything that had happened, it felt as though they'd been gone for far longer.

"How are you feeling?" Richard asked her, moving up to walk at the head of the pack with her. "More confident than before?"

"A little," Nicola replied, frowning. "You know how it is."

The thought of going up against Brawly again was one that both excited her and terrified her at the same time. She felt as though she'd genuinely improved over the last week or so after all the countless practice sessions with the others.

Yet, there was a part of her which wondered if it would be enough. Brawly wasn't the kind of person to pull his punches that much, nor did he seem like the kind of person who'd skip out on his own training…

At that moment, an image appeared in her mind of Brawly and his pokémon having a carefree day of surfing.

…Actually, maybe he did seem like that kind of person. But even so, there was no reason to assume and Nicola certainly didn't want to take any chances.

She cast a brief glance at James.

Her worrying was mostly irrelevant for now though. After all, James had said that he was going first. Despite being mostly calm and collected over the previous week, he'd suddenly become much more driven as they'd gotten closer to Dewford Town. She supposed that he'd been harbouring some frustration over the nature of his defeat last time.

Will and Richard, on the other hand, both seemed pretty relaxed. A part of Nicola really envied them. As fun as it was training her pokémon and fighting battles, it must be nice to be able to sit back and relax while watching someone else battle every once in a while.

"So, what's the plan?" Will asked, looking between his companions. "Are you guys going straight to the gym?"

"Good question," Nicola replied. She looked back at James again. "What do you want to do?"

"We should book slots, at least," James replied, turning away from gazing at the harbour and looking at his companions. "After that, I wouldn't say no to some last-minute training."

"Same." Nicola nodded. That made it easier for her.

"Do you remember the way to the gym?" Will asked as they rounded a corner in the harbour-side road and found themselves facing the northern part of Dewford Town.

"It's not that difficult to find," James replied. "We need to head left just a bit further down this street."

"Mind if we leave you to it?" Richard asked, noticing the turning that lead to the town centre, where the pokémon centre was located. "Will and I can go on and book rooms for tonight."

"Sounds good to me," James replied. "We'll need your help for training though."

"Don't worry! We're not going to bail on you!" Richard grinned. "Let's get going, Will!"

"Right behind you." Will nodded.

* * *

 _12:38pm, 5_ _th_ _May 2006_

The main reason why James had been so keen to get booking slots done as soon as possible was because he worried that the main wave of trainers seeking gym badges might have arrived while they were travelling.

Fortunately, the gym and its schedule were just as barren as they had been when they had first arrived the previous week. Apparently, it took until later on in the season, when trainers were desperately scrabbling for their last few badges, that they started arriving in Dewford Town.

As a result, James and Nicola had had no trouble booking slots for later in the afternoon. There was plenty of time to train and do practice battles before then.

"So, you want to head out right now?" Richard asked as soon as James and Nicola had explained the situation on their return.

"That's what I was hoping." James nodded. "Are you both good to come with us?"

"No problem!" Richard jumped to his feet. He was getting bored of hanging around in the trainers' lounge anyway.

"Same here." Will also stood up.

"Great! Thanks for the help, guys!" Nicola grinned.

The four of them trooped back through the lobby and left the pokémon centre. Walking around behind the building, they found themselves facing the handful of practice arenas there. When more trainers started arriving, trying to find somewhere to train would become hellish. It made them feel even better about having beaten the rush.

"Got a plan, James?" Richard called as he took up position at the end of one of the empty arenas.

"I think that my ideal choice of pokémon would be Nulin and Charka," James replied. "I want to focus on training them."

"Ah, of course." Richard nodded. "But last time, Brawly forced Muro out by using Whirlwind. Do you have any ideas about how you're going to counter it?"

"There's no real way to counter it," James replied with a sigh. "But I figure it's best to lead with Charka this time. That way, I'm guaranteed to have him."

"What about you, Nicola?" Richard asked. "What do you want to practise?"

"I think we need to focus on speed and dodging," Nicola said thoughtfully. "I want to use some of the techniques we picked up in that contest taster session."

"Brawly uses tougher and bulkier pokémon, so I guess my team is the best for you to train against," said Richard.

"Hey! Turkey and Toya are pretty tough as well!" Will protested.

"I know, I know! I was only putting ideas out there…"

The discussion raged for a short while as they put together a plan. Training for gym battles was no simple matter.

Eventually, they came to an agreement and set the pokémon to work.

"Nulin and I will fight Richard and Naro," James said, addressing his team. "I want the rest of you to continue working on your accuracy and evasiveness! Got it?"

Charka, Kacha and Muro all nodded and scurried off to start practising.

On the next arena, Nicola and Kipa were preparing to go up against Will and Toya. The other pokémon had all separated out to train in pairs or small groups. The only exception, James noticed, was Zaggy, who was meandering absentmindedly along the chain link fence surrounding the arenas and sniffing around as he walked.

"Alright, ready to begin?" Richard grinned. Both he and Naro were stretching their arms and legs before the battle.

"Sure." James nodded.

Beside him, Nulin cried out enthusiastically.

"Let's start then!" Richard turned to Naro. "Use Poison Sting!"

Naro immediately rushed forwards, his horn glowing purple. Nulin easily avoided the attack by flying quickly to the left. He glanced towards James as he swept to the side.

"Use Water Gun!" James ordered.

Nulin nodded. He quickly fired a jet of water at his opponent, scoring a direct hit. Naro grunted in pain as the attack hit him. However, he quickly shook it off and started charging again.

"Use Poison Sting again!" Richard called.

Naro roared and he charged at Nulin. His horn glowed a purple colour as he gained momentum.

"Use Mist!" James called as Nulin once again managed to dodge Naro's unwieldy attack.

With a cry, Nulin fired a cloud of thin, white mist into the air.

"Now use Water Gun again!" James shouted.

Darting to the side, and taking advantage of Naro's momentary confusion at the sudden appearance of the mist, Nulin scored a hit on his flank.

"Hold it together, Naro!" Richard called.

Naro stood firm, watching as Nulin circled him.

"Use Supersonic!" James called, recognising what Richard was attempting to do.

Nulin emitted a high-pitched noise that caused everyone in the area to wince in pain. Hit by the full force, Naro staggered backwards, disoriented and confused.

"Now use Water Gun!" James shouted to Nulin.

Nulin nodded and swept in close to Naro to start his attack. Just as he was getting close, however, Naro suddenly started swinging his arms in all directions, throwing punches and kicks all over the place.

"Whoa!" James cried in alarm as Nulin was struck and flung back. "What was that?!"

"Oh yeah, Will and I never told you, did we?" Richard grinned. "During our training the other day, Naro ended up learning a new attack. It's called 'Thrash'. Pretty good, huh?"

"Wasn't expecting that," James replied. "Isn't Thrash a move that confuses the user after use?"

"But Naro was already confused!" Richard grinned. "Besides, we need to talk about your performance!"

"What about it?" James asked uneasily.

"Weren't you getting too complacent?" Richard asked. "Just because you'd confused Naro, you thought that you could take more risks. You need to keep your wits about you when you're fighting Brawly!"

"…" James sighed. Richard had him there. "Fair point."

"Well, let's get back to it!" Richard called. "There's still lots for us to do before the battle!"

* * *

 _3:26pm, 5_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Good luck then, James!"

Richard, Will and Nicola all called out to him as they turned to walk up the stairs towards the stands.

"See you in a bit!" James called back. As he watched them go, he turned and started walking through the passage.

He took some deep breaths as he walked. Now that he was actually here again, actually facing the battle, he was starting to feel pretty nervous. He'd played it cool in front of the others (at least, he thought he had), but he couldn't shake off the memories of his previous loss. The nature of his defeat had been frustrating, but he knew that there was every chance of a repeat, should Brawly's makuhita be able to launch another Whirlwind attack.

He needed to be swift and bold. There was no point in trying to confront Brawly directly with any of his pokémon, not even Charka. The Dewford gym leader had the monopoly on brute force.

Yet, James' strategies during the last battle had been largely true to his usual, focusing on maintaining speed and evading enemy attacks. If it hadn't worked last time, then he needed to find some new way to overcome his opponent.

With a sigh, he stepped through the door at the end of the passage and emerged into the main arena.

"Yo! Welcome back!"

Brawly was already stood waiting for him at the far end of the battlefield, a confident grin on his face. He unfolded his arms and stepped forwards as James reached the edge of the battlefield.

"Nice to be back!" James called back. He kept his voice calm and confident, though he continued feeling uneasy inside.

"I'm guessing you don't need a recap on the rules, so shall we get started straight away?" Brawly asked.

"Sounds good to me!" James replied.

"You heard 'em!" Brawly nodded at the referee.

"Alright, let's begin!" the referee called.

"Go, Meditite!" Brawly shouted, immediately throwing out his first pokémon.

Meditite burst out of the ball and landed softly on the ground, adopting a combative stance as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"Go, Charka!" James threw his first poké ball.

Charka roared as he emerged from the ball and materialised on the ground. He also prepared to start attacking.

"I could've guessed that James would do that," Richard sighed.

"Still, wouldn't you?" Nicola asked. "I mean, he basically couldn't choose his team last time because of Whirlwind."

"And it's not like Brawly has seen Charka before," Will added. "Unless he's been secretly watching our training…"

"Please don't scare me like that!" Nicola cried.

"If he's got Charka, then I guess he'll do better in a battle of attrition," Richard said thoughtfully. "But Brawly will be switching out as well."

"Yeah." Will nodded. "The first trainer to lose a pokémon loses the match, after all."

"Meditite doesn't look too tough," said Nicola. "But I'm sure that it'll be a different story if he goes up against Makuhita or Machop though…"

Down in the arena, Charka leapt back from taking a swipe at Meditite. His opponent immediately spotted an opening and grabbed him with his psychic power. There was a shout as Charka was hurled back, crashing in a heap on the arena floor. However, he quickly jumped back to his feet.

"Alright, use Flamethrower!" James ordered.

Charka nodded. He shot a burst of flames towards Meditite. However, he'd already detected the attack and quickly dodged. His eyes lit up again as he grabbed Charka once more.

"Use Fire Spin!" James immediately shouted. "Fight through it, Charka!"

With a shout, Charka fired a jet of flame towards Meditite, catching him off-guard. He immediately dropped the charmeleon as he was engulfed in the fiery vortex.

"Now use Smokescreen!" James ordered.

"That's unusual," said Richard as Charka shot out a thick, black cloud of smoke. "Normally, he follows up with Flamethrower."

"He's probably planning something," Will replied.

"Ah! Look!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed.

A small shape suddenly flew out of the smoke and dove towards Meditite. As Charka's fire burnt itself out, the shape extended its wings and struck the still-stunned Meditite directly.

Meditite stumbled backwards, his new opponent swooping around and flying back towards James' half of the battlefield.

"Great work, Nulin!" James grinned.

The wingull grinned and called out cheerfully in response. He swung around and hovered, facing Brawly and Meditite.

"Oh, an unexpected switch!" Brawly grinned. "Nice move, but don't think that your wingull will be any better at evading Confusion than your charmeleon was!"

Taking the hint, Meditite quickly turned his psychic power on Nulin. The wingull cried out in surprise as he was grabbed from the air.

"Use Water Gun!" James called.

As he was hurled groundward, Nulin took a deep breath and fired a jet of water at his opponent.

"Light Screen!" Brawly yelled at the last moment.

Meditite reacted quickly and put up a psychic barrier. Nulin's attack struck, but it didn't do much damage.

"Use Supersonic!" James shouted.

Nulin immediately emitted a high-pitched noise, startling and disorienting Meditite. His eyes lit up as he attempted to use Confusion again, but his target had already moved.

"Snap out of it, Meditite!" Brawly called. "You can do it!"

"Use Mist!" In the meantime, James quickly made his next move.

Nulin fired a cloud of pale white mist into the air on his half of the battlefield. As it spread out, Meditite made another attempt to grab Nulin out of the air, but overused his power. As he winced and clutched his head in pain, there was a futuristic whine as James recalled Nulin to his poké ball.

"Go, Charka!"

With a shout and a grin, the charmeleon burst back out of his poké ball and landed on the ground. Though he was still sporting some injuries from his earlier bout, he looked confident and full of energy.

"Wow! James is really shifting his pokémon around a lot!" Nicola cried cheerfully.

"That's what I don't get." Will frowned. "Wouldn't it be better to keep Nulin out since he has a type advantage over Meditite?"

"That's what I thought as well," Richard replied. "I know that James switches out more freely than most trainers, but this is fast even for him…"

"You mean you don't know what he was doing?" Nicola seemed genuinely incredulous.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"He wanted to get both of his pokémon onto the field," Nicola replied.

"Oh!" Richard suddenly exclaimed. "Of course! How didn't I realise?"

"So, this way, Brawly can't force out one of his other pokémon with Whirlwind because he's only allowed to use two pokémon, which are Charka and Nulin." Will nodded. "That was a pretty good move."

"Still." Richard frowned as he watched Charka shooting a burst of flames towards Meditite. "That's only a counter against Whirlwind. It won't help him in the straight-up fight against Brawly's team."

"That's where his training will come in!" Nicola grinned.

"Well, I guess James doesn't have a habit of losing his rematches." Richard smiled.

Back down in the arena, Meditite narrowly managed to dodge a powerful swipe from Charka's steel-coated claw.

"Again!" James immediately shouted.

Charka swung a second time, but this time, Meditite was ready for him. He managed to channel his power and grab him out of the air. There was a loud thud as Charka was hurled to the ground a short distance away.

"Use Focus Punch!" Brawly ordered.

As Meditite started tightening his focus, Charka leapt back to his feet. He glanced back at James, waiting for his next orders.

"Smokescreen!" James yelled.

Charka reacted immediately, firing out a thick, black cloud of smoke. It mingled with the residual mist left over from Nulin's last attack and cloaked his side of the arena. Meditite raced forwards regardless, but could only punch at air.

"Now use Fire Spin!" James called, noticing that Meditite's Light Screen, standing out against the smoke, had suddenly vanished.

A jet of flame came out of nowhere, burning off the remaining mist and dissipating what remained of the smoke. Meditite, unaware of the direction of the attack until it was too late, was caught up in the centre of the vortex.

"Flamethrower!" James yelled.

Charka didn't hesitate. He immediately fired a burst of flames at his constrained opponent. Meditite cried in pain as he was struck, the searing flames passing around and across his body. He dropped to his knee as the flames faded, but pulled himself back up.

"Meditite, return!" Brawly called.

The red recall beam shot across the battlefield and struck Meditite. In an instant, he was returned to his poké ball.

"That was a close one!" Brawly sighed, returning the ball to his belt. He pulled out another one and threw it out.

A large pokémon with large orange hands and thick blue legs burst out and landed on the ground with a heavy crash, sending a shiver reverberating around the room.

"Whoa!" Richard gasped.

"That's..?" Nicola stared in shock.

"…" James quickly reached for his Pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

" _Hariyama, the arm thrust pokémon and the evolved form of makuhita. Hariyama practices their straight-arm slaps in any number of locations. One hit from these pokémon's powerful, openhanded, straight-arm punches could snap a telephone pole in two. Hariyama's thick body may appear fat, but it is actually a hunk of solid muscle. If these pokémon bear down and tighten all their muscles, their body becomes as hard as a rock._ "

"His makuhita evolved?" Nicola gasped.

"This is going to be a tough fight." Will frowned.

"Alright, Charka!" James called. "Keep it together! We have the advantage!"

Charka nodded. He stood his ground, watching his new opponent carefully.

"Use Vital Throw!" Brawly yelled.

Hariyama nodded. With a shout, he stormed forwards, the ground shaking with each step he took. His fist glowed a dark red colour as he approached.

However, Charka was quick to react. With a burst of speed, he propelled himself to the left, just ducking under Hariyama's thrown punch. As he turned, he launched a powerful swipe at his opponent's now exposed side. There was a roar of pain from Hariyama as the steel-coated claw raked his flank.

"Nice one, Charka!" James yelled.

Not content with sitting still, Charka immediately put some space between himself and Hariyama and prepared for his next attack.

"Good move!" Brawly called. "But it'll take more than that to defeat Hariyama!"

"I didn't think it would!" James called back. He nodded at Charka. "Use Fire Spin!"

Charka nodded and shot a jet of flame at Hariyama. The fighting type grunted in pain as he was hit and circled by the growing vortex.

"Now use Metal Claw!" James ordered.

"Wow! James is doing a good job at keeping on the offensive!" Nicola exclaimed as Charka hurled himself towards his opponent.

"Maybe that's what Brawly wants him to do," Will sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"Look!" Richard pointed at the battlefield. Charka had just managed to strike Hariyama again and had jumped back out of range.

"What about it?" Nicola asked.

"Did you see what Hariyama was doing?" Richard asked.

"No…"

"He was moving slightly in time with Charka's attack. It looks like he's taking more damage than he actually is."

"So, you think Brawly's doing this deliberately to get James to lower his guard?"

"James has already picked up on it," Will said, nodding in the direction of his brother. "I think what Brawly really wants is to force James into sticking closer to Hariyama to keep up the attack."

"Does James know that?" Nicola asked.

"Who knows?" Richard shrugged. "But it could decide this battle, whether he's a step ahead of Brawly, or one behind him."

"Keep it together, Charka!" James called, trying to calm the hot-headed charmeleon down.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly yelled, suddenly deciding to go onto the offensive.

Hariyama stormed forwards, slamming into Charka with a series of powerful strikes. The charmeleon was thrown back, just managing to retain his balance and stay upright. He made a last-minute dive to the side to avoid a follow-up attack.

"Use Flamethrower!" James ordered.

Charka quickly shot a burst of flames at his opponent. Hariyama, too slow to dodge effectively, was struck on the side, the heat of the flames making him wince. He stepped forwards to start another attack, but the charmeleon had already darted backwards to put some space between them.

"Use Bulk Up!" Brawly called.

Hariyama obeyed, tightening up his muscles to toughen up. He fixed Charka with a fierce glare. He was a long way from being beaten – it was going to be a tough fight ahead.

"Use Smokescreen!" James shouted.

Charka nodded, firing out a cloud of black smoke. As the far side of the battlefield was obscured, Hariyama tensed himself up, preparing for whatever attack would come next.

"Is he switching out for Nulin?" Will wondered.

"Ah, that might be it," Nicola replied.

"I think that's what Brawly's expecting," Richard sighed. "But, you know…"

At that moment, Charka suddenly charged from the smoke, his face twisted into a grimace. His right claw glowed with a molten orange colour. A visible heat haze was rising from it.

"He's using Molten Claw!" Nicola exclaimed.

This had caught Brawly and Hariyama completely off-guard. They'd been anticipating another concealed switch of pokémon, or at least for Charka to try and keep at a distance. For an improvised attack to come so suddenly…

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly yelled, recovering quickly.

"Keep going, Charka!" James shouted.

Hariyama immediately threw his palms out at Charka. However, the charmeleon ducked low, Hariyama's wrist barely glancing the spiny protrusion on top of his head. With a shout, he slashed viciously at Hariyama's exposed stomach, the super-heated metal on his claw searing his opponent. Hariyama roared in pain, clutching the wound and staggering back slightly.

"Use Vital Throw! He's right where you want him!" Brawly yelled, spotting his opening. Charka may have dodged the first attack, but it was clear that the last attack had left him completely drained. Now he was directly in front of Hariyama and didn't have the energy left to evade.

As Hariyama pulled his fist back to start his attack, he was suddenly interrupted by a call from across the battlefield.

"Charka, return!"

The red recall beam struck Charka and sucked him back into his poké ball. Across the arena, James pulled out Nulin's poké ball once more and threw it out.

"Keep going! Use Vital Throw!" Brawly yelled.

Hariyama, continuing to carry the momentum, surged forwards. Even if his target was suddenly much smaller, he could still land a finishing blow.

"Use Supersonic!" James shouted.

Nulin emitted a high-pitched noise that echoed around the arena. It distracted and disoriented Hariyama, who suddenly tripped at the crucial moment. He crashed to the ground heavily, crying out in pain as the burns around his earlier wound struck the arena floor.

"Use Water Gun!" James ordered.

Nulin didn't waste a second. He immediately fired a jet of water at Hariyama as he struggled to get back to his feet. The attack hit him on the shoulder, but wasn't enough to finish the job. As Hariyama staggered back to his feet, still confused by Nulin's Supersonic, James gritted his teeth and made his decision.

"Use Wing Attack!" He shouted.

Nulin narrowed his eyes and nodded. It was a gamble. Getting close to the enemy meant that they lost the advantage of Nulin's excellent evasion. But still, they needed a decisive move to finish the battle.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly yelled.

Hariyama, momentarily stunned as he registered his trainer's voice, nodded and started charging towards Nulin. The wingull, meanwhile dove towards Hariyama. As they reached each other, Hariyama wildly threw out his hands in an attempt to strike his opponent.

Everyone held their breath as Nulin raced towards the thrown strikes.

With a smooth movement, he edged to one side to avoid the first hit, moving back over to avoid the second. He ploughed on and struck Hariyama in the face with his glowing wing.

There was a crash as Hariyama hit the ground.

Nulin immediately gained height again, prepared to mount another attack if necessary. However, his opponent wasn't moving and lay still.

"Hariyama is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "The winner of this match is the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"We did it!" James grinned.

Nulin cried out happily as he soared back down to his trainer.

"Great work, Nulin! That final attack was perfect!" James patted the wingull on the head. He pulled out Charka's poké ball again and left the charmeleon out. "You did great as well, Charka! We couldn't have done it without you!"

Charka gave him a tired, but triumphant grin. The scales on his right arm were still blistered and smoking from his Molten Claw attack earlier.

"Well, you sure got us there!" Brawly laughed, recalling Hariyama to his poké ball. "I just couldn't keep up with the way you switched up your tactics!"

"It was a great battle!" James nodded as he and his pokémon headed over towards him.

"Here." Brawly handed him a small badge in the shape of a boxing glove. "You've definitely earned the Knuckle Badge after all that! I'm looking forwards to seeing where you and your pokémon go from here!"

"Thanks, Brawly!" James grinned, taking the badge and putting it in his badge case. That made three gym badges. He was almost halfway there.

Up in the stands, Nicola nervously got to her feet and took a deep breath.

"I'm off," she said, turning to the other two.

"Good luck," Richard replied.

"Just fight like we practised," Will said encouragingly. "You'll be fine!"

"Thanks." Though she still felt nervous, Nicola felt as though her nerves had been calmed somewhat. She turned and started walking back in the direction of the lobby.

* * *

 **Whew! I managed to get this chapter done in time for Sunday!**

 **It's been a bit of a busy week for me. I had some minor surgery on my toes on Thursday, so I've been recovering from that as well as trying to keep up with my work on** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **. As well as managing to finish this chapter, I've also gotten partway through Chapter 9 of** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **. I should be able to upload it on Tuesday, assuming nothing catastrophic happens tomorrow! :P**

 **Anyway, James wins his rematch and earns the Knuckle Badge. I wanted to give Nulin more of a decisive role in this battle since I felt that Charka was the one who won both of James's previous victories. As ever, though, it seems that James can't quite stop relying on his starter!**

 **Next up will be Chapter 9 of** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **(again, on Tuesday as long as nothing happens), followed by Nicola's rematch in Chapter 33, which will hopefully be up on Thursday.**

 **As ever, I welcome any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Tackle, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	33. Renewed Vigour! (Part 2)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **With last chapter seeing James fight and win his rematch against Brawly at the Dewford gym, it's now Nicola's turn to go up against the fighting type trainer.**

 **Upload Date: 12** **th** **October 2017**

 **Chapter 33: Renewed Vigour! (Part 2)**

* * *

 _Dewford Town, Hoenn_

 _3:48pm, 5_ _th_ _May 2006_

Nicola quickly walked down the stairs leading into the lobby. She felt nervous, but she wasn't going to let that get to her this time. She and her team had been practising like crazy over the last couple of days. As long as she kept a clear head and didn't make any major mistakes, she should be able to win her rematch with Brawly.

The fact that both James and Richard now had three gym badges to her one was also spurring her on. It was bad enough being one behind – she couldn't let the gap increase any further!

As she rounded the corner and entered the passage leading down to the arena, she spotted James approaching from the other direction.

"Great work out there!" she called.

"Thanks!" James grinned back. "How are you feeling?"

"Still a bit nervous," Nicola replied. She gave a determined nod. "But I feel much more confident than I did when I fought Brawly for the first time!"

"Glad to hear it!" James nodded. "Brawly still prefers to use more direct attacks, so as long as you can get a handle on how to counter them, it's just a case of wearing him down. Make sure you don't push Kipa too much in this battle, okay?"

"Got it!" Nicola said, glancing down at the poké balls at her waist. "I've learnt a lot more about Kipa and Mushy over the last couple of days. I think I have a better idea of how I can use them."

"That's fine then," said James. He smiled at her. "Make sure you get out there and give it your best shot!"

"I will!" Nicola nodded. "Make sure you cheer for me from the stands!"

"You can count on it!" James replied as he passed her. "Best not to keep Brawly waiting. The longer before the battle starts, the more nervous you get, in my experience anyway!"

Nicola watched as he left the passage and turned the corner, disappearing from sight as he started climbing the stairs to the stands.

Turning back to face down the passage, Nicola took a deep breath and started walking forwards again.

This time would be different. She'd finally gotten an idea on what she'd needed to improve after her last two gym losses. She was finally ready to start moving forwards again. There was no way that she was going to let Brawly stand in the way of that.

That was why she had to think carefully. How was she going to overpower Brawly's tough team of brawny pokémon? Should she rely on speed? Should she focus on meeting them head on? She'd learnt countless different tactics while training with the others, each of which would be effective. The question was exactly how she should use what she had gained…

Casting the thoughts briefly aside, she smiled at the poké balls at her waist. Inside, Kipa and Mushy both looked full of confidence and eager to get started. Even Zaggy, not due to take part in the battle, seemed to have been infected by the mood among the team.

Looking up again, Nicola strode forwards, putting on a confident smile to mask the nervousness that still gnawed at her.

* * *

 _3:50pm, 5_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Yo! Welcome back, Nicola!" Brawly called across the arena as Nicola stepped up to her end of the battlefield.

"Thanks!" Nicola replied. "It feels good to be back!"

"Glad to hear it!" Brawly grinned. "You ready to get started now?"

"Whenever you are!"

As the referee started his announcements, Richard turned to Will.

"So, what do you think?"

"Well, I don't really know," Will replied. "I mean, I'm still learning all of this as well."

"Well, I think that she'll do fine as long as she's able to stay one step ahead of Brawly," Richard said, giving his own opinion.

"You just wanted to say it, didn't you.?"

At that moment, the two of them realised that James was approaching from the direction of the stairs.

"Congrats!" Richard grinned at him as he sat down next to them.

"I couldn't have you showing me up forever!" James replied, returning the grin. "Still, it was pretty tense at times. I was worried that we might not have done enough to knock out Hariyama."

"Yeah, that was a real surprise," Will said. "Was he much tougher than he was as a makuhita?"

"Much more." James nodded. "Even effective attacks felt like they weren't doing anything for a while."

"Looks like the battle's about to begin!" Richard suddenly said, turning back to look at the arena. The others quickly followed his gaze.

Brawly had sent out Hariyama. Even the healing machine by the side of the arena not fully removing the marks of his battle with Charka and Nulin. Still, there was no doubt that he was a formidable opponent and had healed up more than enough to pose a serious threat to Nicola's team.

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola called, throwing her first poké ball.

The shroomish burst out of the ball and landed on the ground. She gave herself a quick shake and glared across the battlefield, apparently unfazed by the intimidating size of her opponent.

"Start off with Arm Thrust!" Brawly called, immediately going onto the offensive.

"Stay defensive and watch out for Hariyama's attacks!" Nicola ordered.

Mushy nodded and started bouncing from side-to-side to warm herself up as Hariyama started storming towards her. The larger pokémon threw out his palms to strike her, but Mushy quickly dove forwards and dashed between Hariyama's legs.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola shouted, spotting an opportunity.

With a cry, Mushy fired a cluster of seeds up at Hariyama as he attempted to turn back to face his opponent. At such a close range and on such a large target, there was never any doubt that they'd hit.

"That was a smart move." James nodded approvingly as Mushy darted to the side to avoid a counter attack from Hariyama. "Mushy and Kipa are both small enough to avoid Hariyama's attacks. With Leech Seed, Nicola can safely turn it into a battle of attrition."

"As long as she can keep her distance," Will sighed. "What if Mushy takes a bad hit from Hariyama? Isn't there a way she could slow him down even more or prevent him from moving?"

"Well, there is Stun Spore," Richard replied thoughtfully. But…"

"Hariyama probably has the Guts ability." James finished for him. "It might make him even slower, but it would also make his attacks more powerful. This was one of things we discussed with her before we came here."

"Besides, Hariyama is pretty slow as it is," Richard said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back into his seat. "And Mushy can heal herself using both Leech Seed and Mega Drain."

Back down in the arena, Hariyama had just thrown a powerful punch at Mushy, narrowly missing her and striking the ground instead. The shroomish quickly retaliated with a green beam of energy, striking Hariyama and draining more of his energy. Despite both Leech Seed and Mega Drain taking their toll, the fighting type didn't look anywhere near beaten.

"Use Vital Throw again!" Brawly shouted.

Hariyama immediately threw another punch. This time, he managed to score a glancing blow against Mushy, knocking her to the side. He made to throw a second punch while she was off-balance, but the shroomish recovered quicker than expected.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola shouted boldly.

Mushy sprang forwards, her small body crashing into Hariyama's waist. He lent back slightly to cushion the force of impact, but didn't even have to take a step back. He swung his open palm around to strike Mushy, but she'd already ducked down and made her escape.

"Great work, Mushy!" Nicola called. "Now use Mega Drain again!"

Mushy nodded and fired a green beam of energy at Hariyama, who'd just managed to turn to face her again. He grunted in pain as the attack hit and absorbed some of his energy. He attempted to brush off the sprouted seeds from Mushy's first attack, but they remained steadfastly attached to him.

"Counter with Vital Throw!" Brawly yelled.

Hariyama nodded and, with a grunt, started charging towards Mushy once again.

"Wait for it!" Nicola called, beckoning for Mushy to hold steady.

The shroomish gave her a nervous glance, but stood her ground as Hariyama approached.

"Move forwards!" Nicola shouted as Hariyama started to draw close.

Mushy started racing forwards as fast as her stubby legs would carry her, but they'd misjudged their timing. Mushy moved too late and was struck by Hariyama's punch. She flew back and landed on the ground with a crash.

"Ouch!" Richard winced. "That didn't work out."

"She's gotten better at judging when to move and when not to," James sighed. "But I guess she still needs to work on it some more."

"I'm surprised that Mushy was willing to wait that long," Will added. "They've got a better bond than I thought they had."

Down in the arena, Mushy picked herself back up and turned to face Hariyama again. She'd taken quite a bit of damage from that last hit, but it seemed to have spooked her quite a bit. That was perhaps more worrying.

Nonetheless, Nicola issued her next order: "Charge forwards and use Tackle!"

Mushy nodded hesitantly and started running. As she did, she lowered her head and ploughed into the fighting type. The attack didn't seem to do much damage. However, Hariyama had flinched in pain instead of striking back, giving Mushy an opportunity to get back.

"That's odd," Nicola mumbled. "Tackle doesn't normally do that…" The brief lull in the battle allowed her to catch what James and Richard were saying up in the stands.

"Headbutt?"

"Yeah, definitely Headbutt."

So, that was what Mushy had used.

Nicola was pleased that she'd managed to learn a new attack, but it hadn't really helped them get much closer to defeating Hariyama, who was now stepping forwards to launch another attack.

However, the next move wasn't quite what Nicola was expecting.

"Use Whirlwind!" Brawly shouted.

"Ah!" Nicola cried in alarm. The only pokémon she'd put on the field so far was Mushy. That meant…

Mushy was converted back to energy and returned to her poké ball. There was a pop as another ball burst open and the pokémon inside materialised on the ground in front of her.

The small, blue figure of Kipa appeared, flipping his fin from side to side and adopting a combat stance despite the suddenness of his appearance.

Nicola and the three boys up in the stands all let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Use Vital Throw!" Brawly called.

Hariyama stormed forwards, his fist glowing a dark red colour.

"Use Mud Slap!" Nicola yelled as the mudkip darted to the side to avoid the attack.

Kipa nodded. Pausing to take aim, he kicked up some wet mud that struck Hariyama directly in the face. Taking advantage of Hariyama's momentary confusion, he dove forwards and slammed into one of his legs.

"Use Bulk Up!" Brawly ordered.

Hariyama quickly tensed up the muscles in his body.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa jumped back from Hariyama and fired a jet of water at him, scoring a direct hit. Despite that, Hariyama didn't seem to have taken that much damage.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly called.

Hariyama nodded and quickly rushed forwards. At the last second, Kipa dove to the side to get clear. Spinning around, he fired another clump of mud at Hariyama. Another direct hit.

The fighting type was becoming increasingly blinded by the mud, and both Kipa's attacks and the seeds from Mushy's earlier attack were slowly taking their toll on his body.

"Use Vital Throw!" Brawly decided to push on regardless. It was worth giving one final try.

Hariyama immediately reacted and started charging towards Kipa. However, the mudkip was able to easily dodge the powerful punch with a quick jump. Passing into Hariyama's blind spot, he fired another jet of water at him, followed by a powerful tackle that struck him on the shoulder.

Hariyama staggered backwards under the onslaught, glancing back towards Brawly for direction.

"Alright! Hariyama, return!" Brawly called, holding up a poké ball.

Hariyama was struck by the red recall beam and returned to the ball.

"Phew!" Nicola sighed. "It looks like we've seen the back of Hariyama for now!"

Kipa called back to her enthusiastically.

"She's doing well." James gave an approving nod. "I wonder what Brawly's going to throw at her next?"

"We can't forget that Hariyama isn't out of the fight yet," said Will. "And he'll still be tough to beat."

"You're right there," Richard sighed. "Nicola's team will be getting more and more exhausted, and Leech Seed will have worn off by the time Hariyama reappears."

"If she could knock out Brawly's next pokémon before he has a chance to shift…" James mused.

"That would be quite tough," Richard said. "Brawly fights using these rules all the time – he's not the kind of person who'd leave out a pokémon too long."

"It really is a battle of attrition sometimes," James sighed.

The gym leader had pulled out his next poké ball. "Go, Machoke!" he shouted as he threw it into the air.

A large, muscular pokémon, similar to a machop, burst out of the ball and landed on the ground with a soft thud. He looked across confidently at Kipa.

"A machoke?" Nicola quickly pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Machoke, the superpower pokémon and the evolved form of machop. Machoke undertake bodybuilding every day even as they help people with tough, physically demanding labour. On their days off, these pokémon head to the fields and mountains to exercise and train._ "

"So, his machop evolved as well," Richard sighed.

"Well, gym leaders don't just sit around waiting for the next challenge, after all," James replied. "I don't think Machoke will be as tough on the defensive as Hariyama, but I bet his attacks will be much more powerful."

"It feels a lot like Nicola is still at a disadvantage…" Will muttered.

"Use Karate Chop!" Brawly yelled, pointing authoritatively towards Nicola's half of the field.

Machoke shouted his acknowledgement and charged forwards. His fist glowed a dark red colour.

"Use Bide!" Nicola shouted, nodding at Kipa.

The little mudkip nodded and valiantly held his ground. He took the hit full on and was thrown back. However, he righted himself in the air and landed on his feet smoothly. He immediately hunkered down again, watching his opponent carefully.

Apparently incensed by his opponent's lack of reaction, Machoke stormed forwards again. This time, however, Kipa suddenly sprang forwards at the last moment, what had been a sure direct hit suddenly become a mere glancing hit. A third punch did more damage, but didn't succeed in throwing Kipa back.

"Go!" Nicola yelled urgently.

Kipa charged forwards as Machoke brought his fist back from the previous attack. Catching him in a weak moment, the mudkip slammed into him, unleashing all the energy he'd built up over the course of the last few attacks.

"Machoke!" Brawly cried as Machoke stumbled backwards, reeling from the force of it. However, the superpower pokémon quickly regained his nerve and stepped forwards again.

"Kipa, return!" Nicola called.

Kipa quickly returned to his poké ball.

"Oh, she's decided to switch out again," said Richard.

"I guess she wants to copy what you did in your battle!" Will grinned at James.

"As long as she's only learning good habits from watching me…" James replied with an awkward smile.

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola threw out the shroomish's poké ball.

Mushy burst out of it and landed on the ground. Having had some time to recover and knowing that Hariyama had been beaten back for now by Kipa, Mushy seemed a lot more confident than when she'd gone off.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola immediately ordered.

Mushy nodded and fired a cluster of seeds towards Machoke. However, the fighting type quickly jumped out of the way.

"Use Vital Throw!" Brawly shouted.

Machoke grinned as he raced forwards, his fist glowing a dark red colour. As he approached, Mushy darted to the left in a surprisingly smooth movement. Without waiting for her trainer's orders, she fired another cluster of seeds at Machoke from behind, finally managing to score a hit.

"Great work, Mushy!" Nicola called. "Now use Mega Drain!"

Just as Machoke turned to face Mushy again, he was struck by a green beam of energy. He cried out in pain as he felt some of his strength slipping away.

"Now use Headbutt!" Nicola shouted.

Taking advantage of her momentum, Mushy bounced forwards and slammed herself headfirst into her opponent.

"Hang in there, Machoke!" Brawly yelled. "Use Vital Throw!"

Staggering backwards, but regaining his composure, Machoke was quick to throw a punch at Mushy as she attempted to disengage. A last-minute dodge meant that the shroomish avoided a direct hit, but she was still thrown back by the force of the attack.

"It looks like things are still pretty close," James said as he watched the two pokémon continue exchanging attacks.

"Mushy is physically weaker than Machoke though," Richard replied. "Nicola can't afford to get complacent."

"There's still Hariyama to worry about as well, I guess." James nodded.

"But Nicola does still have Kipa," Will said. "He's tough enough to stick it out for a while."

"True." Richard nodded sagely. "And Leech Seed is a big boost for Nicola's side."

"Use Mega Drain!" Nicola yelled.

Mushy spun around as she dodged another thrown punch from Machoke. Firing a green beam of energy, she struck him directly and absorbed more of his strength. Caught off-guard by the sudden loss of strength in his legs, Machoke momentarily dropped down.

Nicola immediately spotted the opportunity, as did Mushy.

"Use Headbutt!"

The shroomish was already charging forwards as she heard the order. There was a loud smack as she struck Machoke directly in the chest. A stunned look on his face, he toppled backwards with the momentum of the attack and crashed to the ground.

"Is it over?!" Richard exclaimed, involuntarily jumping to his feet.

"Wait a second!" James replied, his eyes fixed on Machoke.

Despite the last hit, he managed to pull himself up, gritting his teeth in pain as he did.

"Return, Machoke!" Brawly ordered, holding up a poké ball. His relief was visible on his face. "You're like a completely different trainer to the one I fought a week ago!" he called over to Nicola. "No matter who wins this last round, I want you to remember that!"

Was he admitting that, really, he only had Hariyama left who could fight?

Not that it really mattered much to Nicola. As long as she defeated one of Brawly's pokémon, she was the winner. And both of her pokémon were still in relatively good shape.

"Go, Hariyama!" Brawly shouted, hurling out Hariyama's poké ball for a second time.

The fighting type burst out, wincing in pain from some of his injuries as he landed, but otherwise looking as determined as ever.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly ordered immediately.

As Hariyama stormed forwards, his palms glowing dark red, Mushy glanced back at Nicola for direction.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola shouted.

With a nod, Mushy fired a cluster of seeds towards her advancing opponent. Scoring a direct hit, she dove to the side in a last-minute attempt to avoid the attack. She was scarcely a second too slow and was thrown back with a crash.

"Vital Throw!" Brawly yelled as Mushy started picking herself back up.

"Mega Drain!" Nicola shouted.

Both pokémon began their attacks. Mushy quickly hit Hariyama with a green beam. However, he fought through and slammed into Mushy with a powerful punch that threw her back once more. Despite being able to heal herself slightly using the energy drained from Hariyama, Mushy was starting to get exhausted. Her ability to dodge was quickly disappearing.

Logically, it would be better to switch out for Kipa. But Nicola wasn't quite ready to do that. Hariyama was on his last legs – she could just feel it!

"Use Headbutt!" she yelled.

Mushy, panting as she regained her breath, nodded and started charging forwards.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Brawly ordered.

Hariyama started charging forwards as well. The two pokémon finally met in the centre of the arena, Hariyama making the first move. As he swept one of his open palms towards Mushy, the shroomish moved slightly to the side to avoid it.

"Watch out!" Nicola yelped.

The move had placed Mushy directly in the path of Hariyama's second strike. Suppressing her panic, Mushy made a desperate move to the right. Hariyama's palm passed just by her, so close that the side of his hand brushed against her.

Running on adrenaline, Mushy jumped into the air and powered herself headfirst into Hariyama, striking him at the top of his chest.

Both pokémon toppled to the ground with a crash, with Mushy sent rolling off of Hariyama upon landing. However, while Mushy was able to right herself and staggered about in a daze, Hariyama finally lay still. The last of his energy was spent.

"Hariyama is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "The winner of this battle is the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"…"

For a moment, all Nicola could do was take in the scene. The sound of her friends cheering sounded strangely distant. Hariyama disappeared as he was recalled to his poké ball, while Mushy, shaking her head, had started running back over to her. There was a big grin on her face.

"You did a great job out there, Mushy!" Nicola smiled at her, finally allowing her victory to sink in. She could feel herself tearing up. She was finally getting somewhere again.

Brawly seemed content to leave her to herself for a short while, patiently waiting for her to get her emotions back under control. He smiled at her as she finally wiped her eyes and, carrying Mushy in her arms, made her way over towards him.

"That was a great battle," he said. "Like I said earlier, you were completely different to how you were the last time we fought. You've more than earned the Knuckle Badge."

"Th-Thanks!" Nicola choked, trying to stop herself from crying again. She took the badge Brawly held in his open palm.

"I'm sure you'll go far!" Brawly grinned at her. "I look forward to seeing how you do at the Hoenn League!"

* * *

 _5:46pm, 5_ _th_ _May 2006_

After the emotion and excitement of her victory, Nicola had finally said goodbye to Brawly and met up with her friends in the lobby before heading back to the pokémon centre. Aside from healing both her and James's pokémon, they needed to decide where they were going to go next.

"I was thinking that we should try and find a contest soon," she said to James as the two of them walked back towards the trainers' lounge after picking up their pokémon from the reception desk.

"I thought you'd say that," James replied. "I've already started researching which towns and cities host pokémon contests in the Hoenn region."

"Anything close by?"

"There are some. I think it's best if we discuss it all with Richard and Will though."

They walked through the almost-empty trainers' lounge to the sofa Richard and Will were occupying.

"All good again?" Richard grinned at them as they arrived.

"All good." James nodded as he sat down in the armchair opposite them.

"So, where are we heading next?" Will asked. "Back to the mainland?"

"Yeah," James replied. "The Dewford gym is the only gym on the island and there's not much else we can do here that would be useful."

"Did you find out where there's another gym for us to challenge?" Richard leant forwards, noticing that James had pulled out his guidebook.

"There's one in Mauville City." James flicked open the guidebook and pointed to the map. "It's quite a long way from here, but it'll put us close to the centre of Hoenn. It'll be easy for us to head elsewhere from there."

"Can we get a ferry directly there?" Will asked.

"No. We'd need to go via Slateport City."

"What about contests?" Nicola quickly interrupted.

"Apparently, there's a contest hall in Slateport City," James explained, flicking over to the page on Slateport City. "And there's also going to be a contest held there soon."

"So, what do you guys think?" Nicola turned enthusiastically to Richard and Will. "We can head to Slateport, James and I can enter the contest, and then we can head on up to Mauville City from there!"

"It's more or less a straight run up Route 110," James added.

"Well, I'm fine with it." Will shrugged. "I'm not challenging the gyms, so…"

"There'll be plenty of opportunities to train anyway, so I'm good as well." Richard nodded.

"Sounds like we've got a plan then!" James grinned as he put the guidebook away. "We'll stay here tonight, as we planned, and then we can catch the first ferry to Slateport City tomorrow morning!"

The other three all nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that that's sorted, how about we go and get something to eat?" Nicola asked as she stood up. "All that worrying has made me hungry!"

"I could go for some food," Richard said as he stood up.

The four of them left the trainers' lounge and headed to the restaurant. It had been a tiring day. It felt nice knowing that they could finally relax.

* * *

 **Whew! Writing a whole chapter in a single day is pretty tiring. Still, I got it finished and that's the main thing.**

 **So, Nicola and Mushy were able to beat Brawly (with some help from Kipa), and Nicola's losing streak is finally over. With Dewford Island behind them, it's time for the group to head back to the mainland for the next leg of their journey.**

 **I've made a slight change to my upload schedule for this Sunday. I've pushed Chapter 34 back a week to Sunday 22** **nd** **October (an aim, not a promise!) so that I can spend what's left of this week working on some major fixes for Chapter 16. I'll upload the new version on Sunday in place of Chapter 34.**

 **As ever, I welcome any comments you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	34. An Uproar for Pokéblocks!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, Nicola defeated Brawly in a rematch and won the Knuckle Badge. With Dewford Town behind them, the group now set their sights on the major port of Slateport City, back on the mainland.**

 **Upload Date: 22** **nd** **October 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 34: An Uproar for Pokéblocks!**

 _Route 109, Hoenn_

 _2:49pm, 6_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Use Water Gun!"

"Use Attract!"

Toya let out a shout, his body cloaked in a watery aura as he fired a jet of water across the arena. His opponent, a skitty, dodged to the side and shot him an appealing look. Toya was quickly enthralled, gazing across the arena with a look that was both dazed and contented.

"Now use Double Slap!" A young girl stood at one end of the arena called out to her pokémon.

The skitty nodded and started charging towards the enamoured squirtle.

"Snap out of it, Toya!" Will yelled from his position at the other end of the arena. "Use Water Gun!"

Toya glanced back at him, giving him a look that seemed to say: "why would I want to do that?" As he turned to face forwards again, the skitty was already upon him, whacking him solidly in the face three times. A fourth strike whipped his head to the side and knocked him off-balance. He toppled to the ground and landed with a crash.

"Toya is unable to battle!" From the side lines, James announced the result. "All of Will's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner is Angie!"

"We did it!" Angie cheered, running over to pick up her pokémon. "Great work, Kittykins!"

Kittykins mewed happily as she was picked up and hugged.

Across the arena, Will recalled Toya to his poké ball.

"Please don't storm off, please don't storm off," James mumbled under his breath as he watched. Fortunately, Will instead walked over to his opponent, smiled as pleasantly as he could and shook her hand, thanking her for a 'great battle'.

Parting ways, he trudged wearily back over towards the side of the battlefield.

"You handled that pretty well." James nodded approvingly as Will reached him.

"…I can't believe I lost to a pokémon named 'Kittykins'," Will muttered. "I'm done. I'll never be a pokémon league champion…"

"Oh, stop being so melodramatic!" James chastised him.

"Besides, you can use this loss to help get stronger," Nicola said, her tone upbeat and cheerful. "Just like me!"

"Ugh!" Will groaned. "You've been so smug ever since you beat Brawly!"

"Of course, I have!" Nicola grinned proudly. "I'm finally doing well again!"

"You lost because you over relied on that Torrent tactic again," James sighed. "I keep telling you that it leaves you and Toya dangerously exposed."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Will replied dismissively. "Hang on a second!" An idea had crossed his mind. "Maybe I could give Toya a sitrus berry. Then he could use it when he's about to be hit by an attack that would knock him out…" He continued muttering to himself as he walked away.

"I feel like he's taking the wrong lesson from this," James said, shaking his head.

"Well, I guess he's still learning," Nicola replied. "In his own way." She glanced around. "Huh? Where did Richard go?"

"Toilet," James replied.

"A-Ah, of course!" Nicola laughed awkwardly. She walked over to the railings at the side of the deck on the ferry. They already been onboard since nine in the morning, some six hours ago. It had been difficult trying to find things to do to keep them occupied.

"Hey!" James, who come alongside her, nudged her with his elbow. "I think I can see Slateport Bay over there!"

"Where?" Nicola frantically looked in the same direction.

It was difficult to see, but just beyond the green, mountainous land they were passing, Nicola thought she could make out the shape of tall buildings in the distance. They were starting to see land on the starboard side of the ship as well – they were definitely entering a bay of some kind.

"It feels strange." Nicola turned back to James. "We've been in sight of land for hours now, but it's only just started feeling like we're close to landing."

"Better than the other way around," James replied with a grin.

"I guess." Nicola nodded.

"Anyway." James's tone turned serious. "The ferry trip has taken longer than I thought it would. We're probably going to need to hurry to the contest hall."

"Is the contest today?" Nicola asked in alarm.

"Possibly," James replied. "It might be tomorrow, but I'm not sure."

"How long until we land?"

"It can't be too much longer. Maybe half-an-hour at most?"

"We'd better get going as soon as we land then!" Nicola declared. "Do the others know?"

"Not yet," James replied.

"Let's go and track them down then!" Nicola started walking. "That way, we can go straight there as soon as we're off the ferry!"

* * *

 _Slateport City, Hoenn_

 _3:37pm, 6_ _th_ _May 2006_

 _There it is!_

James was too focused on running to speak out loud. He shared the briefest of glances with Nicola, who was gasping for breath as she ran alongside him. Still, they'd finally reached the entrance to the contest hall in Slateport City, having run straight from the bottom of the gangplank as soon as they'd stepped off the ship.

The automatic doors whirred open as they ran towards them. They slowed to a walk, panting to regain their breath as they stepped into the building.

"C-Can I help you?" the receptionist asked as the two of them staggered over to the front desk.

"Is… Is there a contest happening here today?" James gasped.

"Yes, there is," the receptionist replied. "But it finished an hour ago."

"It did?!" Nicola exclaimed. She and James slumped forwards in disappointment.

"Is there another one soon?" James asked.

"There should be one a week from now…" the receptionist replied tentatively. "Sorry."

"I understand. Don't worry about it," James replied. He and Nicola started walking away from the desk.

"What now?" Nicola asked, wiping sweat from her forehead and looking at James.

"I guess we can rest for a bit," James sighed.

They sat down on a bench in the lobby. Now that they had the chance to actually look around, it was actually a very large area. This contest hall was almost more of a stadium and the lobby reflected that. There were several glass automatic doors along the front of the building, interspersed with large windows which ran from the floor to the same level as the tops of the doors.

Behind and above the front desks, there was an upper level, with a large staircase at each end of the room that led up to another hall above. The signs on the wall indicated that this was the way to the spectator areas. In the wide space between the front desk, the doors and the two staircases were several lines of benches and the occasional decorative tree to spruce up the lobby.

"So, what should we do now?" Nicola asked.

"Good question," James replied with a sigh. "I don't think we can really sit around here in Slateport City for a whole week waiting for the next contest."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded sadly. "Will and Richard wouldn't be happy." She frowned as she turned to look at James again. "But what can we do? What if we keep accidentally missing contests?"

"I heard about the Slateport contest back at that taster session on Dewford Island," James replied. "But there must be a way to look up when contests are taking place and where they are."

"So, if we could figure it out, then we could plan our route based on where there are contests?" Nicola asked.

"If there's a way to find out." James reminded her.

They lapsed into silence for a couple of seconds.

"Still, I'm surprised that the contest hall is still open even though there isn't a contest on at the moment," Nicola said, looking around the lobby. "There are even other people still around here."

"Yeah." James nodded. "I get the feeling that we've still got a lot to learn about the contest scene."

Their conversation had apparently caught the attention of another nearby trainer in the lobby. She wandered over to them and started talking to them.

"Are you guys both new coordinators?"

"Ah, yeah." Nicola nodded. "We were hoping to take part in the contest today, but…"

"I get it," the girl replied solemnly. "I'm the same – I got here just a little too late." She paused for a second. "The name's Rebecca, by the way. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm James," James replied.

"And I'm Nicola," Nicola added. "So, have you been a coordinator for long?"

"A short while." Rebecca nodded. "It can be a bit daunting when you first start out, I know that."

"So, what are you doing here?" James asked. "The contest is already over, right?"

"Well, contest halls offer more than just official contests," Rebecca replied. "They hold training sessions whenever there isn't a contest on, if you wanted to learn more. You can make pokéblocks using one of the berry blenders as well."

"Oh! I think I remember hearing that at the taster session!" Nicola exclaimed. "Pokéblocks are supposed to be important, right?"

"Yeah." Rebecca nodded. "You feed them to your pokémon to give them a better condition. That makes them more appealing in contests."

"So, where are these 'berry blenders'?" James asked, looking around the lobby.

"This contest hall keeps them on the upper level," Rebecca explained. She grinned at them. "Want to learn how to use them?"

"If you're offering!" Nicola replied enthusiastically.

"Sure, let's go!" James nodded, getting to his feet.

* * *

 _3:42pm, 6_ _th_ _May 2006_

"I wonder if the others made it to the contest?" Richard mumbled to himself as he sat in the trainers' lounge at the pokémon centre in the centre of Slateport City.

Now that they were back on the mainland, and in a major city no less, there were far more other trainers about using the local facilities. The lounge in Dewford Town had been almost empty. Here though, the lounge was almost full. This, as Richard would later learn, was mostly because everyone had come back to the pokémon centre after the contest.

Looking around idly, he spotted Will on his way over to join him. Apparently his pokémon were all healed up after his battle on board the ferry.

"All fixed up?" he asked as Will reached him.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "Want to go out and do some training?"

"You still down after that defeat?"

"I need to get stronger."

"Well, that's fair enough." Richard jumped to his feet. "We've got a while to kill while we wait for James and Nicola to get back, so I'm good to go and practise!"

"Good." Will nodded approvingly. "We're going much further than we did last time."

"Sounds like a plan!" Richard grinned. He was more than happy to train harder – he had his own reasons for quickly getting stronger as well.

The two of them left the trainers' lounge and set off for the nearby practice arenas.

* * *

 _3:51pm, 6_ _th_ _May 2006_

Back at the contest hall, Rebecca had led James and Nicola up one of the staircases to the upper level of the lobby. Much like the lower level, the centre of this hall was full of lines of benches for spectators to sit on while they waited for contests to start. The decorative plants in pots were there as well. A number of closed doors on the far wall led through to the stands and the main stage.

However, Rebecca led the two of them over to the side, towards a couple of large machines with four stools around each of them.

"So, these are berry blenders?" James asked. Aside from an opening in the top, there were four orange buttons pointing out in the direction of the stools.

"Yeah." Rebecca nodded as she sat down on one of the stools and shifted closer to the machine. "You can find these in pretty much any contest hall."

"How does it work?" Nicola asked. She took a seat as well and peered at the entrance on the top with curiosity.

"I'll show you," Rebecca replied, beckoning James to sit down. "It's best with four people, but it works with two or more people." As James sat down, she looked between him and Nicola before continuing her explanation. "Basically, pokéblocks are made by putting berries in the blender. As the blender is working, though, we push these buttons to increase the speed and make the finished pokéblocks smoother."

"We could just sit back and do nothing?" James asked.

"We could," Rebecca replied with a grin. "But then the blender would work really slowly and our pokéblocks would be really rough and unpleasant to eat."

"It seems a bit old-fashioned to have them operated by hand though." Nicola frowned.

"Perhaps." Rebecca nodded. "Maybe they'll design one that works automatically in the future." She fished a berry out of her bag and dropped it into the blender. "Anyway, let's get started!"

"Sure!" Nicola started fumbling through her bag. "Ah! Do we have any berries, James?"

"Here." James passed her a blue rawst berry.

"Thanks!" Nicola quickly added it to the blender.

"Alright!" Rebecca put the top on as soon as James had added his berry. "See that arrow on the top?"

"Yeah." James and Nicola both nodded.

"As soon as it's pointing at you, push the button. That'll speed up the spinning."

The blender had already whirred to life and the centre started turning. Rebecca pushed her button as it rotated, causing it to speed up.

James quickly pushed his button as well. The speed of the spinning surged.

Panicked by the sudden speed, Nicola missed her turn. Though the spinning carried on, it didn't pick up any more speed and started to slow as it passed the unoccupied fourth space.

The process continued, with the three trainers pressing their buttons as best as they could. After what felt like quite a while, the blender finally let out a 'beep' and started slowing down by itself.

"That's us done!" Rebecca grinned as James and Nicola started frantically clicking their buttons.

"Whew! That was more tiring than I thought it would be!" James sighed, sitting back and wiping his forehead.

There was small clattering sound and a trio of small, green blocks dropped down into a tray just in front of him.

"Are these?" Nicola picked up the three that had dropped down in front of her.

"These are pokéblocks," Rebecca replied. "Feed these to your pokémon and they'll improve their condition. With these…" She picked up one of hers and placed the tip of her tongue against it. She made a face and pulled it away again. "Yep, these ones are quite bitter."

"Is that bad?" James asked.

"Depends," Rebecca replied. "Pokémon all like different kinds of food, so some will like them and others won't."

"I guess that's true," Nicola sighed.

"Anyway, how about you try giving those to your pokémon?" Rebecca suggested.

"Good idea." James pulled out his poké balls and tossed them out.

Charka, Kacha, Nulin and Muro all burst out of the balls and looked at him expectantly.

"Tell me what you think, guys." James popped a pokéblock into Charka's mouth, followed by Kacha and then Nulin. Though Kacha and Nulin both seemed rather indifferent, Charka made an unpleasant face. "That bad, huh?"

James was swiftly interrupted by an ear-splitting shout from his side. Muro the whismur didn't seem all that happy.

"I'm sorry!" James winced, clutching his ears. "I hadn't forgotten you, Muro!" He turned back to the tray. "Ah."

"Of course." Nicola sighed. "We only get three each." That was fine for her. Kipa, Mushy and Zaggy had each eaten one of hers with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"You can have one of mine if you want," Rebecca said, offering one to James. "I only got these because I was teaching you two after all!"

"Is that okay?" James asked.

"Sure!" Rebecca nodded.

"Zaggy!" Nicola exclaimed, noticing that the zigzagoon had started running around the hall. She jumped to her feet and took off after him.

"That zigzagoon seems like a handful!" Rebecca laughed as James gave Muro the pokéblock.

The whismur bit into it eagerly, devouring it in seconds. He looked up at James expectantly as soon as he'd swallowed.

"You liked it?" James grinned. "Mind you, you'll probably eat anything…"

"Need another one?" Rebecca asked. "I don't mind."

"That's very kind of you," James replied, taking it. He tossed it towards Muro's waiting mouth.

At the last second, however, Muro was barged out of the way and another mouth eagerly seized the pokéblock.

"Huh?!" James exclaimed. "Mushy?!"

The shroomish had come out of nowhere and snatched the pokéblock. Apparently, she quite liked them too.

Muro wasn't impressed. He immediately barged into Mushy, knocking her back.

"What's happening?" Nicola called over from the middle of the hall. She'd finally managed to get a hold on the wriggling Zaggy and looked back over at the developing dispute.

Muro immediately barged back into Mushy, knocking her back. He wasn't impressed.

Mushy recovered and slammed into him again. The disagreement had quickly developed into a full-scale fight.

"Calm down, guys!" James shouted as Charka and Kipa rushed to separate the two of them.

"Huh? They're fighting?!" Nicola cried as she rushed back over.

His frustration swelling, Muro suddenly started crying, emitting increasingly loud sounds.

"Just great!" James grimaced.

Muro suddenly let out a prolonged and deafening shout that echoed around the lobby.

* * *

"We're really sorry!"

Both James and Nicola bowed deeply to the receptionist from downstairs.

"It's alright," the receptionist sighed. "But be more careful next time. Think about the other people around you and the trouble you might cause them before letting your pokémon roam around."

James and Nicola apologised again as she left.

"Wow! I didn't expect things to escalate like that!" Rebecca grinned. She seemed to see the funny side of it now that her ears had recovered. And that she wasn't the one in trouble.

"I guess they both really liked the pokéblocks," James sighed.

"Sorry, James." Nicola turned to him and bowed her head in apology.

"Huh? Why?" James replied, giving her a confused look.

"It's because I wasn't keeping a close enough eye on Mushy," Nicola said sadly. "A trainer needs to be responsible for their pokémon."

"Don't worry about it." James smiled. "You had your hands full dealing with Zaggy!"

Clutched in their trainers' arms, both Muro and Mushy were shooting dark looks at each other. James was starting to worry that things might escalate again.

"Hey! How about you guys keep making more pokéblocks?" Rebecca suggested. "I mean, as long as there are plenty of them, the pokémon probably won't fight. And it gives you a good chance to practise as well!"

"Would that work?" James wondered, looking down at Muro.

He and Mushy exchanged a glance before turning away from each other in a huff.

"Maybe if we kept them separate for now." Nicola laughed nervously. "But I like the idea of practising more."

"Let's do it then," James replied.

"Good luck then, guys!" Rebecca grinned at them as she stepped away.

"Huh? You're going?" Nicola asked.

"Yeah." Rebecca nodded. "I've got a training session I need to get to!"

"Ah, of course!" James should have realised that she was there for something. "Thanks for teaching us how to use the berry blender."

"No problem!" Rebecca grinned. "I hope we get to compete in a contest someday too!"

"Same!" Nicola called as Rebecca darted down the stairs and out of sight.

"Right!" James moved back over to the berry blender with his pokémon in tow. "Shall we get started?"

* * *

 _5:48pm, 6_ _th_ _May 2006_

The sun was dipping low in the sky as James and Nicola walked back along one of the main streets in Slateport City. In the end, they'd spent almost two hours in the contest hall making pokéblocks. Tiring as it was, constantly slamming the buttons on the berry blender, it was actually quite fun.

And they'd gotten good at making their pokéblocks as well.

With their berry supplies almost empty and their pokémon all satisfied for now, they'd finally realised the time and decided to head back to the pokémon centre to meet up with the others.

James had been a little disappointed that there was no noticeable difference to the condition of his pokémon, but he supposed that a proper sheen was something that he needed to work towards over a longer period of time. But he was exhausted after all the exertion of the day. Though she was trying not to show it, James suspected that Nicola felt the same way.

Before they'd left, James had asked the receptionist about where they could find out where and when future contests were being hosted. Apparently, there was both a website and a magazine that listed upcoming contests and their host towns which they could find in the pokémon centre. That had come as a relief to the two of them: now they had a way of tracking down contests. Hopefully, they'd avoid repeating today's events again.

"Oh!"

James snapped out of his thoughts at Nicola's sudden exclamation.

"What is it?" he asked.

"There's an arcade here!" Nicola pointed at the building on their left that they were approaching.

"So there is," James said as they reached it.

"Mind if we go in for a bit?" Nicola asked hopefully.

"I don't mind," James replied. "Do you like arcades then, Nicola?" he added as they stepped inside.

"I don't really go to them that often now," Nicola replied. "But I went to one a lot with my friend back when I lived in Johto. Seeing one just made me remember her…"

"I see." James nodded. He paused for a second to think. "I remember you mentioning your friend before. Do you miss her?"

"Yeah." Nicola stopped in front of a crane game. "We used to always try and play this, but we'd never win anything!" She paused for a second, as if mulling something over. She suddenly turned back to James. "Ah! It's not like I don't like travelling with you and the others! It's just, you know…"

"Yeah, I know." James smiled. "Every friendship is slightly different. Don't feel like you have to prioritise one over another."

Nicola smiled back before looking back at the crane game and frowning. "I always thought that we'd travel together, so it really stung when my parents suddenly decided to move to Hoenn." She turned back to him again and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm glad that I didn't give up though. Challenging the league, taking part in contests – I'm going to have lots of things to tell her about once I see her again!"

"Yeah." James nodded. "I know what you mean."

"Anyway! That's enough of that!" Nicola declared, stepping back. "Want to play a fighting game with me?"

"Sure," James replied.

* * *

 _6:41pm, 6_ _th_ _May 2006_

James and Nicola finally made their way sheepishly back into the pokémon centre almost another hour after they'd stopped off at the arcade. Much to their surprise, however, there had been no sign of Richard or Will in either the trainers' lounge or the restaurant.

"I hope they aren't in the room," James groaned. They had no idea which room they'd have chosen and there was no way that the receptionist would give him a spare key.

"What do you want to do now?" Nicola asked. "I was thinking that I should go and book my room…"

"I don't mind you heading off and doing that," James replied. "I'll wait in the trainers' lounge for you to get back."

"Got it." Nicola nodded.

The two of them parted ways, with James walking through the mostly deserted trainers' lounge and sitting down in an armchair. He was very conscious of the fact that most of the trainers staying at the centre were currently in the restaurant, eating all of the food. If the others didn't get back soon, then there wasn't going to be anything left for them to eat.

After a couple of minutes, Nicola re-joined him and sat on the sofa opposite, preferring to wait with him than to go up to her room by herself. Though she was pretty hungry herself and probably wanted to be as close to the restaurant as possible so that they were ready to go as soon as Richard and Will reappeared.

"Do you think that they're out training?" she asked James.

"Almost certainly," James sighed. "I guess we could go out and try to track them down, but…"

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. Slateport City was a big place. It would be very easy to miss them, especially now that it was getting dark outside.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the two of them did show up.

"Have you been waiting long?" Richard asked sheepishly as he reached them.

"Not too long," James replied. "I'd feel bad giving you a hard time though – we only got back about fifteen minutes ago ourselves!"

"How did the contest go?" Will asked.

"Ah, about that." Nicola shared a quick look at James. "The contest was actually already over when we got there."

"No way!" Richard exclaimed. He paused for a second. "Wait, what did you do to kill three hours then?"

"Another coordinator showed us how to make pokéblocks," Nicola replied. "And we spent a long time just making more of them."

"And we stopped off at an arcade for a bit on the way back," James added.

"Hang on, what are pokéblocks?" Will asked.

"We'll tell you in a bit." James got to his feet. "Let's go and get some food first."

The four of them started walking across towards the lobby.

"Were you just out training?" Nicola asked Richard as they reached the lobby.

"Most of the time, yeah." Richard nodded. "But we also explored the city a bit as well."

"Anything interesting?"

"Well, there was a large market," Richard explained. "But it was closed when we passed it."

"There was the Oceanic Museum as well," Will added. "But there was a massive queue outside, so we decided not to go in."

"Was it that popular?" James asked.

"I don't know about that," Richard replied. "All of the people queueing up were wearing the same odd clothes – striped tops, blue trousers and bandanas. They all had this weird symbol on them as well…"

"Some kind of club?" Nicola asked.

"I was thinking 'cult', but yeah, probably," Will replied.

"I guess that they must really like the sea or something," Richard sighed. "Anyway, what are we going to do next?"

"Well, I've decided that I need to expand my team," said Will.

"You have?" The other three looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "After losing today, I need to start working harder to improve. Having an extra team member will make training easier and give me more choice in my next battle."

"I guess we'll have to keep an eye out for wild pokémon then," James said. He turned back to look at Richard. "There isn't another contest here for at least another week, so Nicola and I thought it would be better to get moving towards Mauville City instead."

"That's fine by me." Richard nodded. "Are you sure you don't mind leaving?"

"I'd get too nervous if we stuck around here doing all that time," Nicola replied.

"There are plenty of other contests elsewhere as well," James added. "In fact, there should be one soon in a town on the way to Mauville."

"We'll aim for that then," said Richard. "Anyway, less talk – let's get something to eat!"

* * *

 **So, no contest this chapter, I'm afraid. Still, James and Nicola had the opportunity to learn more about pokéblocks. The original core premise of this chapter was centred on both pokéblocks and Muro, but I feel I've ended up expanding it to the point where the original core has been somewhat suppressed. Hopefully this chapter was still enjoyable regardless.**

 **The group will be back on the road next chapter on their way to Mauville City. I've also dropped a couple of extra hints as to what kinds of events you can expect along the way!**

 **On a related note, I've created a Facebook page for the** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **series. This was an idea I toyed with in the run-up to** _ **Pokémon Journey: Sevii Islands**_ **, but never actually put into action. My logic is that a Facebook page allows non-FFN users to keep track of when chapters come out and also means that I've got somewhere that I can post news updates (if I miss deadlines and so on), since using my profile or in-chapter author notes is inefficient and inflexible. You can find the page under the name 'Pokémon Journey – Fanfiction Series', if you think it would be useful to you.**

 **Anyway, as ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Whismur): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Pound, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	35. The Trick House

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **In the previous chapter, James and Nicola arrived too late to participate in the Slateport contest, but were instead taught about pokéblocks by a fellow coordinator. Meanwhile, Will vowed to get stronger and enlarge his team after a defeat in battle.**

 **Upload Date: 29** **th** **October 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 35: The Trick House**

 _Route 110, Hoenn_

 _2:05pm, 8_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Ugh. Another dead end."

James let out a sigh as he and Muro rounded a corner and found themselves staring at a mass of foliage blocking their way. The whismur nodded in agreement as they turned back and started walking along the tree and bush-lined path they'd come along.

Despite all the greenery around them, the two of them only had to look above to be reminded that they were in fact within a building. The dark coloured wood of the ceiling contrasted strongly with the bright lights overhead. There didn't seem to be any windows in the room, so there was no natural light.

In fact, James knew that the room must be below ground, something which helped explain the coldness in the air. The fact that such a room, lying underground, was full of trees and bushes was bizarre, though it was also impressive in a certain way. Not only that, the foliage had been very carefully arranged so that it formed a dense maze that spanned the entire room. There were so many twists and turns that it was very easy to lose track of where you were.

"We should have left a trail when we started," James sighed as he and Muro trudged wearily back along one of the long, grass-covered paths in the maze. "I can't tell where we came from."

Muro nodded as well. He twitched his ears, emitting ultrasonic sound waves and straining to track them. James had originally hoped that Muro could use these waves to map out the entire maze and guide them to the exit. As it happened, the foliage meant that the waves mostly just bounced off of the sides of the path and made it impossible to work out the layout of the entire maze. He was still able to pick up where there were gaps along whichever path they were on.

"What a mess!" James mumbled to himself as they continued walking along the path.

Aside from the fact that he'd been separated from the others, he was concerned by how much time they'd lost over this whole issue. He'd already spent at least an hour wandering around down here in an attempt to find an exit. At the rate he was going, it would be dark before he'd managed to escape and reunite with the others. They couldn't really afford delays like this.

He found himself briefly tempted to send up Nulin to scout out the maze from the air, but a part of him disliked the idea. His pride was urging him to conquer this maze without taking the easy option.

"…"

He let out another sigh as he came to yet another smaller tree that had been purposefully planted across the middle of the path. Sharing a nod with Muro, he pulled out a poké ball and sent out the pokémon within.

Charka quickly eyed up the tree as he materialised. It was just like the previous ones – it wouldn't cause them any problems.

"Thanks, Charka," James said as the charmeleon destroyed the tree with a powerful swipe of his steel-coated claws. He recalled him to his poké ball and continued walking with Muro.

He cast his mind back to how this whole mess had first started…

* * *

12:48pm, 8th May 2006

" _It's starting to get tough again," James said, noticing that they had reached an uphill stretch of the road. "Is everyone alright?"_

" _I'm fine," Richard replied._

" _I'm still full of energy," Nicola added._

" _I just want to keep moving!" Will called. He'd already advanced ahead of the rest of them. He'd been especially driven ever since they'd left Slateport the previous day, though his search for wild pokémon had been frustrated when they'd taken a detour through an urban area while searching for somewhere to stay the night._

" _Let me know if you want to stop," James said. "There's no sense in pushing ourselves too hard."_

" _Got it!"_

 _Having finally left the city behind them, they were back to walking the long paths through the forested mountains. Obviously, this meant that progress would be slower in the more difficult terrain. It also meant that it was less likely that there'd be anyone around or anywhere for them to quickly get to if they ran into problems. It was always a slight worry for James when he planned their routes._

 _Much to their surprise, however, they suddenly spotted a lone house sat by the side of the road as they reached the top of the hill. It wasn't uncommon to find isolated houses out in places like this, but there was something about this one that drew their attention. It didn't look especially well-maintained and definitely looked as though whoever owned it had done the bare minimum of work. What really grabbed their attention though was a sign beside the door that they spotted as they got closer._

' _You are just a few steps away from the marvellous Trick House!'_

" _Trick House?" Richard frowned as they drew closer. "What kind of place do you think this could be?"_

" _I'm not sure," James replied._

" _Why don't we go inside?" Nicola said, turning to look at the others._

" _Wouldn't that be trespassing?" Will asked._

" _With a tempting sign like that?" Nicola replied. "I'm sure who ever owns this place wants people to visit._

" _Well, I guess we can stick our noses in and see," James said._

 _The four of them approached the door and pushed it open. Much to their surprise, it opened easily and smoothly. It didn't seem old or decrepit at all. They stepped through and found themselves in a small entrance hall. Unlike the outside, it was full of smart furniture and looked as though it had been cleaned recently. Much of the furniture seemed very… upmarket. Not the sort of stuff you'd expect to find in a small house in the middle of nowhere. It had the effect of making the room seem glamorous in a distant, aloof kind of a way._

" _You're being watched…"_

 _James jumped out of his skin as a low male voice briefly pierced the air. The other three all looked around in alarm as well._

 _"H-Hello?" Nicola called cautiously._

" _I am the greatest living mystery of a man in all of Hoenn, the Trick Master!" The voice suddenly introduced itself. It sounded like it was coming from the same room, but James couldn't pinpoint where exactly it was coming from. "Travelling trainers, if you have set foot in here then you must have come to challenge the Trick House!"_

 _Before any of them could respond, the 'Trick Master' continued._

" _Consider your challenge accepted! We'll start straight away!"_

 _At that, trap doors suddenly opened beneath the four trainers._

" _Whoa!" James exclaimed as he suddenly dropped into a chute and slid away._

 _The Trick Master's words echoed after him: "Complete my challenges and you shall receive a reward…"_

* * *

 _2:07pm, 8_ _th_ _May 2006_

With hindsight, James could remember hearing about some kind of eccentric who lived out in these parts when they'd been in the trainers' lounge earlier that morning. His initial fears that they were completely trapped were unfounded – he'd very quickly run into other trainers who'd strayed into the house as well and had learned that this whole act was just the Trick Master, well, playing tricks.

Not that it made him feel any better about the fact that they were stuck.

"Come on, Muro," he said as they turned another corner in the maze. The whismur cried out in response as he followed him. Even though he only had little legs, he was now able to keep up with James when he walked. He guessed that all that training had helped to build his stamina.

"I wonder where the others are..?" he mused as he continued following the seemingly-endless green path.

* * *

"Ha!" Richard shouted out as he jumped onto a large button on the floor. There was a rumbling as the blue-patterned door to his left opened. At the same time, the red-patterned one behind him slid shut.

"Hmm." Richard stepped through the now-open door and entered the next room. To his right was a red door that was firmly closed, while another open blue door stood to his left. Ahead was a solid brick wall.

If he went left, then he'd just end up looping around towards the start again, and there was no sign of a button that would switch which colour doors were open.

"Argh! I've had enough of this!" Richard exclaimed angrily. He glanced down at Arro and Chena, who were following at his feet. "Arro, hit that red door with everything you've got!"

Unimpressed by the sudden order, Arro shot him a warning look. Nonetheless, he started charging at the door. There was a crash as he hit it head on, only to be flung back. Clearly it was made of some tough stuff.

"Guess we have to go around again." Richard gave a defeated sigh, smiling weakly at Chena as he turned to head left.

There was a thud as the angered Arro rushed back and slammed into his trainer's leg.

"Oww! I'm sorry!" Richard cried. "I didn't think it would be that hard!"

He quickly sprinted through the open doorway, Arro racing after him and Chena at his heels. The poochyena suddenly barked at his trainer and rushed over to another button. Pressing it, he opened up the door in front of him.

"You've got an idea, Chena?" Richard called, slowing down as Arro stopped chasing him.

Chena barked again and dashed through the door on the far side of the next room. Richard followed him, passing through another room.

"Ah! We didn't come in here before!" Richard suddenly realised. He stepped onto a button on the floor, causing the red door on his left to open. "Great! Looks like we're back on track!"

Chena grinned back at him proudly, though Arro gave him a dismissive look in response.

* * *

"Waaaah!" Nicola screamed as she skidded across the floor. She finally slammed into a large, black pot and fell on her bottom.

"You alright over there?"

Looking around, she spotted an older boy a short distance away.

"I-I'm fine!" she cried, blushing in embarrassment.

"Think you can make it over here?" the boy called.

"I think…" Nicola attempted to stand up, but her left foot slipped out from under her. The wooden floor had been polished so thoroughly that it was like trying to walk on ice!

She made a second attempt and finally managed to stand up.

"Don't try to fight it!" the boy called out to her. "Pick a direction and go with the slide – that way you're less likely to lose your balance!"

"Thanks!" Nicola set her sights on the door at the far end of the room and pushed off. After only a couple of seconds, she felt herself starting to lose her balance and started flailing her arms desperately.

There was a crash as she fell face-first to the ground.

"A-Are you okay?" the boy asked, sliding over towards her.

Nicola hurriedly wiped her eyes and rubbed the mark on her chin before turning back to him. "I'm never going to get out of here, am I?" she asked glumly.

"You'll be fine!" the boy assured her. "I'm Vincent, by the way."

"I'm Nicola," Nicola replied. She unsteadily pulled herself back to her feet. "How are we supposed to complete this challenge? The Trick Master didn't explain anything before he sent me through that trap door!"

"We just have to get through that door," Vincent said, looking over at the door. "But when I tried it earlier, it asked me to put in the password."

"So, we need to try and find the password somewhere in this room?" Nicola asked, looking around.

"I don't think it'll be too difficult to find," Vincent replied with a smile. "First though, do you want me to help you get used to crossing the polished floor?"

"Yes please," Nicola muttered in response.

* * *

"…Another one," Will sighed bitterly. Just like James, he was walking through a maze, though not one made using trees and bushes. Having rounded a corner, he'd found the path ahead blocked by an open trapdoor. On the far side, he now noticed, was a scroll which, if what another trainer had told him was true, should contain the password he needed to get through the Trick Master's challenge.

He hadn't seen any of the others since they'd been separated after entering the Trick House. He hoped that they were having better luck at completing their challenges than he was.

Deciding that he needed to retrace his steps and take the other direction back at the fork in the path that had led him here, he shared a nod with Toya, who was walking by his side. They were both keen to get out of there and get back to training and searching for a potential new team member. They didn't have time to be playing the Trick Master's games.

"I'm sure that the button we need is at the end of the other passage," Will said. "Let's get there as quick as we can!"

Toya nodded in agreement.

The two of them of started running back down the path, their footsteps echoing around them as they went.

* * *

 _2:43pm, 8_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Trick Master is huggable…" Nicola muttered as she entered the password by the door at the back of the room.

"That's a pretty… unique password," Vincent sighed as the door opened. He turned to look at Nicola. "Anyway, great work figuring out how to get across the floor. This is one of the toughest challenges the Trick Master has put together."

"How do you know that?" Nicola asked as they stepped through the door.

"I keep coming back every now and again to take on different challenges," Vincent replied with a grin. "There's actually a club in Slateport City that's dedicated to solving the Trick Master's puzzles!"

"I see…"

"I figure it's best if at least some of us are hanging around here most of the time," Vincent added. "Lots of new trainers come by here on their way to Mauville, so there are loads of new challengers who might need help."

They reached the end of the narrow passage beyond the door and stepped out into a bright room that was as elaborately decorated as the entrance hall. A small number of other trainers were milling around, talking to each other and laughing.

"Well, I'm going to head over and meet up with the rest of the club," Vincent said. "If you head up to the next room, then the Trick Master will give you a reward for completing the challenge."

"Thank you!" Nicola said quickly as he stepped away. Looking around, she spotted Richard and Will loitering near the stairs leading up to the next room. They waved to her as they spotted her.

"Hey! You got through!" Richard grinned at her. "Great work!"

"I thought I wasn't ever going to get out," Nicola sighed as she walked over to them. "I didn't see you guys at all – were you in different rooms?"

"Yeah." Will nodded. "I had to find my way through a maze that had open trap doors blocking the way. It took me ages to find all the buttons to close them."

"Mine was kind of like a maze as well," Richard added. "Loads of doors in two different colours. Every time I hit a button, it swapped which colour doors were open. It was a little tough at first, but I had Chena there to help. We got it done in no time at all!"

"Good for you…" Nicola sighed. "I had to cross a really slippery floor and kept falling over!"

"Pfft! That must have been funny to see!" Richard laughed.

"Did you guys have a really weird password that you had to find as well?" Will asked as Nicola started growling at Richard.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "Mine was 'Trick Master is awesome'."

"This Trick Master seems a bit up himself," Will said.

"By the way, where's James?" Nicola asked, looking around. There was no sign of the fourth member of their group.

"Haven't seen him," Richard replied. "There was no one here when I arrived."

"There are eight challenges," Will added, nodding towards the doors at the far side of the room. "I guess he's still trying to get through his."

"I hope he arrives soon," Nicola said, casting a worried glance at her watch. "We've already been here for hours…"

* * *

 _2:52pm, 8_ _th_ _May 2006_

"'Trick Master is fabulous'?" James let out a sigh as he read what was written on the scroll he'd found deep in the maze. "This is the password to get out of here?"

It had taken him and Muro almost another hour to finally track down this place. Exactly what the password was didn't really matter to him, but he's been hoping that it would be something more elaborate. The self-praising password made him feel as though the Trick Master was mocking him.

He made a mental note to give the guy a piece of his mind when he finally escaped from this place.

"Shall we go?" he said to Muro, jerking his head in the direction of the way they'd come.

Muro nodded and called out eagerly. He ran ahead as they started walking. Despite how long they'd been walking around, he still seemed full of energy. Maybe he was just pleased to be out of his poké ball and wandering around with him? After all, James had put a lot of focus on Charka and Nulin recently when he'd been preparing for his rematch at the Dewford gym.

At that moment, James's thoughts were interrupted by Muro's cry of surprise. He'd rushed out into another path and almost collided with a trainer approaching from the right.

"Are you alright?" James called as Muro was knocked back.

Muro rolled back to his feet and nodded.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" The other trainer, a girl probably around James's age, quickly apologised.

"Ah, no. Don't worry about it!" James quickly assured her. "It was our fault anyway. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The girl nodded. "Did you accidentally wander in here as well?"

"I guess so," James replied. "I'm James, by the way."

"I'm Sally." The girl introduced herself. At this point, James nodded the small, blue pokémon with green leaves on its head that was stood by her side.

"Oh? You've got an oddish?"

"Ah, yeah." Sally nodded. "This is Mina."

Though Sally was trying to be friendly, it seemed that the collision with Muro had angered Mina the oddish. She had quickly adopted a combative pose and was glaring at the whismur defiantly.

"Ah! Mina!" Sally cried. "Don't make a scene!" She quickly scooped up the oddish into her arms. "I'm sorry about this!"

"Don't worry about it," James replied.

Muro, initially confused by Mina's hostility, quickly started to get angry himself. He called out to the other pokémon, stamping his feet in protest.

"…Maybe it would be better to let the two of them settle their differences?" James sighed.

"Eh? You mean a battle?" Sally asked.

"If it's just Muro and Mina, then it'll be a quick one," James said. "If you want to, that is."

Sally shared a nod with Mina. "Sure, we'll accept your challenge!"

"Great!" James stepped back to put some space between himself and Sally. Muro ran to stand in front of him.

"Let's go, Mina!" Sally called, finally letting Mina out of her arms.

The oddish bounced up and down enthusiastically.

"Start off with Pound!" James ordered.

Muro nodded and charged forwards. As he swung one of his large ears towards Mina, she stepped smoothly to the side to avoid the attack.

"Use Poison Powder!" Sally called.

"Use Pound again!" James shouted.

Mina immediately fired a cluster of purple spores towards Muro, who moved to the side just in time. He shot forwards and slammed into Mina. The tightness of the passage made it difficult for the two pokémon to move around, much less dodge a sudden attack.

"Try using Absorb!" Sally ordered.

Mina was quick to react. She struck Muro with a green beam of energy before he could react. The whismur cried out in pain as his energy was drained. He stumbled back slightly, but remained upright. He immediately let out a deafening shout that echoed around the room. Caught off-guard, Mina stumbled backwards and crashed into the hedge at the side of the path.

"Great work, Muro!" James called. He'd figured that the anger of the two pokémon could be contained if they fought according to the rules of a pokémon battle. It looked like that was working so far.

"Use Sleep Powder!" Sally called.

Mina jumped back and fired a cloud of green spores towards Muro. Though he attempted to dodge the attack, he couldn't move far enough to the right and was hit by some of the spores. Mina shot him a triumphant look as they settled on him.

"Yes!" Sally grinned. "Now use Acid!"

Mina fired a spray of purple acid towards Muro. However, the whismur moved to one side and let out another ear-splitting shout. Mina was blasted back and crashed into a nearby tree.

"H-How is he still awake?!" Sally gasped as Mina staggered back towards the centre of the path.

"Using Uproar makes it impossible for the user to sleep for a while!" James grinned.

"Ugh!" Sally frowned. "Mina, use Poison Powder!"

Mina was quick to react. Despite her injuries, she was still good to go. Firing a cloud of purple spores, she followed up with a green beam of energy aimed straight at her opponent. Muro dashed to the side to avoid the spores, but was struck by the second attack. He cried out in pain and winced as his energy was drained. He reacted with a third shout that struck Mina and hurled her back once more.

Both pokémon were starting to show the signs of their exhaustion. Both were panting heavily as they eyed each other cautiously. They both winced with each movement of their injured bodies. The next moves would be decisive.

"Use Acid!" Sally shouted.

"Use Pound!" James yelled.

At the moment Mina fired a spray of acid, Muro sprang forwards. Shooting just beneath the arc of the oddish's attack, he suddenly jumped into the air and slammed one of his stumpy feet onto his opponent. Mina cried out in pain as she was slammed to the ground.

"That was Stomp!" James exclaimed as he recognised it.

"Mina!" Sally cried in alarm.

The exhausted oddish had finally keeled over and crashed to the ground. The battle was over.

"Whew! You've really improved since I first caught you," James said to Muro. He offered his hand to Sally. "That was a good battle. Your oddish is pretty tough."

"Thanks," Sally replied sadly. She started saying something else when they both suddenly interrupted by a cry from their side.

Muro had suddenly become enveloped in a white light. A series of light beams started circling him as his body started changing. His arms and legs became much larger, while his ears suddenly expanded. The light burst and Muro's new form emerged.

"He evolved!" Sally exclaimed.

"Wow! Well done, Muro!" James grinned. He pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at him.

" _Loudred, the big voice pokémon and the evolved form of whismur. A loudred's bellowing can completely decimate a wood-frame house. They use their voice to punish their foes. These pokémon's round ears serve as loudspeakers. They shout while stamping their feet. After they finish shouting, these pokémon become incapable of hearing anything for a while. This is considered to be a weak point._ "

Muro grinned and called out triumphantly. Despite this, he looked exhausted, like he could keel over at any moment.

"You come back and rest." James quickly held out his poké ball and recalled him.

"Congratulations," Sally said. "I bet Muro will be even more powerful now!"

"Thanks," James replied. "How are you doing getting through this maze?"

"I'm still struggling," Sally sighed. "I found the door, but not the password…"

"Oh!" James's face lit up. "I found the password earlier. Think you can lead me back to the exit?"

"Sure!" Sally nodded.

* * *

 _3:04pm, 8_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Thanks for that," James said as he and Sally passed through the doorway into the exit room. "I was worried I was going to be wandering around in there for ages!"

"I should be thanking you!" Sally quickly replied. "You were the one with the password!"

"I guess we helped each other out!" James laughed. "Anyway, I should try and track down my friends. Thanks again!"

He waved to Sally as they parted ways and started walking off, looking around for the other three.

It didn't take him long to find them.

"You took ages, James!" Richard exclaimed as he approached them.

"Hello to you too," James replied. "That was a ridiculous challenge!"

"What kind of challenge was it?" Nicola asked.

"A massive hedge maze," James sighed. "It took so long to get through."

"Whatever. You're here now and that's the most important thing," said Will. "So, let's get our reward from the Trick Master and get out of here."

"Sure." James nodded.

The four of them walked up the stairs towards the next room. Pushing open the door, they stepped through and found themselves in what appeared to be a library. Large bookcases lined the walls, while rugs on the floor and a crackling fire in the fireplace gave the room a snug atmosphere. There was a man sat at one of the tables, relaxed back into his chair and reading a book. His blue waistcoat and top hat gave him an eccentric appearance that, by this stage, didn't surprise the four trainers.

"Ah! Welcome!" the man greeted them as they walked towards him. "It looks like you've managed to pass my challenges – you're very sharp indeed!"

"What's the reward?" Will asked, not beating around the bush.

"In honour of your skills, I present you with these!" The Trick Master held out his hand. There were four balls with an odd purplish hue to them.

"Umm, what are they?" Nicola asked as she took hers.

"It's a smoke ball," the Trick Master replied. "You can use them to send up a smokescreen. They're very useful for escaping from rampaging wild pokémon."

"This feels a bit underwhelming," said Richard, giving his smoke ball a disappointed look.

"Hah! Don't get smug!" the Trick Master declared. "You may have bested my puzzles this time, but you're still a long way from matching my greatness! Prove yourselves to me again and I will offer a better reward!"

"Well, I guess it was a kind of interesting experience," James sighed. "If we're ever in the Slateport area again, then maybe we'll stop by again."

"Wise words, my boy!" The Trick Master nodded with satisfaction. "I'll be waiting for your return!"

"This was a waste of time," Will muttered as they headed for the door leading back to the front of the Trick House.

"Oh well!" Nicola smiled. "It was fun getting through those challenges though!"

"Yeah," Richard sighed. "But it's still frustrating, given how poor the reward was."

"It might have been more fun to solve the challenges together rather than separately," Nicola said thoughtfully.

"I guess we'll have to stand closer together next time!" James grinned.

They continued chatting as they emerged from the Trick House and set off along the road east once more.

* * *

 **So, I hope that the events of this chapter proved entertaining. And I'm sorry if you were hoping for a new team member for Will this time – please rest assured that he'll be making his move soon!**

 **Anyway, I've been looking forward to incorporating the Trick House into the story. It was always one of the places I enjoyed visiting the most in Ruby version for some reason. Maybe it was having to keep coming back to complete the next challenge. I hope that I did it justice in this chapter.**

 **As ever, I welcome any feedback you have on this chapter, and remember to stop by and like the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.


	36. Marching on the Stomach!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, the group found themselves caught up in the Trick House. However, they all managed to complete the challenges the Trick Master set for them. Part way through, Muro evolved into a loudred after a battle with another trainer.**

 **Upload Date: 5** **th** **November 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 36: Marching on the Stomach!**

 _Route 110, Hoenn_

 _11:31am, 9_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Dodge and use Water Gun!" Will shouted.

Toya sprang to one side as Chena jumped towards him. As he moved out of the way, he fired a blast of water from his mouth. The poochyena quickly dove low in response, just managing to avoid the attack.

"Use Bite!" Richard called.

Chena nodded and jumped forwards again.

"Withdraw!" Will shouted.

Toya wrenched himself back into his shell at the last second. Chena's jaw closed around the side of the shell with a loud crunch. He jumped back before the squirtle could counter attack, nursing several aching teeth.

"Nice reaction!" Richard grinned. "Toya's still got an excellent defence!"

"I'm glad you agree!" Will grinned back as Toya re-emerged from his shell. "We're going back on the attack now!"

Toya raced forwards, preparing to slam into his opponent. Chena, however, was quick to react. He jumped to the side as Toya reached him and countered with a tackle of his own. Toya cried out in alarm as he was struck in the side and thrown to the ground.

"It's not over yet!" Will called. "Use Water Gun!"

Toya rolled over onto his side in a smooth motion. He fired a jet of water towards Chena before he could react.

"Good attack!" Richard called. "But we're not just going to take that!" He nodded at Chena, who had pulled himself back to his feet. He gave himself a shake to clear away the water clinging to his fur before charging towards Toya.

"Withdraw!" Will yelled.

Once again, Toya whipped himself back into his shell. Chena, more cautious this time, halted and watched the motionless shell carefully. A five-second standoff felt as though it dragged on for ten minutes.

"Use Tackle!" Will finally broke the deadlock, ordering his pokémon forward once again.

Toya emerged from the shell and fired himself forwards.

"Use Bite!" Richard shouted.

Chena jumped forwards to meet his opponent. The two collided, barging into each other's shoulders. Chena immediately sank his teeth into Toya's shoulder. Crying out in pain and struggling to throw him off, the squirtle lurched forwards and bit into his opponent's shoulder as well. They continued thrashing about for several seconds before finally breaking apart, panting heavily and nursing their sore shoulders.

"I guess that's a new attack for Toya to use!" Richard grinned.

"You mean just then?" Will asked.

"Yeah. That Bite definitely packed a punch!"

"…That feels ironic somehow."

Still, Will was relieved that he and his team seemed to be improving. He was still set on catching a new pokémon to add to his team, but if Toya and Turkey fell behind, then it wouldn't help in the long run. Not for the first time, he was glad that he had gym challengers to practise with.

Over by the side of road, Nicola and James were sat patiently waiting for the other two to finish their practice battle.

"Do you think they'll be much longer?" Nicola asked.

"They'll finish up soon, I'm sure," James replied with a grin.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to train together with Muro," Nicola said, smiling at him. "You seemed so enthusiastic yesterday evening after showing him to us!"

"He's still a little bit much to handle!" James laughed. He held out a water bottle. "Want some?"

"Ah, thanks!" Nicola took the bottle. "How long will it take to get to the next town?" she asked before taking a swig.

"Not too long," James replied. "About two hours or so from here. That's why I let the others stop to practise."

"Couldn't we go further today?" Nicola wiped her mouth and handed the bottle back. "We normally go further."

"It's pretty rough further up," James explained. "I want to rest up before we try and get through."

"I see."

James put the water bottle away and waved to Richard and Will.

"What's up?" Richard asked as he walked over.

"Just thinking that we should get moving again," James replied. "We can stop and train later on when we stop for lunch." He glanced at Will. "Then there's Will wanting to catch a new pokémon as well."

Of course. They might have to stop at any time if Will spotted something he wanted to catch. Depending on how it went, that could add up to an hour to their day. Maybe even more, if it took a really long time to track it down.

"I won't take that long," Will said haughtily.

"You never know with these things," James replied with a grin. "At best, we'll have a short trip today and lots of rest. At worst, we'll have still got to where we need to, even if we're travelling for as long as normal."

"Well, let's get going." Will stepped forwards. "I want to start looking again as soon as possible."

* * *

 _1:38pm, 9_ _th_ _May 2006_

Route 110 ran along an upside-down T-shaped peninsula that pointed towards Mauville City at the eastern end, while Slateport City sat at the western end. On their way up from Slateport, they'd followed a path along the northern side of the peninsula, which had taken them past the 'trunk' of the T, which linked the area to the rest of Hoenn. However, the high ground in the centre of the peninsula was much more rural than the coast. Will had insisted that they pass through to the southern coast so that he'd have plenty of opportunities to look out for pokémon.

Yet, the morning had been disappointing on that front. Despite occasionally straying into areas that were definitely off the main path, they hadn't managed to spot anything nearby.

Well, except for a zigzagoon. But Will had no interest in that.

Eventually, it was decided that they'd stop for a lunch break. Maybe there'd be more pokémon out and about later in the day.

"Use Steel Wing!" Will called.

Turkey swept down towards Toya, his wings coated in steel. Toya braced himself for the hit, but was still knocked back. Turkey spun around for another attack, but, this time, Toya was prepared and hit the swellow with a jet of water.

"They're still at it," Nicola sighed, looking over at Will and his pokémon as she helped James unpack their lunch from the backpack.

"Once he sets his mind on something, it's difficult for him to think of anything else," James replied. "He'll calm down once he's caught a new pokémon and won some more battles."

"But then, won't the same thing just happen again the next time he loses?" Nicola asked.

"Well, yeah." James shrugged. "Here." He held out a packet of crisps.

"I hope he won't accidentally hit us with one of their attacks," Nicola said as she took it.

"He's far enough away," Richard replied.

"Come on, Will!" James called. "We're going to eat!"

"Got it!" Will and his pokémon reluctantly stopped their training and came over to join them. Toya and Turkey quickly moved over to join the other pokémon, who had already started tucking into the bowls of pokémon food in front of them.

"…I'm trying to eat," James said, raising an eyebrow as Muro attempted to climb onto his lap, not for the first time that day.

"He's still acting like that even though he's not a little pokémon anymore!" Nicola laughed. "How cute!"

"It's a pain," James sighed, trying to shift Muro to the side. It was much harder now that he was bigger and heavier. And stronger.

"I thought evolution was a bit like growing up," said Will.

"Kind of," Richard replied. "But it's not as simple as that."

"Muro was just a whismur yesterday," Nicola added. "It's not like he gradually changed into a loudred. Imagine if you suddenly woke up and realised that your body had become fully grown!"

"If you put it that way…" Will mumbled thoughtfully.

"It'll take him some time," James said, giving up and letting the loudred sit down. "But now that he's stronger, I think we'll be able to fight together much better than before."

"I'm the only one without an evolved pokémon," Nicola sighed, looking over at Kipa, Mushy and Zaggy.

"They'll evolve if and when they're ready," James replied. "And look on the bright side – if they decide to never evolve, then it's probably because they're strong enough in their current forms."

"I thought that you needed to evolve your pokémon in order to get stronger?"

"I used to think that as well. But as long as you're winning battles, does it really matter how big and physically strong they are?"

"I'd say so," said Richard.

"You would," James replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I want my team to get stronger as well," Will added.

"Also unsurprising."

"I remember you mentioning before that pokémon respond to their trainers' will," said Nicola. "Does that mean that my pokémon will evolve if I really, really want to get stronger?"

"Maybe," James sighed. "I think Richard and Will's preferences come into play as well though. Richard likes bulky, strong pokémon, don't you?" He turned to his friend.

"Pretty much." Richard nodded. "I can use more agile pokémon as well though."

"I want to get stronger as well," James said, turning back to Nicola. "But I'm happy to take it slow and work out tactics to make up for my pokémon's weaknesses."

"I see!" Nicola nodded enthusiastically.

While they were ensconced in their conversation, none of them noticed a small, green blob that had slid out of a nearby bush and was quietly approaching them. It was only when Will turned back to resume eating his lunch that he noticed something was wrong.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" Nicola asked. She yelped in alarm as she suddenly caught sight of it, the small creature that was stuffing itself with Will's food.

"Oh? Is that a wild pokémon?" James asked as he fed Muro a pokéblock. "They aren't normally this bold."

"Why is it always my food?" Will growled, jumping to his feet. The green pokémon quickly started making itself scarce.

"What is it?" Richard asked as Nicola whipped out her Pokédex.

" _Gulpin, the stomach pokémon. Virtually all of a gulpin's body is its stomach. As a result, they can swallow something their own size. These pokémon's stomachs contain a special fluid that digests anything. While they are digesting, vile, overpowering gases are expelled._ "

"Sounds awful," Nicola said as she put her Pokédex away.

"Take that!" Will hurled a poké ball after the fleeing gulpin.

"You're trying to catch it?!" Nicola cried in alarm.

"No one steals from me and gets away with it!" Will replied. "Just ask Turkey!"

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you asked), the gulpin swayed to one side and the ball sailed past. There was a rustle as it disappeared into the bushes once more.

"Looks like it got away," Nicola sighed with relief. "Don't let it bother you, Will. I'll share some of my food with you."

Will ignored her and glanced over his shoulder. "Toya, Turkey, we're moving out!"

"He's really doing this, huh?" Richard said, watching as Toya and Turkey rushed to follow their trainer into the undergrowth.

"He can't serious want to catch that thing, right?" Nicola looked between the other two.

"Well, he kept chasing Turkey for two days last time," James replied.

"…We need to stop him."

"Well, someone needs to clear up the camp," said James. "Richard and I will do that. You head off and catch up to Will."

"Why me?" Nicola asked.

"Well, someone's got to," Richard replied.

"You guys just don't want to tangle with that gulpin, do you?" Nicola asked, frowning at them.

"Better hurry! You'll only fall further behind Will!" James called, making a show of collecting up everything they'd gotten out for lunch.

"…Fine," Nicola muttered bitterly. "Kipa, Mushy, Zaggy, let's go!"

The three pokémon quickly sprinted after her as she set off after Will. They disappeared into the bushes, the sound of them pushing past leaves and branches continuing for some time before finally fading away.

"Get to work." James turned back to Richard. "In five minutes, you're setting off after them, ahead of me if needed."

"Ah, I get it!" Richard grinned. He grabbed what was left of his packet of crisps and tipped them into his mouth. "It's so we don't get too far away from each other," he continued after swallowing.

"Less talk, more work," James replied firmly.

* * *

 _2:01pm, 9_ _th_ _May 2006_

"I found you!" Nicola shouted as she jumped out from the bushes.

By the side of the road, an old lady jumped out of her skin.

"I'm so sorry!" Nicola cried, mortified. "Has a boy run through here recently?"

"Oh, yes." The old lady, recovering from her surprise, nodded in response. "I caught sight of him running across the road a short while ago."

"Which way did he go?" Nicola asked breathlessly.

"Straight across," the old lady replied. "Right about where we are now."

"Thank you so much!" Nicola called gratefully as she and her three pokémon tore off into the undergrowth again.

* * *

"There it is!" Will shouted to Toya and Turkey as they tore through another bush and spotted the small, green shape of the gulpin slithering away across the hillside. It must have finally become worn out after trying to get away. Now was the perfect moment to strike.

Turkey soared ahead and rushed over the gulpin to block its escape, hovering in the air and flapping his wings powerfully to make himself look as imposing as possible. With a nod from Will, Toya jumped forwards to engage the wild pokémon.

"Use Water Gun!" Will called, deciding to keep his distance while he worked out the gulpin's capabilities.

Toya was quick to respond, blasting his opponent with a powerful jet of water. The gulpin hunkered down to hold position. As Toya's attack ended, it suddenly sprang forwards and slammed into him with one of its tiny hands. The squirtle took a step back, but otherwise held his ground.

"Use Bite!" Will ordered. It was time to press the offensive.

With a nod, Toya jumped forwards before the gulpin had a chance to get away. However, instead of trying to flee, the gulpin instead opened its mouth and expelled a cloud of foul-smelling purple gas. Toya flinched as the gas passed over him, some of it entering his open mouth. He choked and started coughing and dropped back to the ground. A split second later, he was struck by a blast of sludge thrown by the gulpin.

"Toya!" Will exclaimed as the squirtle was thrown back. He glanced over at his other pokémon. "Turkey, use Steel Wing!"

With a loud cry, Turkey lifted himself further into the air and dove down towards the gulpin, his wings cloaked in a steel coating. As he got closer, however, the gulpin flattened its body against the ground. As Turkey sailed overhead, it fired another blast of sludge at him. The swellow flinched as he was struck. He maintained height and circled around again.

"This pokémon is much tougher than I thought it was," Will muttered. He grinned. "I made the right choice deciding to catch you!"

Toya had pulled himself back to his feet, but he looked visibly ill. The tell-tale signs were all there – a cold sweat, shortness of breath, an involuntary shuddering. He'd been poisoned without a doubt. Turkey seemed to be in better shape, but the previous attack had left him flying funny. The gulpin looked tired as well, however.

"Use Tackle!" Will called.

Toya nodded. He rushed forwards, only for the gulpin to dodge to the side at the last moment. It sprang forwards again, striking Toya in the side with a powerful blow. Toya lost his balance and toppled over with a crash.

"Withdraw!" Will yelled.

Toya whipped himself back into his shell just in time. The gulpin fired a blast of sludge at him, mostly striking the shell.

"There you are!"

Will glanced over his shoulder to see Nicola emerging from the bushes behind him. She seemed out of breath.

"Do you know how long I've been trying to catch up with you!"

"I didn't force you to do that," Will replied. He turned his attention back to the battle.

"Is it giving you a hard time?" Nicola asked as the gulpin fired another blast of sludge, this time at Turkey.

"It's tougher than I thought it would be," Will replied. "Toya, use Water Gun!"

With a growl, Toya burst back out of his shell and, after a split second spent locating his target and taking aim, fired a blast of water from his mouth. The gulpin was struck and blasted back.

"Now use Bite!" Will shouted, deciding to press the attack.

Toya let out a cry and rushed forwards. He sank his teeth into the gulpin, grimacing as he did. Clearly the texture of the gulpin's body wasn't that pleasant to grip. The gulpin wasn't happy with the situation either and knocked him away with another powerful hit. As Toya stumbled back, he was suddenly engulfed by a watery aura.

"Use Water Gun!" Will shouted.

Toya didn't hesitate. He fired a powered-up blast of water at the gulpin, striking it directly and sending it flying back. It smashed into a tree and slumped to the ground.

Will pulled out another poké ball and hurled it through the air. It struck the gulpin on the forehead and bounced off again. The ball popped open and sucked the pokémon inside before dropping to the ground and starting to roll. With a final click and a burst of sparks, it came to rest.

"Phew!" Will let out a sigh of relief. "Great work, Toya! You too, Turkey!"

Toya and Turkey both grinned proudly back at him as he started walking over to pick up the poké ball.

"Congrats," Nicola said as he picked up the poké ball. She frowned. "But haven't the others already warned you about relying on Torrent? What if Toya had gotten even more badly hurt?"

"Ugh." Will stood up again, the poké ball clasped in his hand. "I'm not really in the mood for a lecture right now."

"Hey! I'm trying to help you!" Nicola exclaimed. She sighed. "Well, whatever. I guess you got the result that you wanted."

"Come on out, Gulpy!" Will called, throwing out the ball.

"You've already decided on a nickname?" Nicola watched as the newly-named 'Gulpy' emerged from the ball.

"You're a pretty decent fighter," Will said, addressing Gulpy. "I'm sure that we'll do well working together!"

Gulpy looked at him for a couple of seconds, as if pondering something. Then, suddenly, both Will and Nicola clasped their hands over their noses as a truly foul smell reached them.

"I think it's digesting your lunch!" Nicola cried.

"That's a strong smell!" Will added, grimacing. It was so strong that it was starting to make their eyes water.

"I'm getting out of here!" Nicola called, starting to back up. "You better make sure you keep it in its poké ball after it's eaten!"

"I guess…" Will sighed. It seemed like he'd picked up a troublesome new team member.

* * *

 _2:23pm, 9_ _th_ _May 2006_

Will and Nicola wearily trudged back through the bushes towards the main road, the still-ill Toya resting in Will's arms. Turkey had spotted James and Richard heading in their direction from overhead and was doing his best to guide the four of them together.

"I think the smell has got into my clothes," Nicola said miserably, braving a quick sniff.

"It's not _that_ bad once you're used to it," Will replied unconvincingly, wincing as he caught a whiff of his own T-shirt.

"And all the branches have ruined my hoodie," Nicola sighed, noting all of the frayed edges and loose threads from her top. "Let's stick to the road in the future!"

"Like I said, I didn't make you follow me," Will muttered.

They pushed through the next bush and finally found themselves back on the road. Just in time to see James and Richard emerging from further up.

"Hey, guys!" James called.

The two of them came down to join them, but immediately stepped back once they were in range.

"What's that smell?" Richard exclaimed, wrinkling his nose.

"He caught the gulpin," Nicola replied bitterly.

"Wow! The Pokédex wasn't exaggerating!" James laughed, pinching his nose. "Still, nice work, Will!"

"Thanks," Will said. "She put up one hell of a fight – I'm glad that we're going to be fighting alongside each other from now on!"

"I guess we'd better get back on the road," Richard sighed. "You guys need to have a shower and change your clothes!"

"Don't say it like I don't know it!" Nicola whined. "How much further have we got to go?"

"Probably only about an hour or so," James replied. "Don't worry," he added, seeing the horrified looks on Nicola and Will's faces. "I'm sure the wind will blow away the worst of the smell on the way!"

"That doesn't make me feel any better!" Will grumbled.

"By the way, we'll be walking upwind from you," Richard added. "And don't come within five metres of me until you've had a shower!"

"This isn't my fault!" Nicola cried.

"Oh." James suddenly noticed Toya, who still looked ill from his fight with Gulpy. "Did you get poisoned?"

"I think the worst has passed," Will replied. "Do you have any medicine for him?"

"You need to make sure you carry at least some medicine with you yourself in the future," James said scornfully as he pulled an antidote from his bag. "Here." He tossed the bottle to Nicola.

"I'm sorry," Will said.

"As long as you know for the future."

Nicola sprayed the antidote onto Toya, who immediately started to perk up a bit. The four of them started moving again.

* * *

 _3:17pm, 9_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Here we are!"

"The pokémon centre?" Both Nicola and Will reacted at the same time. They'd been walking at quite a fast pace for almost an hour and were starting to get exhausted. The smell had dissipated, mostly, while they'd been walking, but both could still smell it. They wanted to get changed soon.

"Not the pokémon centre yet," James replied. "But we've reached the south coast."

As they turned the corner, they caught sight of the sea glittering in the distance. The road now led down towards a seaside town in the shadow of the mountain that dominated the eastern end of the peninsula. That was their target.

"It won't take us long to get down there," James replied. "I wondered if you wanted to stop for a quick break and something to eat before we set off."

"I guess so," Nicola sighed. All the excitement of the afternoon had made her hungry. That, and she hadn't eaten that much before being sent off to chase down Will.

They quickly set up a small camp by the side of the road and started handing out the food.

"Think you can handle giving food to the pokémon, Will?" James asked.

"If I must," Will replied with a shrug. He took the bag of pokémon food that James was holding out and started spreading out bowls for each of them. The pokémon, spotting this, all gathered around him, impatiently jostling with each other as he started pouring the pellets out.

"Sometimes I think we should just have one big bowl for all of them to share," Nicola sighed as Zaggy, Dish and Nulin all attempted to start eating from the first bowl. Naro, Charka and Kacha were keeping back – they'd long since learnt to wait patiently for their food to be poured out.

"This is going to be so tiring when we have more pokémon," Will groaned as he finally poured out the final bowl.

"Good work!" James grinned, offering Will a bread roll and a chocolate bar.

"You're welcome," Will replied, taking them.

"How are we for supplies, by the way?" Richard asked.

"We should have enough to get us to Mauville City," James said, briefly glancing in his backpack.

"I hope that you're right," Will said. He seemed more relaxed now that he wasn't doing anything.

At that moment, a shadow passed over him.

Turkey suddenly gripped the bread roll and snatched it away as he was preparing to take a bite. As he shouted, and his eyes followed the fleeing swellow, he felt the chocolate bar being pulled from his other hand. He looked around to see it disappearing into Gulpy's mouth.

"Hey!" Will yelled as the gulpin started fleeing as well.

"Looks like Will's life is going to be even more hectic from now on!" Richard grinned, watching as he chased after his two renegade pokémon.

"I don't know why he keeps catching pokémon that steal his food!" James laughed.

"Get back here!" Will shouted, his two pokémon shooting cheeky grins at him as they ran.

* * *

 **So, Will has finally caught himself a new team member. I imagine that a gulpin wasn't a massive surprise since it's the only pokémon on Route 110 that has a 'stomach' theme, but I hope that you're looking forward to the future shenanigans Will's newest team member will get up to!**

 **That's pretty much all I have to say about this chapter. We'll be continuing on our way up Route 110 next chapter. After all, that mountain needs to be traversed somehow or another!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter, and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	37. An Electrike-y Challenge!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **In the previous chapter, Will's quest to find a new team member ended with the capture of Gulpy the gulpin, a pokémon in equal parts strong and disgusting. The group now continue their journey east.**

 **Upload Date: 12** **th** **November 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 37: An Electrike-y Challenge!**

 _Route 110, Hoenn_

 _11:47am, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Ah! I wish the weather could always be like this!" Nicola gazed up at the bright blue sky above them. The warmth of the sun perfectly balanced out the cool mountain air, while there were only a handful of clouds in the sky overhead.

"It's great weather for climbing a mountain, isn't it?" Richard grinned.

"We really got lucky," said Will.

"Yeah." James nodded.

The four of them were sat on a wooden bench outside a small rest stop, a large tarmacked car park to their left. On the other side of the road was a large reservoir, small waves rippling across its surface in the gentle breeze. This was the last major stopping point until they got to the far side of Mt. Unzen, the largest mountain at the eastern tip of the peninsula.

They'd already spent the morning climbing up to this point, but they still had several valleys and ridges that they needed to cross before they were through. Even just following the roads was tiring, but the guidebook suggested that it got even rougher the further they went. Hence their relief at the good weather.

The pokémon were all out enjoying themselves as well. It had seemed like a shame to keep them cooped up while they rested, after all. The car park was almost deserted, so the pokémon had all spread themselves out.

Arro and Naro were both sparring with each other, the aron's fierce tackles being easily blocked by his hulking opponent. Richard was glad that both of them took their training so seriously. Arro was still quite cold towards him, but he at least listened to orders now. And he didn't _always_ attempt to ram Richard's legs whenever he was out of his poké ball. All in all, a big improvement.

Similarly, Charka was also busy training. At James's insistence, he'd taken Muro with him. The loudred's comparative lack of battle experience left him at a disadvantage and James was hoping that training together with a strong pokémon like Charka would help him get used to fighting in his new form.

The rest of the pokémon were all playing together, racing around the car park and occasionally scuffling with each other. The only exception was Zaggy, who was still clasped very firmly in Nicola's arms. There were far too many interesting things for the zigzagoon to get distracted by out here and none of them wanted their crossing of Mt. Unzen to be delayed trying to track him down.

"I guess we'd better get moving again," James said, pulling himself to his feet. "The sooner we're over the mountain, then better."

"You're right," Richard replied as he and the others reluctantly got to their feet. "Let's get to it!"

The pokémon spotted the movement and all hurried over to them. A foul smell filled the air as Gulpy came within range of them.

"Ugh!" Nicola groaned as all four of them covered their noses. "Will, hurry up!"

"Got it." Will hastily recalled Gulpy to her poké ball. The smell, however, lingered for some time as they returned their remaining pokémon to their balls.

"I suppose we'll get used to it eventually," James sighed.

"Do we have to?" Nicola whined. "Can't we do something about it?"

"I could try feeding her separately to the other pokémon," said Will. "We already worked out that cleaning her doesn't work…"

They started walking along the road alongside the reservoir. The wind had picked up a little bit, disrupting the perfect harmony of the temperature. Combined with the cold mountain air, it was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"So, how much longer until we reach the next town?" Richard asked, looking at James.

"A while," James replied as he pulled out his guidebook. It'll take another four or five hours to get across the mountain and then another hour down into Anamarc Town."

"Including breaks?"

"Including breaks." James nodded.

The other three sighed in relief. That was often what held them up the most.

"So, we could get there even sooner if we don't stop?" Will asked.

"Yeah," James replied. "But we'll need to stop once or twice. We'll be too worn out otherwise."

"And once we get to Anamarc Town?" Richard asked. "What's the plan then?"

"There's a contest being hosted there tomorrow," James replied. "Nicola and I want to enter it."

"Ah, so I guess it's quite important that we _do_ get to Anamarc Town this evening then," Richard said with a grin.

"Exactly!" Nicola nodded seriously.

"And where do we go after that?" Will asked, peering over James's shoulder to look at the map. "Anamarc Town is at the end of the peninsula."

"There's a ferry across to Mauville City," James replied. "So, we're quite close to our next gym battles as well."

"Glad to hear it!" Richard grinned.

"Same here…" Nicola trailed off as she noticed something on the road ahead. They were about to leave the relatively open ground around the reservoir and follow a shaded path lined by tall pine trees. Stood just at the point where the trees began, right in the middle of the road, was a small, green and yellow pokémon. It growled at them as they got close and started discharging electricity around it.

"A wild pokémon?" Richard pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Electrike, the lightning pokémon. Electrike store static electricity in their fur for discharging. They give off spark in dry seasons or if a storm approaches. These pokémon also stimulate their leg muscles with electric charges from their fur. These jolts of power give their legs explosive acceleration performance._ "

"Wow!" Nicola gasped, looking at the electrike. "It sounds like a really impressive pokémon."

"Don't stop to admire it," said Will. "We need to keep moving, remember?" He took a step forwards.

With another warning growl, the electrike fired a couple of jolts of electricity in his direction, scorching the surface of the road.

"Whoa!" Will exclaimed, immediately jumping back.

"Are you alright?" James called.

"I'm fine!" Will called back. "He didn't hit me!"

"Well, we need to get past here," Richard said, frowning. He too took a step forwards. The electrike emitted another burst of sparks in his direction and he quickly retreated.

"What are we going to do?" Nicola sighed. "Are we going to have to battle him to get past?"

"I'd rather not," James replied. "If he's an electric type, then there's the risk that our pokémon could get paralysed. I'd rather not have to deal with that when we're in a hurry."

"Let's try going around it." Nicola moved cautiously over to the side of the road and started creeping forwards.

The electrike immediately noticed her and shot a burst of electricity at her.

"I'm sorry!" Nicola cried instinctively as she retreated hastily, the crackling electricity pursuing her.

"Why did you do that?" Will demanded. "Clearly we need to go off the road and walk through the trees instead!"

"He's got a point, you know," Richard added.

"Why don't you try it then?" Nicola replied, stepping back behind James. "I'll wait here until you've figured out which way to go."

"Let's give it a shot then," Richard said, turning to Will.

The two of them climbed over the crash barrier at the side of the road and disappeared from sight on the slope. They started walking carefully forwards, trying to stay as quiet as they could as they trod on tree roots and large rocks.

"Watch out, guys!"

They suddenly heard James's voice and looked to their right.

The electrike was stood with his front paws up on the barrier, looking straight at them.

"There's a good electrike!" Richard called nervously.

"We just wanted to look at the view, nothing more!" Will added.

With a growl, the electrike fired a burst of electricity towards them.

* * *

"Ugh." Richard and Will climbed awkwardly back over the barrier, their clothes slightly blackened and their hair standing on end.

"I guess we can't get around either," James sighed.

"You're telling me," Will said bitterly.

"So, what now?" Nicola asked. "Do we head back and try to find another way around?"

"I guess we'll have to," James sighed. "I'll have a look at the guidebook."

"What a pain," Richard groaned, putting his hand in his pocket to try and find his handkerchief. He felt his hand brush past something. "Huh?"

"…We could take this path here." James pointed to the map as he held the guidebook out in front of himself, Nicola and Will. "But that adds an extra twenty minutes by itself. If we include backtracking to get there as well…"

"I've got an idea."

Richard quickly joined them and had them huddle together.

"What is it?" Will asked.

Richard held out his hand. A small, purplish ball was resting on his palm.

A smoke ball!

"Of course!" James exclaimed. "These things are made for this kind of thing! Here's what we'll do…"

* * *

The electrike watched the four trainers carefully. Despite his warnings, they were still hanging around here. Now they seemed to be moving over towards the uphill side of the road. Were they going to try and get past that way instead?

At that moment, one of them threw down a purplish ball and a cloud of thick, greyish smoke erupted from it, obscuring the entire road.

The electrike heard the sound of their shoes crunching on the tarmac as they ran. Looking to his left, up the slope, he spotted a second eruption of smoke. They were trying to keep themselves out of his sight!

He immediately ran over to that side and fired a burst of electricity at the smoke cloud.

However, there was no response.

As the smoke cleared, the electrike realised that there was no one there at all. He dashed over to the other side of the road. There was no sign of them there either, but he could hear the sounds of them moving.

"Great work, Turkey!" He heard one of them shout as a swellow soared overhead and descended into the trees, gripping a spare smoke ball in one of his talons.

* * *

 _12:23pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Looks like those rewards came in handy after all!" Richard grinned as he and the others climbed back over the barrier much, _much_ further along the road. There was no sign of the electrike. They must have finally shaken him off.

"Yeah, great thinking, Richard," James said, reaching back to help Will up onto the road.

"Where to now?" Nicola asked, looking around.

As well as further along, they'd also come higher up the mountain. The road seemed to lead on up to the crest of one of the smaller mountains.

"We just need to keep following this path," James replied. "It should eventually lead us down towards Anamarc Town."

They set off again, not wanting to wait for the electrike to catch up, and quickly climbed towards the top of the mountain.

"…" Nicola gritted her teeth as she resisted the strong urge to ask for a rest. It was tiring work walking uphill and, although James had assured then that he'd taken breaks into account when planning their travel time, she got the feeling that Richard and Will wouldn't be too happy with her if she asked for one now.

There was the fear that the electrike might try and pursue them to consider as well.

"I know that some pokémon can get quite territorial," James said, clearly thinking about the electrike as well. "But the way he was behaving was really odd."

"That seemed perfectly normal for a territorial pokémon to me," Will replied.

"No, I mean a territorial pokémon would have no problem attacking us outright, especially given how persistent we were," James explained. "It was more like he was trying to keep us away, but didn't want to hurt us…"

"Big deal!" Will declared. "I'm just glad that we managed to lose him!"

"Umm, guys."

James, Will and Nicola looked up at Richard, who was leading the way.

He pointed at the sky. "I don't like the look of this."

The beautiful blue sky they'd gazed up at while resting by the reservoir had mostly gone. Instead, pitch-black clouds were rapidly rolling in amid a cold wind. The first fat raindrops started to hit the ground.

"Wasn't the weather supposed to be good today?" Nicola cried.

"That's what it said in the pokémon centre!" James exclaimed.

They suddenly caught sight of a flash in the distance.

"Lightning?" Richard looked over at James. "This isn't a good place to be right now!"

"We need to find shelter!" James nodded. He looked around desperately, trying to see where they could hide.

There was a bark from behind them.

"Not now!" Will groaned, noticing the electrike from earlier was running along the road towards them.

There was a boom as the thunder reached them.

"I was hoping not to have to fight, but we don't have time anymore!" James reached for a poké ball.

Before he could throw it, the electrike had already shot past him. Jumping up, he latched onto the sleeve of Nicola's jacket and started tugging on it.

"Are you okay, Nicola?" Richard called.

"Stop pulling!" Nicola cried, trying to shake him off.

The electrike let her go and started running forwards. He reached the edge of the road and motioned for them to follow him.

"Is he..?" James looked confused.

"I think he's trying to help us," Nicola said. The electrike hadn't bitten her – she was completely unharmed.

"It's better than nothing! Let's go!" Richard called.

The rain was falling heavily now as another flash of lightning appeared in the distance. The thunder came much more quickly this time.

"There!" Will shouted, noticing that the electrike had disappeared into a gap in the rocks ahead of them. They quickly reached it and found themselves standing in the entrance to a cave.

The electrike barked at them, jerking his head to indicate that they should come inside.

"Th-Thanks," Nicola said as she and the others stepped out of the rain and walked to the back of the cave.

"He knew," Richard said as they sat down.

"Knew what?" Will asked.

"The electrike knew that the storm was coming," Richard replied. "That's why he was trying to stop us. He didn't want us to get caught up in this."

"Sorry for causing all this trouble," James said to the electrike.

Sat by the entrance and gazing out at the rain, the lightning pokémon simply gave a shrug. He was probably used to his warnings being treated this way.

"So, what now?" Nicola asked, pulling off her wet jacket and laying it out over a nearby rock.

"We'll have to wait it out, I guess," James sighed. "I hope it won't last too long."

There was a flash outside, followed immediately by a loud boom that made them flinch. The rain seemed to get heavier as the lightning continued drawing closer.

They were glad that the electrike had come to their aid after all.

* * *

 _12:59pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

"We've lost quite a bit of time, but as long as we don't stop for more than fifteen minutes, we should still make it to Anamarc Town before dark," James said.

The rain had died down, though it was still falling slightly. They'd said goodbye to the electrike and set off once more, trying to find their way back to the main path. Now that the thunderstorm itself had passed, they needed to get back on the move again.

"I was surprised by how quickly that storm came in," Nicola said with a sigh as they trudged along the path. "The sky was so clear earlier."

"The weather can be like that sometimes," James replied. "It's my fault. I should have double checked the forecast before we set off this morning."

"Don't worry about it," Richard said, grinning nonchalantly. "It's not like anything happened after all!"

"Still, it was a good thing that that electrike was around to help us find shelter," Will murmured thoughtfully. "The lighting was really close to us."

"Yeah," Nicola added. "I never thought that he could have been warning us about the storm when we first ran into him."

"There are lots of pokémon that really are territorial though," James warned her. "It's best not to let your guard down in the future."

"Yeah." Richard nodded solemnly. "Do you remember that time we disturbed all those unown, James?"

"You don't need to remind me," James sighed.

"What was this?" Nicola and Will asked, looking between the two of them.

"Well, when we were travelling through the Sevii Islands…"

"Save it for later, Richard," said James. He'd stopped walking at a fork in the path ahead. "We need to work out which way will lead us back to the main road."

"Doesn't it say on the map?" Richard asked.

"Small dirt paths like this don't appear on it," James explained. "I guess the writer assumed that we wouldn't need to find a cave off the main path to shelter from lightning."

"Which way do you think we should go?" Will asked. "Do you know which direction we need?"

"Hmm." James pondered for a couple of seconds.

"Since we're past the main summit, should we follow the path heading down?" Nicola asked, pointing to the one on their left.

"I can see a road further down in the valley," Richard added. "Looks pretty promising to me.

"It's heading east," James mumbled to himself. "That's the direction we need." He turned to the others and nodded. "Alright, let's get moving!"

As they took their first steps forwards, they suddenly heard a sound behind them.

"Huh?" Nicola exclaimed as she glanced around.

The electrike from earlier suddenly rushed into view. Once again, he seized Nicola's sleeve in his mouth and tugged at it.

"He's back?" Richard cried.

"He's trying to pull me this way!" Nicola called as the electrike pulled her towards the other path.

"Maybe he doesn't want us to leave!" Will laughed.

"No, wait!" James exclaimed, scrutinising the map in the guidebook. "I think that's the path we need after all!" He pointed to a line on the map that led east before curling north and around the mountain. "That road down there is this one!"

"Wow! That was a close one!" Richard grinned. "Bravo, map reader!"

"Hey, I'm still getting used to this," James replied angrily as he put the guidebook away again.

"Thanks for your help," Nicola said to the electrike as he released her sleeve and stepped back.

With a bark and a nod, he turned and ran back the way he'd come.

"Right! Let's get moving, then!" Richard said, leading the way up the path to their right.

* * *

 _1:34pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

"No more!" Nicola gasped.

The four of them had finally reached the top of a small mountain, having slogged up the winding road all the way up. They were still a long way from their destination, despite the progress they'd been making.

"I second that," Richard added.

"Don't worry," James replied. "We've still got time for a rest."

They walked out of the trees to find themselves stood on the mountain top. They braced themselves against the strong wind that rushed across the exposed summit. There were still black clouds in the sky, but the rain had stopped a short while before. All the rocks dotted around were completely wet, however, so it wasn't going to be a pleasant rest.

"Wow!" Nicola walked over to the side of the summit. "Look at that drop!"

"Yeah." Will nodded, joining her. It was a sheer cliff with a drop of maybe 20 feet. They definitely didn't want to be going over there.

"We're making good progress," James said reassuringly as he sat down on one of the rocks. "We might even be able to make up for some of our lost time."

"Good! We can have a longer break!" Richard exclaimed as he sat down as well.

"Ugh!" Nicola shuddered as she perched herself on a cold, wet rock. She shrugged off her backpack and put it down next to her. It still felt good to be off her feet though.

"It's been a tough day," Will sighed. "I don't like it when we walk all day – we need time for training as well!"

"You're more than welcome to spend some time training once we reach Anamarc Town if you want," James replied wearily. "Nicola and I will definitely have to do that."

"Can you remember what time the contest is tomorrow?" Nicola asked.

"Not off the top of my head," said James. "But I definitely remember the date – 11th May!"

"Yeah, it'd suck if you guys got there and found out that you'd missed it again," Richard sighed.

"Which is why we really want to get to Anamarc Town tonight."

"What kind of a place is it?" Will asked.

"I don't know," James replied irritably. "I've never been there."

"Yeah, but you've looked at the guidebook, haven't you?" Will pointed out.

"It didn't seem like anywhere particularly special," James replied. "The pictures seemed nice, but then what pictures _don't_ look nice in this book?"

"I guess we'll find out later," said Nicola, smiling at the two of them.

There was another powerful gust of wind.

"It really is strong up here, isn't it?" Richard said loudly as the wind howled around them.

"It's cold too!" James shuddered.

"Ah!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed in alarm.

Before the others could ask her what was wrong, they spotted it too. The sudden gust had been strong enough to push Nicola's bag, which had been lying next to the rock she was sitting on.

"Grab it!" Will shouted as it moved further away.

"Don't stand up!" James called. The wind was too strong; they might get blown away by it as well.

Nicola moved off of the rock and tucked herself close to the ground before stretching out to try and reach the backpack.

At that moment, it suddenly tipped up and disappeared over the edge of the cliff.

"It's gone!" Nicola gasped in shock, arm still outstretched.

The wind finally died down and the four of them got to their feet.

"Don't go near the cliff edge!" Richard warned Nicola as she started walking towards it. "If another gust comes, you might fall!"

"What are we going to do?" Nicola asked desperately, turning back to look at him. "All of my stuff is in my backpack!"

"Today's lunch as well," James added sombrely.

"Just great!" Richard groaned, his stomach giving a sudden growl in reaction to the news.

"Don't worry!" Will assured them. "Turkey's strong enough to bring it back up here!" He pulled out the swellow's poké ball and opened it.

Turkey flew out and started hovering in the air. He scanned below before diving down. The others waited in silence for him to return.

"How is it?" Will asked as the swellow reappeared scarcely 90 seconds later.

Turkey shook his head. He flew over to one of the rocks and landed on it. He nodded his head at it.

Nicola went pale. "Y-You mean a rock has crushed it?"

"We don't know that," James said. "But if Turkey can't get to it, we'll have to get down there ourselves." He examined the guidebook. "I think that we can find a path that will lead us there

If we keep going along this road."

"Don't worry, Nicola!" Richard called reassuringly. "We'll definitely get it back!"

* * *

 _1:43pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

As they moved further down the mountain, the group of them quickly encountered another problem. The route was once again lined with trees and bushes and what looked like small paths seemed to lead off of the main road at almost every step. But most of these wouldn't take them to where they needed to go.

Nicola was getting increasingly anxious as they continued walking. Completely understandable, of course, but the other three were starting to find her constant questions about which path they should take a little bit grating.

"I'm not sure," James said. "We need to be careful that we don't end up getting lost out here, so I want to make sure we get the right path."

The map wasn't all that helpful either. Perhaps also understandably, the guidebook's author had thought that it wasn't worth taking note of all the tiny paths criss-crossing the mountain. After all, who'd have thought that someone would have to explore the base of the mountain for a backpack that had been blown off the summit in high winds?

"Ah!" Will suddenly called from further ahead. "I can see the cliff!" He pointed to the left. Sure enough, the cliff face was just visible above the trees on their left.

"We've come such a long way!" Richard sighed.

"So, we need to head this way, right?" Nicola was keen to set off immediately.

"Yeah." James nodded that's the way we need to go." He looked around. "We should probably try and find a way to mark our trail as we go. I'd hate to get lost on top of everything else that's happened."

"You're thinking string?" Will asked. "Or maybe stones?"

"Do we even have any string?" Richard wondered.

"We could use the guide ropes, couldn't we?" Will suggested.

"What if we damage them?"

"That's a good point."

"Rocks then?"

"How will we be able to tell the difference between our rocks and the ones already here?"

"Paint them?"

"With what?"

"Good question."

"Guys!" Nicola snapped. The other three stopped their discussion and looked over at her. "We need to focus on getting my backpack! It's not just supplies – all of my clothes are in there as well!"

"I know that you want to get going," James said, frowning. "And we all want the bag back as well, but I don't want anyone to get lost."

"If only I had Sting with me," Richard sighed, thinking wistfully of the beedrill he'd left at back home. "He could have laid out a string for us to follow."

"Could we just get all the pokémon out and have them form a sort-of chain from here to the cliff?" Will asked.

"I don't think that would stretch far enough," James replied.

"Okay, what if we spaced them out… say, one at every fork in the path?"

"Better," James said, furrowing his brow as he considered it. "But can you imagine Zaggy sitting still for that long?"

"It's better to keep him in his poké ball," Nicola replied, shifting impatiently. "We can't handle him running off as well as everything else."

"Oh! Wait!" James suddenly exclaimed. "I've got an idea!"

"What?" Richard asked.

"We could have a pokémon mark the trees along our route, you know, like how wild pokémon sometimes mark their territories!"

"That sounds good!" Will nodded. "Who could we use?"

"Charka would be good at that," Richard replied. "Naro as well."

"That's what we'll do then!" James grinned, reaching for Charka's poké ball. "Charka will leave claw marks on the trees while we head to the cliff."

"So, we can get going?" Nicola asked.

"Let's go!" Richard nodded.

Just as they took their first steps towards the path on their left, they caught sight of a flash in the distance. The trees shook as a bright green streak burst from the treeline and landed in the middle of the road.

The electrike from earlier looked over at them. Clutched in his mouth, dirty, slightly crushed and worse for wear, was Nicola's backpack.

"Huh?" The four of them stared in disbelief for about a second.

The electrike dropped Nicola's backpack and barked at them.

"Y-You brought it to me?" Nicola finally stepped forwards, gingerly approaching her bag. It was still zipped shut, but she wanted to check to make sure everything was there.

"That electrike again," James sighed. He was pleased to see that the backpack had returned, but he really felt as though the wind had been taken out of his sails. They'd just managed to hammer out a plan of action, after all.

"Thank you so much!" Nicola looked up at the electrike.

The electrike gave her a nod in response.

"Who'd have thought that this electrike would end up helping us this much," Richard said. He grinned. "And we thought he was just being territorial back then!"

"Now we can get moving again," James said. "Thanks," he added to the electrike.

"I'm probably going to have to replace this," Nicola sighed, examining the badly torn straps. They'd hold for now, but not for much longer. "At least everything's back though!" She instinctively reached out and patted the electrike on the head.

"Shall we get moving again then?" Will asked, moving past Nicola and turning back to look at the others.

"Sure!" Nicola replied.

Just as she was about to stand up, the electrike darted forwards and knocked one of her empty poké balls down from her waist. As it expanded and clattered to the ground, he stuck his head out and bumped it. There was a flash of red light as he was converted to energy and sucked into the ball.

"…Huh?" Nicola stared at the shaking ball in confusion.

There was click and a burst of sparks as it finished sealing.

"I guess he wants to come along with you," James said, looking at the poké ball as Nicola picked it up.

"Well, he'll be a big help and all." Nicola frowned. "But it would have been nice if he'd talked to me about it first."

"He probably thinks that you can't survive without him!" Richard grinned. "After all, he's spent most of today saving you some way or another!"

"Hey! He saved all of us!" Nicola snapped. "Not just me!" She sighed and looked at the ball. "Well, I don't mind you coming along. You can be called 'Tricky'. That seems fitting!"

"He's definitely an interesting one," Will said. He hid a smirk. "Wouldn't be funny if he turned out to be as uncontrollable as Zaggy?"

"I'll be able to handle both of them!" Nicola insisted.

James laughed. "Well, first let's focus on getting to Anamarc Town. There's still lots we need to get done today!"

"Right behind you!" Richard grinned.

As Nicola shouldered her backpack again and reattached her now-occupied poké ball to her waist, the four of them continued their journey along the mountain road towards Anamarc Town.

* * *

 **All's well that end's well. Even if she wasn't planning on it, it looks like Nicola now has a new team member as well, just in time for the Anamarc contest (assuming that they get there in time this time!).**

 **I ended up enjoying writing this chapter a lot more than I thought I would. When I was putting together the group's first encounter with Tricky, a part of me wanted to base the entire chapter on them trying and failing to get past him. Oh well, an idea for the future, perhaps! :P**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	38. A Deceptive Opponent

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **And not just any chapter!**

 **I present to you the new largest permanent chapter in the entire** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **series, at 10,300 (plus an extra 150-odd after last minute editing and however many are added in the author notes). This makes it larger than the previous record holder (** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **'s Chapter 31 – Celadon's Shopping Scene) by roughly 1,000 words.**

 **Anyway, enough bragging! Last chapter saw the group set off to cross Mt. Unzen to get to Anamarc Town, during which a wild electrike who helped them out decided that he needed to babysit Nicola. Nicola, for her part, didn't turn down the opportunity to get a new pokémon on her team.**

 **Upload Date: 21** **st** **November 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 38: A Deceptive Opponent**

 _Route 110, Hoenn_

 _5:15pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

The view from the mountains that lay around the eastern end of the peninsula was certainly impressive. The sea stretched out from Anamarc Town below, with the far shore just about visible in the distance. A handful of ships were crossing the water, heading in all directions, some large, some small. At this distance, they seemed to glide silently across the water's surface.

Below, Anamarc Town lay between the foot of the mountain and the coast, a ferry pulling out of its port to set off across the strait as they watched. A handful of small, tree-covered islands dotted the coast, so close that it must have been possible to swim to them from the shore without any trouble. The lights of the town were already lit up; the sun had dipped behind the mountains, leaving the town in shadow. The effect this created, with the sea in the distance still glittering in the evening light, felt quite strange.

"Ah!"

Breaking the atmosphere, Nicola suddenly let out a shout of alarm.

James, Richard and Will all looked back at her in time to see the last threads holding one of her backpack straps together give way. The bag dropped down, the sudden pressure causing some of the threads in the other, still-intact strap to fray.

"Phew!" Nicola expressed everyone's relief as she realised that the other strap was going to hold. "That was close!"

"You're definitely going to need to get a new bag," Richard said unhelpfully. As if she hadn't realised that already!

"There'll be somewhere in Anamarc Town for sure," James said. "But I think we should worry about other things first."

"Such as?" Will asked.

"The contest," James replied. He gazed back at the town below them. "Nicola and I should register as soon as possible."

"Do you know where we need to go for that?" Nicola asked. She looked out over Anamarc Town as well, trying to pinpoint a building that could be the contest hall.

"I've got my map." James patted his backpack, where the guidebook was currently stored. "I think it's quite a way from the pokémon centre though."

"You want us to go on to the pokémon centre with Nicola's backpack, don't you?" Richard sighed, guessing what James was going to say.

"Impressive," James replied. "But I was also hoping you'd take mine as well!"

"No way."

"Thought so."

"I don't mind taking Nicola's though." Richard turned to look at her. "It looks like it could fall apart at any moment."

"That would be a big help," Nicola replied gratefully. "I'll hold onto it until we separate."

"Once we get back from the contest hall, we should have some time to stock up on supplies," James said. "But we can discuss that later."

"Let's get moving then," Will said impatiently. "We're almost there – I want to get to the pokémon centre and have a rest."

"Don't we all?" Nicola sighed. It had been a challenging journey across the mountain and the whole crisis with her bag had only worn them out even more. Privately, she wished that she could go straight to the pokémon centre and rest.

"Straight on then!" James called, setting off along the mountainside road. "This will lead us down to that road there. We follow it to the main road and then the pokémon centre should be somewhere on our right!"

"Got it!" Richard called wearily as he started walking after him. "That works out quite well for me and Will then – we only have to carry Nicola's bag through the door!"

"Which is why I asked you to take mine as well," James sighed.

* * *

 _Anamarc Town, Hoenn_

 _5:28pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Wow! There are loads of people here!" Nicola gasped as she and James walked through the front entrance to the contest hall. "Are you sure that it's tomorrow and not today?"

"I'm sure," James replied. "None of these people look like they're about to head inside."

Though there certainly was a lot of people milling about in the entrance hall, the bulk of them were either standing around talking to friends or waiting patiently in line to get to the front desk. There were some who had gone upstairs, by the looks of things, but James suspected that they were probably only up there to use the berry blenders.

"I guess it's going to be a pretty big one," Nicola sighed as she and James joined the queue.

"We're on the main route from Slateport to Mauville," James replied. "There was always going to be lots of people trying to enter."

"Will there be enough room for us?" Nicola wondered.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," James said, giving her a reassuring grin. "It looks like there's a lot of people because the contest hall in Slateport was almost deserted when we got there."

"I guess so," Nicola murmured.

"Anyway, we need to start thinking about how we're going to put together our combinations for our appeals," James said. "I picked up some ideas from that taster session we did, but it's going to be completely different putting something together that's supposed to win a contest."

"…And we'll be up against each other as well," Nicola muttered, her heart sinking. There was only one ribbon up for grabs here, after all. She was used to her, James and Richard all walking away from a gym with a badge. There was no way for both of them to leave the contest satisfied.

"Well, that's just how it works." James didn't seem daunted. "We'll have to fight each other at the league as well."

"But imagine if you had to fight Richard for every gym badge," Nicola replied. "We'd be taking away each other's chances at even getting to the league."

"The rules are the rules." James shrugged. "The important thing is that we both give it our all and try our hardest to win, even if it's against each other." He suddenly snorted in laughter. "But let's face it – this is our first contest! We'd have to be very lucky to win first time!"

"I guess you're right there!" Nicola couldn't help but laugh as well.

The people in front of them were finished, so the two of them stepped forwards to speak to the receptionists.

Fortunately, the process was quick and largely effortless. The receptionists manning the desk seemed keen to get through the queue as quickly as possible as well. After turning over their trainer cards to be scanned, they were reminded of the rules of the contest, as well as the time that they had to be there for. Being late was severely frowned upon.

"I'm starting to get nervous," Nicola said breathlessly as she stepped away from the desk and re-joined James. "There's no going back now!"

"I get what you mean." James nodded. "It feels like it's really happening now."

"So, what should we do now?" Nicola asked.

"The contest isn't until tomorrow afternoon, so we should have plenty of time to work on our appeals in the morning," James said, crossing his arms as he thought. "You still need to get a new bag, don't you?"

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "It's probably better to do that sooner, right?"

James nodded. "We need to get some supplies as well…" Pausing briefly, he turned back to her. "Let's head back to the others first. Then we can decide who's doing what."

"Sure." Nicola nodded.

* * *

 _6:13pm, 10_ _th_ _May 2006_

 _Right!_ James thought as he stepped through the automatic door into the Poké Mart. _Let's double check what we need again._

Having made the mistake of offering the others a choice between coming with him to stock up on general supplies and going with Nicola to help her find a new backpack, James had found himself heading out to the Poké Mart by himself. He didn't mind too much, but it meant that he'd had to completely empty his own bag out before he left so that he'd have room for all the shopping.

Still, that meant that he wouldn't have the others pestering him to buy whatever nifty but useless gadget they'd found in the technology aisle, or one of those ridiculous novelty poké balls. It would make a nice change.

"Let's see," he mumbled to himself as he grabbed a basket from the side of the entrance and glanced back at his list. Food was going to be the most important thing they needed, but that could wait until tomorrow. Carrying food in the same basket as medicine, poké balls and other trainer essentials tended to be a bad idea. If one of the others had come with him, then this wouldn't have been an issue.

Not, of course, that he wanted to sound bitter.

Instead, he concluded that it would be best to settle with the rest of what they needed. They could always come back tomorrow evening after the contest, or the morning after, when they planned to leave Anamarc Town.

 _Definitely need this_ , James thought, picking a small bottle of fuel for their portable stove off the shelf as he strode down one aisle. After that, he needed to add some potions to the basket – about ten for each of them would be enough for now – and some specific medicine. After Will's battle with Gulpy the previous day, they'd been short on antidotes in particular.

"What next?" James looked at this list again as he left the medicine aisle.

Repel.

James let out a sigh of relief as he turned into the next aisle and spotted that there were still some bottles of repel sitting on the shelf. An entire Poké Mart could be emptied if a large wave of trainers passed through, but repel was the only item that was consistently in short supply. They still had three spray bottles with them, but it was a good idea to stock up while there were some in the shop.

Dropping five bottles into his basket, James glanced back at his list again. Will and Nicola both wanted more poké balls to replace the ones they'd used over the last couple of days, and Richard had accidentally broken a couple of his as well.

They were closest to the checkout though, so James decided to head to the pokémon care aisle instead.

"There's lots of contest-related stuff here," he murmured, glancing from side to side.

As well as various types of brushes, food bowls and other tools for taking care of pokémon, there were a selection of coloured scarves which apparently increased a pokémon's appeal, a handful of props which could be used to enhance a performance, and, of course, pokéblocks.

 _This might be useful._ James stopped and looked at a box containing an assorted mix of different flavoured pokéblocks. They were pretty cheap, so they probably weren't going to be the greatest, but he and Nicola hadn't had the opportunity to make their own since leaving Slateport. Given that they needed to spend time on their training, it might be useful to have some of these to give to the pokémon before the contest.

He put the box in his basket and moved on to look at some of the props next to them.

 _How would this work in a contest?_ He frowned as he noticed a bright red plastic ring, packaged and hanging from a rail. A frisbee didn't seem like the sort of thing that would have a place in a contest. He reached out to grab it so that he could have a closer look.

His hand bumped into another hand coming the other way.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

James looked to his right to find a well-dressed girl, probably about his age, standing there, also reaching out for the frisbee.

"I-I'm sorry!" the girl exclaimed, immediately withdrawing her hand. "After you!"

"Ah, no, it's fine," James replied quickly, pulling his hand back as well. "I was just looking."

"Thanks." The girl reached out and took the frisbee, her long, blonde hair shimmering slightly from the overhead light as she studied it. She pressed her thumb against the plastic and frowned. She then gripped it in her hands and tugged at it. Finally satisfied, she dropped it into her basket.

"Umm, if you don't mind me asking," James blurted out. "How does a frisbee fit into a pokémon contest?"

"Huh?" The girl looked back at him. "Oh, are you new to contests?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, okay." The girl gave a nod. "There are lots of different styles in contests. Some coordinators like to use flashy moves and others like to use brute force. But there's another style that involves using props in your performance."

"That makes sense," James replied. "So, are you using that frisbee in your next performance?"

The girl nodded eagerly. "I've been a coordinator for a year now, but I started using this style recently. It's been tough for my pokémon to get used to it…"

James suddenly noticed a small, yellow pokémon with black hands and large, red eyes standing by the girl's feet.

"Is this your pokémon?" he asked, squatting down in front of it.

"Ah, yes." The girl nodded. "This is Mawa, my mawile."

"Never seen one of them before," James said, pulling out his Pokédex. "It looks pretty cute."

"Well…" the girl began awkwardly.

" _Mawile, the deceiver pokémon. Don't be taken by a mawile's cute face – they are very dangerous pokémon. Mawile fool their foes into letting down their guard then chomp down with their massive jaws. The steel jaws are really horns that have been transformed._ "

"Jaws?" James looked up from the Pokédex. He tumbled backwards in shock – the mawile's cute face had disappeared. A large, black jaw with sharp teeth was now facing him.

"Ah! Are you alright?" the girl cried in alarm. She turned to her mawile, who had spun around again to face James. "How many times do I have to tell you not to scare people like that!"

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" James assured her as he got back to his feet. "So, can this mawile do performances using frisbees?"

"She's one of the only members of my team that can manage it every time." The girl nodded.

"Wow! I'd love to see it!" James said. What kind of a performance could it be?

"Oh! Are you taking part in the Anamarc contest as well?" the girl asked.

"That's right." James nodded.

"Then you'll be able to see then!" The girl smiled at him.

"I'll look forward to it!" James grinned. "Anyway, I'd better get on. See you in the contest tomorrow!"

"Sure!" the girl replied enthusiastically.

* * *

After picking up some poké balls for the others and deciding to get a couple of spares for himself, James headed for the checkout.

"After your trainer discount, that's 25,025 poké," the clerk said. "Would you like me to register the poké balls while you're here?" he added as James started rummaging around for the money.

"Just three of them," James replied. "The others are for my friends."

"Certainly." The clerk nodded as he took the money. He placed three of the poké balls onto a small, circular reader one by one as James put the remainder into the main pocket of his backpack. With each of them, he tapped some keys and registered the balls to James's trainer card.

"Thanks," James said as the clerk handed the three newly-registered balls to him.

"My pleasure!" the clerk replied cheerfully. "We look forward to your next visit!"

As James stepped back out of the Poké Mart, he pulled his backpack back over his shoulders. He was glad he'd brought it. It would have been a real pain to haul it all back in plastic bags.

At that moment, he noticed the girl he'd spoken to earlier attempting to do just that.

"Are you okay?" he asked, walking over towards her.

"Ah!" The girl looked up as he approached. "Oh, from earlier…"

"Do you need a hand?" James asked. "It's hard to carry lots of bags all at once."

"…" The girl looked at the bags she was trying to carry. "…If you don't mind," she replied bashfully.

"Not a problem," James replied. He took half of the bags she was carrying. "Are you staying at the pokémon centre in the town centre?"

"Actually, I'm staying in the one on the northern side of the town," the girl said apologetically. "If it's too far, then you don't need to-"

"Nah, it's fine!" James grinned. "I'd want someone else to help me if I was carrying too much as well, so, you know…"

The girl smiled gratefully. "Then thank you very much!"

* * *

It was actually a lot further to the northern end of Anamarc Town than James had been expecting. Not that it really bothered him that much. Once he'd committed to helping, there was no way that he was going to back out again.

"Thank you again." The girl bowed politely to him as he put the bags he was carrying down by the entrance to the other pokémon centre.

"Don't mention it," James said, smiling at her. "I guess I'll see you again at the contest tomorrow!"

"S-Sure!" The girl nodded. "Ah! I forgot to introduce myself! My name's Mia Wilson."

"Mia, huh?" James said. "I'm James Burton. Nice to meet you." He offered his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Mia repeated softly, taking his hand.

"Well, I'd better get going." James took a step back the way he'd come. "My friends are going to be wondering where I've gone!"

"Umm! Before you go…" Mia suddenly blurted out. She rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag full of pokéblocks. "I made these when I was at the contest hall earlier. They're much better than the ones you get in Poké Marts, so…"

"Ah, so you saw that?" James chuckled in embarrassment, thinking back to the cheap ones he'd bought for his and Nicola's pokémon. "I haven't had the chance to make my own, but I figured I should give my team something before the contest."

"Then please accept these as my thanks!" Mia thrust the pokéblocks towards him. "I've got plenty more, so if they'll help you then I'd be happy to help!"

"That's very kind of you," James replied as he took the bag. "Thanks!"

"No, I should thank you for all your help." Mia shook her head. "See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see you!" James waved as she collected her bags and stepped through the doors into the lobby. Turning around, he started walking back the way he'd come. "Guess I'd better start thinking about my performance tomorrow…"

A performance using props sounded complicated and difficult. If there were coordinators like Mia who were going to be his opponents tomorrow, then it was going to be much more difficult than he originally thought.

He'd told Nicola that the two of them were unlikely to win the contest, but that didn't mean that he was going to go down without a struggle.

* * *

 _2:46pm, 11_ _th_ _May 2006_

The sun was bright in the sky as James, Richard, Nicola and Will stepped through the doors into the lobby of the contest hall. It had been a stressful morning as both James and Nicola had experimented with different combinations, with mixed results. Neither was all that confident with what they'd come up with, but time was up, and they had no choice but to go with what they had.

The lobby was far more crowded today than it had been the previous evening. Spectators were already heading up to the upper lobby so that they could reach the stands. The coordinators were all gathering by an admissions desk at the right side of the lobby, being admitted one by one into the holding room.

"Isn't it exciting?" Nicola asked, slightly too forcefully. She couldn't stop fidgeting.

"It's fine to be nervous," Richard sighed. "Besides, you're not fooling anyone."

"Do we have to be here?" Will asked. "We could be training right now…"

"If you don't want to watch, then no one's forcing you!" James snapped.

Will frowned, but didn't move.

"Moral support is kind of the price for having a permanent training partner," Richard said. "You know that, Will."

"I guess we should head on in," James sighed. He could feel his heart hammering faster than normal. Now that he was actually stood here, the thought of having to perform his combination in front of a crowd of people was terrifying. A part of him wanted to hide under one of the benches until it was all over.

But Nicola looked about ready to join him, so he resisted. He was the older one – it was down to him to set the example.

As he was about to move off, he suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure. A pair of grey eyes lit up as they met his own.

"H-Hello," Mia said as she walked over towards him.

"Oh, hey!" James greeted her, trying to sound more confident than he actually was.

"Wow," said Will. "My big brother's hitting on a girl at a time like this."

"What are you talking about?" James turned to him. "This is the girl I told you guys about last night." He turned back to Mia. "Sorry about my younger brother."

"I-It's fine," Mia replied, her cheeks pink. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Mia Wilson," she said to Will.

"And these are my friends, Richard and Nicola." James quickly pointed to the other two.

"So, this is the other coordinator you met?" Nicola was also trying to sound more confident than she felt. "I'm Nicola. I'm competing in the contest as well."

"Both of you?" Mia looked between the two of them.

"Yeah." James nodded. "We've been practising our combinations together all morning. I still feel nervous, but we'll give it our best shot!"

"Huh?" Mia blinked a couple of times. "Together?"

A bell sounded over the intercom.

"Attention, ladies and gentlemen! The contest will be starting shortly! Spectators, please make your way to your seats! Coordinators, please report to the admissions desk immediately!"

"I guess we've got to get going," said James, swallowing nervously. He turned to Richard and Will. "We'll catch up with you guys later."

"Got it! Give it your best shot, you two!" Richard gave them a thumbs-up.

"Th-Thanks!" Nicola called back. She turned to follow the others.

Just ahead of her, Mia suddenly shot her an icy glare before turning towards the admissions desk.

"H-Huh?" Nicola watched her with a confused look on her face. What was that about?

She shook her head.

She had bigger things to worry about now! Mia was a fellow competitor, after all. Once they were on the stage, they were fighting against each other.

* * *

 _3:01pm, 11_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Hello and welcome to this contest here in Anamarc Town!" the MC called as she stood at the centre of the stage. "I hope you're all looking forward to seeing the wonderful performances our coordinators have in store for us this afternoon!"

All eyes in the holding room were fixed on the TV screen suspended from the ceiling in one corner. The scene out on the stage played in front of them, each one of them aware that they'd soon be standing on that stage themselves.

"There are more people watching than I was expecting. I wonder if I'll be alright."

"Lots of people come up from Slateport if there isn't a contest on there."

"I better go over my routine again."

"Maybe it would be better to lead with that move instead…"

The room was alive with whispers. No one was able to think of anything other than their imminent performances.

"Does my hair look alright?" Nicola asked James nervously. "I didn't realise that it was going to be filmed."

"Don't worry, you look fine," James said. "They're going to be looking at your pokémon's performance though. You know what you're doing?"

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

"Good." James smiled. "Don't worry too much."

The two of them were sat next to each other on one of the benches in the centre of the room. Mia was sat a short distance away. She kept throwing glances in their direction, but her eyes shot away again whenever he looked back towards her. Weird.

James guessed that she was as nervous as they were, even though she'd been in contests before. Maybe it was one of those things that was terrifying no matter how many times you did it?

"First contestant!" A stagehand had entered the room. "Arran Thompson!"

"Here!" One of the other boys in the room jumped to his feet and walked over to the door.

"Head on through and get ready," the stagehand said.

The door shut behind them.

Everyone turned back to the screen. The MC had finished her speech and was starting to make way for the first contestant.

"Our first contestant, Arran Thompson from Rustboro City!"

Arran waved to the crowd as he walked out onto the stage. Pausing at the centre for a split second, he pulled out his poké ball.

"Go, Talu!"

A lithe, cream-coloured cat with a golden charm on its forehead burst out of the ball and landed smoothly on the ground.

"Wow! Fancy seeing a meowth all the way out here!" James said, watching the pokémon jump up and start scattering golden coins around, each of them glittering in the stage light.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

It felt like it had been going on for a while when the stagehand reappeared. "Second contestant!"

As the next coordinator left the room, all eyes turned back to the screen as Arran and Talu finished their performance and bowed to the audience.

They'd set a high standard.

* * *

Though each performance wasn't that long itself, they all stacked up. As each person was called up and left, their place was taken by the coordinator who had just finished. Some were beaming, confident in the performance they, or rather their pokémon, had just given. Others seemed less sure and sat in silence.

Eighteen minutes after the contest had first started, the stagehand reappeared again near the end of the sixth performance.

"Seventh contestant! Nicola Hewitt!"

"H-Here!" Nicola shot up in alarm.

"Good luck," James said to her as she started walking.

"Thanks." She gave him a wobbly smile in return.

Leaving the holding room, she followed the stagehand along a corridor and up a short set of stairs. Ahead of her stood the side entrance to the stage.

"Alright." The stagehand turned to her. "You'll have three minutes exactly. Make sure your performance doesn't overrun or you'll cause trouble for the remaining contestants. Remember that you're here as a coordinator, not a performer – the spectators are here to see your pokémon, not you, so make sure you don't speak unnecessarily or draw too much attention to yourself. Don't forget your etiquette and make sure you bow to the audience at the end of a performance. In addition…"

He was giving instructions so quickly and forcefully that it was difficult for Nicola to keep up.

By the entrance, a red light suddenly turned green.

"Alright, it's time." He gave her a gentle push on the shoulder. "Get out there and do your best!"

"G-Got it!" Nicola nodded, stumbling forwards.

* * *

"Now it's time for our seventh contestant, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!" the MC announced.

"It's finally Nicola's turn!" Richard grinned. "I hope she can hold it together in front of all these people!"

"So do I," Will said. "The other performances mostly seemed pretty good."

Nicola emerged onto the stage, treading carefully and trying to avoid squinting under the lights. She could hear the audience, but it was difficult to see them in the gloom beyond the main stage. That was probably for the best.

On the other hand, she could see all three judges sat at their panels directly in front of her. They all had serious expressions on their faces as they watched her. It felt like they were assessing everything about her, even though the performance hadn't begun.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled out a poké ball.

"Go, Kipa!"

Her voice echoed around the main stage as she threw the ball into the air.

The mudkip burst out of the ball and materialised on the stage with a cry. He momentarily winced in the face of the bright light, but quickly fixed a resolute gaze at the judges and, beyond them, the audience.

With a nod from Nicola, he began his performance.

Firing a small jet of water into the air, he jumped up and powered himself through it, scattering water around him and causing his skin to glisten in the light.

Landing, he spun around and did the same thing again, jumping through the small blast of water.

There was polite applause and a handful of cheers from the audience.

"It looks pretty good," Richard said. "But I hope she's not planning on just doing that. It'll get boring really quickly."

"Don't worry," said Will. "They practised different kinds of combinations for their appeals. She'll have something else."

Down on the stage, Kipa had completed his fourth jump. Landing on the wet surface, he momentarily slipped but managed to recover himself.

He now fired three clumps of mud into the air and started firing water at them. The first one was struck and burst apart, followed by the second one. However, his aim was slightly off for the third one.

There was splat as the mud fell to the stage.

"Argh! She was so close!" Richard groaned. He glanced down at Nicola, who had visibly winced when the third clump of mud had hit the ground. "Is she going to be alright?"

"We're over halfway through," Will replied, watching as Kipa fired a blast of water at the ground to shoot him into the air.

As well as somersaulting around, he quickly pulled himself the right way up and fired another jet of water as he started to approach the ground.

This seemed to impress the audience a bit more.

However, as he finally landed to begin the final part of the performance, he stood completely still for a couple of seconds. He turned and threw a frantic look back at Nicola.

Had he forgotten what he was supposed to be doing?

"W-Water Gun and Bide!" Nicola hissed uncertainly, remembering that she'd been told not to speak unnecessarily.

Kipa's eyes lit up in relief.

Turning back to face the audience, he fired a blast of water straight up into the air above him. As he finished, he stiffened up his body, storing up energy and bracing himself.

It was an impressive combination when they'd practised it. Kipa had unleashed the energy he had stored up the instant the water struck his back and, with enough power stored up, created an explosion of water all around him. Though it was dependent on precise timing, both Nicola and Kipa were very proud of it.

The crowd watched with bated breath as the water reached the peak of its arc. It dropped back down towards the stage below, gaining momentum as it went.

There was a splash as it struck the stage just to Kipa's right.

Water struck his side. A split second later, there was a burst of energy that blasted through the surrounding air, but did little more than send a few water droplets flying.

Nicola felt her legs go weak as the audience politely applauded and the judges started scribbling notes.

"Thank you for that great performance!" the MC called from the side of the stage. "Everyone, please give it up for Nicola!"

The cheers made Nicola feel even worse. She and Kipa quickly bowed to the audience and slunk away as fast as they could. Once they were out of sight, Nicola lent back against the wall and slumped down to the ground.

Kipa moved over and perched himself next to her, pressing himself against her in an attempt to reassure her.

"Sorry…" Nicola whispered. "It's my fault. I didn't give you enough time to practise."

She'd spoken almost on automatic pilot. Her mind had been cast into such disarray that she could hardly issue commands to the other parts of her body. Her heart ached with a heavy feeling, while she blinked furiously to hold back her emotions.

Her attention was suddenly draw to a figure walking past, her blonde hair shimmering in the light.

Mia briefly glanced down at her, a pitying look on her face, before continuing on towards the stage.

"Next up is our eighth contestant!" She heard the MC in what felt like the distance. "Mia Wilson from Oldale Town!"

* * *

"So, she's using her mawile?" James murmured, eyes fixed on the screen. Well, thinking about, Mia had given that impression when they'd spoken the previous day.

Mawa was hopping around somewhat, emphasising her cuteness. This must be her warm-up. After a couple of seconds, Mia pulled out the frisbee she'd bought at the Poké Mart the previous day and threw it into the air.

A gasp travelled around the holding room as they all watched Mawa leapt into the air, somersaulting as she caught the frisbee with her massive jaw. She twisted and rolled in the air as she descended, occasionally pulling her body through the hole in the centre in a way that seemed almost impossible.

It was impressive.

They were all so fixated on what was happening on the main stage that almost no one noticed when the door opened and Nicola slunk into the room.

James had noticed though.

"These things happen," he said as she sat down in her space next to him. "It just means that we need to practise harder the next time around."

"Yeah," Nicola muttered. She too glanced up at the screen to watch Mia's performance. Her heart sank even more. She really was out of her depth, wasn't she?

The frisbee continued to play a key part in Mia's performance, with Mawa throwing it with surprising skill, catching it again, playing with it as she'd done earlier. Her agility and the smoothness of her movements was captivating.

When the performance finally ended, everyone felt a little bit disappointed that they couldn't see any more.

As Mia stepped back into the holding room afterwards, there was an explosion of noise.

"That was incredible!"

"How did you manage to train your mawile to act like that?"

"Can you teach me how to use that style?"

"I wish my performance could have gone even half as well as yours did!"

Mia seemed a little overwhelmed by the sudden attention, so when she spotted James waving to her, she quickly made her excuses and left the small crowd of other coordinators who'd gathered around her.

"How was it?" she asked James as soon as she was in range.

"It was brilliant!" James replied eagerly. "I can understand why you like using items now – it made it look much more impressive than just using moves. Actually, did you use any moves at all?"

"Just Crunch," Mia said. "Otherwise, it was just Mawa throwing the frisbee around."

"That's amazing!" James grinned.

"Y-You really think so?" Mia's eyes lit up.

"Yeah!" James nodded. "It's going to be hard following that up with my own performance!"

"You'll do fine!" Mia said enthusiastically. "Just make sure you stay confident and you'll have no problems!"

"I guess that's what went wrong with mine," Nicola said glumly.

"It was your first time," James replied. He patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "I thought it was great!"

"Thanks…"

"…" Mia frowned at them briefly. "I'm going to get back to watching the other coordinators," she said, her tone slightly colder than it had been before. "Make sure you're ready for when you get called up, James."

* * *

As it turned out, James's turn wasn't until almost the end of the appeal round.

"Fifteenth contestant!" the stagehand called. "James Burton!"

"Here!" James quickly got to his feet.

"Good luck!" Nicola quickly said as he started walking away.

"You can do it!" Mia swiftly added.

"Thanks." James smiled back at both of them as he walked away to join the stagehand.

Though he was trying to mask it as much as possible, he was feeling increasingly nervous. It didn't take someone familiar with contests to realise that going last, or nearly last in his case, was a bad slot to have. Surely the audience would be starting to get bored by this stage. And what about the judges? They'd probably been hard at work all this time. They probably wanted to get through the last of the contestants as soon as possible so that they could move on to the next stage.

He listened carefully to the stagehand's pep talk as he stood in the wings, waiting for the signal for him to head out onto the stage, though he was sure that he missed some of the things he said.

Finally, he saw the light switch from red to green as the previous contestant stepped back and started walking in his direction.

It was time.

* * *

"And now, contestant number 15!" the MC called. "James Burton from Pallet Town in the Kanto region!"

James stepped out onto the stage, taking a deep breath as he did.

"It's finally James's turn!" Will said, clearly frustrated by the long wait.

"Good luck, James!" Richard shouted.

Down on the stage, James pulled out a poké ball and threw it.

"Go, Nulin!" he called.

Nulin burst from the ball and started hovering confidently in the air. He started out by firing a small blast of water into the air, followed quickly by a second one. The second caught up with the first, causing a splash of water and droplets to start falling to the ground around him.

As they did, Nulin dived towards the ground as well. Rolling in the air, he fired a cloud of thin, white mist from his beak. It trailed out behind him as he pulled up and darted around all over the stage.

As it settled close to the ground, Nulin started diving through it, using his wings to scoop up some of the mist as he was passing and trailing it behind him as he left. The effect made the stage seem almost ethereal.

Sharing a brief nod with James, Nulin moved on to the next stage of his performance. Diving low amid the fading, but still present mist, he fired another blast of water into the air. With a flap of his wings, he shot after it and smashed his wing through it, scattering water drops. They glittered in the light as they descended, as did Nulin's damp feathers.

"It looks smoother than I was expecting," Richard said as he watched. "And it actually looks pretty good."

"Yeah, it didn't look so great when they were practising outside," Will sighed, thinking back. "But I guess they didn't have the light in the right place then."

"Didn't they practise with the light occasionally?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "But there's nothing around at the pokémon centre that can really compare to the stage lights."

"I guess that makes James's performance a bit more impressive than I originally thought," Richard said. "He planned this out without knowing exactly what the environment would look like."

"It still seems a little repetitive though," Will said. "I don't think that James will come top here."

Nulin had swooped around and performed another strike using Water Gun and his wing. As he dived down towards the ground again, he prepared himself for his grand finale.

With a sudden, powerful flap of his wings, he shot straight up in the air in the centre of the stage. He fired out a small blast of water directly upwards, releasing mist from his beak as he caught up with it and crashed into it.

Water and mist sprayed out in all directions as Nulin extended his wings sharply. He gently drifted back down towards the ground surrounded by the sparkling water droplets and mist.

The crowd burst into applause as Nulin landed on James's shoulder. The two of them bowed to the audience before starting to walk off-stage.

"A wonderful performance there by James!" the MC called. "Let's give him another round of applause!"

The crowd let out another cheer, while in front of them the judges returned to scribbling notes on what they'd just seen.

"Whew!" James let out a sigh and allowed his muscles to relax as he stepped out of sight. "Thanks, Nulin." He patted the wingull on the head.

Nulin called out happily in response.

Ahead of them, the sixteenth and final contestant was approaching.

"Good luck," James said automatically.

The last contestant nodded in response as he passed.

* * *

James re-entered the holding room and walked over to join Nicola and Mia. Most of the other coordinators were too ensconced in the final performance to notice him, though a couple congratulated him as he passed.

"Great work, James!" Nicola smiled at him. "It looked really professional!"

"Thanks," James replied as he sat down. "There were still some areas that I thought needed some work, but I'm happy with how it went."

"I guess I'll be relying on you for contest training too from now on!" Nicola laughed, though it sounded a little forced.

"Any time," James replied. "You'll be able to help me as much as I can help you!"

"That was a wonderful performance!" Mia suddenly butted in. She sounded a little irritated. "It was a little rough around the edges, but I could really feel the bond between you and your wingull!"

"That's really kind of you," James said, suddenly feeling rather bashful. "It's still nothing compared to yours, but…"

"No, you're was really great!" Mia insisted. "The way you used Mist to create an atmosphere was something I'd expect from a top coordinator."

"Really?" James exclaimed. He was sharp enough to realise that his performance had gone well, but to be on the same level as a top coordinator?

No way.

"Yes! Atmosphere is a hard one since you need to recognise moves that can be used for it," Mia explained. "But there were some smaller problems with the performance that could use improving."

"That sounds more like it." James let out a sigh of relief.

The three of them continued talking amongst themselves as they watched the final performance on the screen in the corner. When it had ended and the final contestant had left the stage, the MC came back on.

"Thank you to all our contestants for their performances this afternoon! We'll now be taking a short break so that the judges can tally their scores! We'll be back in ten minutes to announce which coordinators will be advancing to the next round!"

"The Wait?" a fellow coordinator sighed. "I can never get used to it."

"I wonder if I did enough this time?"

"There are sixteen of us and only eight spots in the next round…"

There was a thick tension in the air as the contestants glanced around at each other. They all knew that half of them would be eliminated from the contest in just ten minutes' time.

* * *

 _3:44pm, 11_ _th_ _May 2006_

"…That's the problem with the mud. It's just not that visually appealing."

"I know that, but if I just rely on water, then my performances will get boring really quickly."

"Maybe you should try using a different pokémon? Or perhaps teaching your mudkip some new moves that actually look nice?"

"They're not that bad!"

James, Nicola and Mia were stood around by a water cooler in the corridor outside the holding room. There was no point going back to the lobby since they had such little time, but they wanted to stretch their legs a little and get away from the atmosphere in the holding room.

"I get what you're saying, but it was a little harsh to put it that way," James said.

"I-I'm sorry," Mia stammered. She shot an icy glare at Nicola.

"Anyway, this can wait until later," Nicola sighed. She was starting to find Mia increasingly difficult to deal with. For some reason she just seemed to really dislike her. Playing nice was starting to get exhausting. "It's not like I'm going to get through anyway."

"There were some other pretty bad performances though," Mia said. That was probably the closest she was going to be to reassuring.

"Don't give up hope," said James. "You never know what might happen!"

They heard voices from inside the holding room.

"They're announcing the results!"

James, Nicola and Mia all looked at each other.

"I guess we'd better head back in," said James.

"Right behind you!" Mia said cheerfully, moving to walk alongside him.

Nicola trailed behind them, dragging her feet. She wasn't looking forward to it.

The TV screen now displayed eight empty boxes, one each for the coordinators who were through to the next round. The MC was just about to begin the announcement as the last of the contestants filed in and took their seats.

"The line-up for the first battle round has been decided! The coordinators displayed on the screen will be up against each other in the next round, while those who aren't listed will be eliminated from the competition!"

Names and photos of the successful coordinators appeared on the screen one-by-one.

"There I-" Mia had enough time to start reacting to her name's appearance when the name and picture of her opponent appeared as well.

"Looks like we're up against each other then," James said.

"Huh?" Mia looked at him in surprise and shock.

"Well, these things happen!" James grinned at her. "Let's have a good match!"

"S-Sure!" Mia nodded quickly.

Nicola continued staring at the final name to be revealed. Of course, she'd had her doubts and the eight empty slots at the start had left it quite ambiguous, but she'd still been left a little stunned by the reality now in front of her.

She hadn't made it through.

* * *

 _4:10pm, 11_ _th_ _May 2006_

"It's finally time," Richard said.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "We've had two battles now. Just two to go until the next round. I hope James is ready to give it his all."

"He'll be fine," said Richard. "He's back on familiar territory now!"

"A contest battle isn't the same as a normal battle."

Richard and Will looked to their right.

"Even so, it's still more similar than the performances you guys did in the first round, Nicola," Richard said.

"I know," Nicola replied. "But that still won't make it easy."

She'd come up to join them after the first battle had ended. Staying around in the holding room had been too much for her, though Richard suspected that she'd been somewhere else in between, judging from her puffy eyes.

Neither Richard nor Will really knew what they could say to Nicola. When it came to losing gym battles, they could identify with her situation (or Richard could, at least). But contests were so different that it felt like they couldn't really spin out the ever-reliable 'you'll beat them next time'.

As a result, they had ended up mostly leaving her to herself. Better that than accidentally making the situation worse.

Down on the main stage, both Mia and James had emerged.

"Just so you know," James said as they walked forwards. "I'm not going to hold back."

"Same here!" Mia replied, smiling at him. "It would be embarrassing to lose to someone who's only just started doing contests."

They separated and took their positions at opposite ends of the arena.

"Are you both ready?" the MC called, looking between the two of them.

Both James and Mia nodded.

"Alright, begin!"

"Go, Mawa!" Mia threw out her poké ball.

Mawa burst out of the ball and landed on the ground with a soft thud.

"Go, Charka!" James called.

Charka let out a shout as he materialised, the flame on the tip of his tail flaring up in excitement.

Above them, the screen lit up with the timer, pictures of Mia and Mawa and James and Charka and each side's points bar. The timer started counting down immediately. They had five minutes.

"Use Crunch!" Mia moved first.

Mawa shot forwards, her jaw swinging round from the side. Charka, though momentarily stunned by the speed of the attack, held his ground.

"Use Flamethrower!" James called, also keeping a cool head.

With a shout, Charka expelled a burst of flames towards Mawa. The mawile, however, suddenly stopped her attack and dropped low. Charka's attack flew over her, a heat haze forming over the arena. Even though he hadn't scored a hit, the beauty of the flames was appealing in and of itself, and Mawa's points had started to drop.

"Iron Defence!" Mia shouted.

Mawa quickly cloaked her body in an iron coating, the shiny surface now lighting up with flowing orange patterns as it reflected the flames soaring overhead. It only grew more intense as Charka dropped the direction of his attack. With his own points now taking a hit, he was determined to hit Mawa with everything he had.

However, as he got closer, he suddenly spotted that Mawa's face was streaked with tears as the flames closed in. She looked directly at him, as if pleading.

Charka dropped his guard for a split second, but it was enough. Running out of breath, he halted his attack. And in that same instant, Mawa had thrown herself towards him.

"Watch out!" James cried, watching the jaw that hung from the back of Mawa's head as it swung towards him.

Charka tried to dodge, but was too slow. However, Mawa's jaw never opened and instead simply bopped him of the head. The mawile somersaulted over him and landed softly, eliciting a cheer from the audience.

"Why didn't she attack?" James frowned, as confused as Charka was. It didn't take long for him to find his answer though. His and Charka's points had dropped significantly. The fact that Mawa had demonstrated her power without actually inflicting an injury was highly appealing.

As Charka span around to face her, Mawa fired a confident smirk at him. She already thought that the battle was hers.

"Use Smokescreen!" James called.

Charka nodded, firing out a cloud of thick, black smoke. Their points immediately started dropping again – this wasn't a nice move to look at.

"Now use Fire Spin!" James ordered.

A jet of flame shot out of the clearing smoke and straight towards Mawa.

"Fan it up!" Mia shouted.

Just as the flames were about to reach her, Mawa stood her jaw on its end and started whirling it in a circle. It must have taken great physical strength and endurance to keep it there. As Charka's attack reached her, it was sucked in by the air movement generated by the rotation. James and Charka could only watch in amazement as the fiery vortex formed around the jaw, instead of around Mawa.

With a particularly powerful flick of her jaw, the vortex scattered and burned out, tiny embers drifting down around her.

"Use Crunch again!" Mia called.

Mawa charged back towards Charka again. The charmeleon attempted to intercept her with another burst of flames, but she jumped up and avoided it. Descending towards him, she lightly tapped the side of his head with her jaw as she passed.

James and Charka's points continued dropping. Things were starting to look serious.

"Ah!" James suddenly realised something. Every time Mawa had made that kind of attack, she'd always kept her face pointed towards the audience and judges with the jaw on the far side, even when attacking from the other direction. Not only was she getting points for not causing any unsightly violence, she was keeping the audience's attention focused on her cute appearance.

So, this was how a coordinator fought.

James suddenly felt a defeated feeling come over him. The point balance was decisively against him and they were starting to run low on time. Mia's experience and the experience of her pokémon was really showing.

But James was quick to banish his reservations. He still had a chance, as long as he could adapt and learn.

He shared a nod with Charka. "Use Molten Claw! Avoid causing any damage!"

Charka grinned in response, his mood improving now that he felt his trainer's resolve. Turning his right claw to steel, he blasted it with an intense burst of flames. All his focus went into retaining his composure. He couldn't spoil his appeal by grimacing in pain.

He finally charged at Mawa, a shimmering heat haze rising from the red-hot metal coating his claw. His opponent's points had started to drop as he reached her. He swung out his right claw, deliberately swiping the air just in front of Mawa. As she stepped back instinctively to avoid it, she began to lunge towards the audience to avoid a second strike.

Charka was waiting for her. His unheated left claw shot out and knocked into her, disrupting her movement and sending her off-balance.

Mawa's points had dropped, but not by enough. They had less than a minute left to fight.

"Use Molten Claw again!" James called. It was all or nothing.

Charka jumped back and turned his left claw to steel. Quickly scorching it with his flames, he charged forwards again. He swung both claws towards Mawa, small jets of flame escaping from his super-heated claws as he did.

Mawa's points were dropping again. If they could keep this up…

"Use Vice Grip!" Mia shouted.

Mawa's jaw shot forwards, straight between Charka's claws, and latched onto his face. With a powerful leap, she soared over his head, wrenching him off the ground as she did. She landed softly, followed a split second later by a crash as Charka slammed onto the ground on his belly.

"Time's up!" the MC announced as the timer ticked down to zero.

Mawa still had about half of her points left, while Charka had dropped to just twenty per cent.

"This battle has now ended!" The head judge stood up. "The victor is Mia Wilson and her mawile!"

The audience cheered loudly. The judges and the MC all applauded.

In the arena, James and Mia both walked out to their pokémon.

"Well, I thought we were making a pretty good comeback," James said, patting Charka on the head. "How are your claws? Are they still hurting?"

Charka winced in response.

"I'll get a Super Potion for you once we're outside," James replied. He pulled out Charka's poké ball. "You did great out there!"

"Thanks, Mawa!" Mia and Mawa hugged each other. "You did everything perfectly!"

"That was a great battle," James said as he walked over to her. "You really were amazing!"

"A-Amazing?" Mia stuttered, blood rushing to her cheeks. "No, no! It was all down to Mawa! She really is a great pokémon – my number one partner!"

"You were both great," James said. He knelt down and patted Mawa on the head. "I don't think I truly understood how a contest battle should be fought when we first got out here." He stood up and offered his hand to Mia. "But I think I do now, thanks to the two of you."

"…It's nothing." Mia lowered her gaze and smiled softly as she took his hand.

* * *

 _5:07pm, 11_ _th_ _May 2006_

The lobby of the Anamarc Town contest hall was alive with activity as coordinators and spectators alike poured out from further inside the building. The contest was over and, after a tense battle with Arran Thompson and his meowth, Talu, Mia and Mawa had emerged victorious.

"I guess it was pretty exciting to watch," Richard said, leading the way down the stairs from the upper lobby. "I'm still sticking to battling though."

"Same," said Will.

"No one was suggesting that you should change," James replied, sighing. "Still, I'm glad that you enjoyed it."

"You actually did pretty well, James!" Richard grinned at him. "You seemed a bit outmatched at first in your battle with Mia, but you were actually starting to make your moves look more polished."

"I've still got a long way to go," James replied. He glanced over at Nicola. "How are you feeling?"

"…I'll get over it," Nicola sighed. She seemed a little better than she had been earlier on, now that everything had sunk in a little.

"Don't worry – we're all here to help you!" Richard said. "And look on the bright side: at least you learned what doesn't work!"

Nicola didn't bother responding. She was too worn out from all the emotional pressure of the afternoon.

"So, what now?" Will asked.

"Well, I wanted to congratulate Mia," James replied. "But that looks like it could be a challenge…"

The lobby was absolutely packed with people standing around and talking about the contest. It would be difficult to track anyone down in all this. Besides, it would be no fun trying to avoid being squashed by the crowd.

"How about we wait outside?" Richard suggested.

"Good idea."

The four of them fought their way through the lobby, eventually pulling themselves out of the door and sighing with relief.

"Now we just need to wait," Will said as they moved over to the side and sat down on the edge of a nearby flowerbed.

They waited for what felt like a long time. James supposed that Mia was held up getting through the crowds. Everyone would recognise the victor, after all.

He eventually spotted her poking her head out of the door and waved to her.

"I thought you'd already gone," she said as she walked over to them.

"We were just trying to find somewhere away from the crowd," James replied. "Anyway, congrats on winning the contest!"

"Thanks!" Mia smiled. "It was a tough fight in the end. I'm just relieved that Mawa was able to come through for me."

"How many ribbons do you have now?" James asked.

"This is actually my first," Mia admitted. "And it was the second contest I've taken part in since adopting my new style. I've been really worried!"

"You've only just started using it and you're already this good?" James let out a sigh. "It's going to be tough work catching up to you."

"A-Ah, no! I just got a bit lucky," Mia replied.

"You seemed pretty good to me," said Richard. "And that mawile is insane!"

"Thank you, umm…"

"Richard."

"Richard! That's it – sorry for not remembering!"

"It's fine."

"So, what now?" Will asked.

"I guess we'll head back to the pokémon centre," Richard replied. "Need to rest up ready for tomorrow."

"Yeah." James nodded. "Sorry for holding you up, guys."

"Oh, umm!" Mia started to speak, but her words got stuck on the way. She fidgeted nervously and looked down at her hands as James and the others looked back at her. There was something that she desperately wanted to ask, but now that she was stood there, she was getting too worried about what the answer might be.

"Mia."

"Y-Yes?" Mia looked up at James.

"I'm going to keep training so that I can become as good as you," James said. "So, let's have another battle the next time we meet!"

She let her body relax and smiled at him. "Sure!" She nodded eagerly. "I'll be waiting!"

"Me too!" Nicola cried. "I'm going to become a better coordinator as well!"

Mia briefly glanced at her before turning back to James. "So, which way are you guys heading now?"

"Huh? No reaction?" Nicola gasped.

"I guess you've got a lot more to prove than James," Richard said.

"We're heading over to Mauville City next," James said to Mia. "We've got gym battles we need to fight."

"I see." Mia nodded.

"What about you?"

"I was going to head down to Slateport City. I want to compete in the next contest there."

"Best of luck to you then," said James. "I guess we'll see you at the next contest!"

"Good luck to you too!" Mia called, waving after the four of them as they walked away. "Goodbye!"

She lowered her arm and let out a sigh. She watched them until they were out of sight.

"Well," she began, stretching her arms above her head. "I guess I'd better get moving too!"

It felt a little bit sad to part ways, but it wasn't really a 'goodbye'.

After all, as long as they were on the contest circuit, they see each other again in no time.

* * *

 **As I'm sure you've all gathered by now, I wasn't able to upload this chapter on Sunday. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say that I didn't have as much time as I'd hoped for on Saturday and I wasn't in a fit state to do any work on Sunday itself either.**

 **Part of the reasons for the delay was because I've been really looking forward to this chapter for quite a while – in fact from when I finished the original chapter plan back in April or May. I wanted to make sure that I got it right and that it was something I could be proud of (aside from it being the new largest chapter, which is something to be proud of in itself). As for what I've looked forward to the most in this chapter, it was, of course:**

 **The Poké Mart.**

 **I've been writing** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **for almost five years now, but I've never really touched on how Poké Marts operate and the process of a trainer stocking up on supplies and whatnot. For a story that was supposed to be a reflection of a trainer's normal life, that seemed like quite an oversight. I particularly enjoyed putting in my take on how pokémon get registered to the trainer card (via a registered poké ball). I want to go into more detail about Poké Marts in the future (preferably before I'm forced to merge them with pokémon centres in Unova onwards).**

 **The visit to the Poké Mart also seemed like a good opportunity for James to meet Mia, his contest rival (technically, anyway), for the first time. The original plan called for her to be haughty and a bit arrogant, but I thought that you'd probably had enough of arrogant rivals by this stage and wanted to try writing her differently. I hope that it came as a pleasant change.**

 **My biggest regret this chapter was that I didn't have enough room to give Tricky some screen time, which he definitely needs given how new he still is. Still, I believe that we have some gym battles coming up soon, so maybe he'll get a chance to shine there?**

 **Oh, and I guess there was a contest this chapter as well. Nothing much more I wanted to say about that.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any comments you have on this chapter and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page so you'll know the next time I need to delay a chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Supersonic and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	39. A Shocking Development! (Part 1)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James and Nicola meet a fellow coordinator named Mia Wilson and participate in their first pokémon contest, though both of them were knocked out. The group now turn their attention east, towards Mauville City.**

 **Upload Date: 26** **th** **November 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 39: A Shocking Development! (Part 1)**

 _Route 110, Hoenn_

 _11:22am, 12_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Anamarc Town to Mauville City, huh?" Richard said as he glanced around.

The group were walking along a large bridge that stretched from the coast to an artificial island some way out. Soggy mudflats stretched out between the two, unnavigable by either boat or on foot. This artificial island was host to the ferry terminal from Anamarc Town and, as Richard was grumbling about, it was a long way from the centre of Mauville City.

"I mean, look at all those fields!" Richard continued, waving his hand in the direction of the coast. "Does that look like it's part of one of the largest cities in Hoenn?

"Within the city limits, I guess," Will replied.

"I wasn't going to fork out for a river cruise up into the city," James said, frowning at him. "Besides, I thought you enjoyed walking through the countryside."

"Only when I haven't got a gym battle to look forward to!" Richard replied.

"Will there be space though?" Nicola asked. "Like you said, this is one of the largest cities in Hoenn – there'll be tons of other trainers here."

"That's actually partly why I want to get there quicker," Richard said. "The sooner we get there, the quicker I can get my slot booked!"

"Well, I can't argue with that logic," James sighed.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Will asked.

"About two hours from here," James replied. "As long as we're just walking, of course."

"In Mauville for lunchtime then?" Nicola grinned. "That suits me. That way, we'll have the afternoon to explore the city and prepare for our gym battles."

"No problems here either," Richard said.

"Says the one who was complaining about the fact that we're not in Mauville City yet," Will muttered.

"My problem was with us not being in Mauville City after catching an 'Anamarc to Mauville' ferry!" Richard replied. "I don't mind walking a bit further, I'd just rather be aware that that's what's happening beforehand."

They'd reached the end of the bridge and stepped back onto dry land. Ahead of them lay the vast expanse of land they had to cross to get into Mauville City. Rice paddies and fields, as well as the suburban outskirts of the city – depressingly large in a way, but also not as unattractive as walking along urbanised city streets.

"How's your new bag, by the way, Nicola?" James asked.

"It's great!" Nicola replied, tugging on one of the straps of her smart new backpack. "It's bigger than my old one as well, so I can carry even more with me!"

"That's good." James nodded approvingly. "That means you can take a bigger share of the food!"

"…I had a feeling you were going to say that," Nicola sighed.

"How are you both feeling about contests?" Will asked, moving alongside them. "It was a pretty bad result for both of you yesterday after all!"

James and Nicola both sighed. Though they'd both been optimistic after the contest, both were stung by their defeats.

"I think I need a little while," Nicola said. "Best to focus on battling for now. Then I'll give it my all the next time a contest comes up."

"We should probably plan for that sooner rather than later," James said. "We need to know which ones we can get to in time."

"Something else to add to the list of things we'll need to do once we reach the pokémon centre!" Richard grinned.

* * *

 _Mauville City, Hoenn_

 _1:51pm, 12_ _th_ _May 2006_

Sitting more or less in the centre of the Hoenn region, Mauville City was one of the major hubs of the region. It had easy access to Slateport City and parts of the south of the region, while roads to the north led towards Oldale Town, Petalburg City and Rustboro City. It was a crossroads that was almost impossible to avoid if one wanted to get anywhere in the Hoenn region.

As might be expected, this brought trainers to the city in large numbers throughout the league season, bringing with them the services that they used and fuelling the local economy. Mauville City capitalised on its geography and booming economy, fashioning itself into a centre of technology and entertainment. This was _the_ place to be in Hoenn.

"I don't think even Rustboro City was as busy as this place!" Nicola gasped.

The four of them were walking down one of the main streets, having already been to the pokémon centre and dropped off their stuff. It was incredible just being there, surrounded by the exciting sights and the throng of other trainers wandering around. And it only seemed to get more like that the closer they got to the gym.

"That's the kind of place Mauville is," James replied, glancing at his guidebook. "There's really too much to see as it is."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk about that," said Richard. "There's lots to do in this city, so I think it's more important than ever to keep ourselves focused on our training. We could waste hours, even days here."

"You say that, but you're the one who looks about ready to leap through the door of every shop and arcade we pass!" James laughed.

"That's why I said it," Richard replied seriously. "I need you guys to keep me under control!"

"Impossible," said Nicola, shaking her head.

"Agreed." Will nodded.

Fortunately, they made it to the entrance of the gym without losing anyone to the many distractions on the way.

"It's packed!" Nicola yelped as they stepped through the sleek, modern automatic doors and into the lobby. There were at least twenty trainers sat around waiting for their battle, while maybe about fifteen others were standing around waiting to register.

"Never mind that!" Richard replied. "Just look at this place!"

Everything about the room was high-tech and looked very expensive. It was probably the best-looking lobby James and Richard had ever come across, but it was the technology which really grabbed their attention.

Though there were some people queueing to get to the front desk to register, there were a number of trainers who were stood off to the left-hand side of the room in front of several large touchscreens. They were apparently registering themselves automatically using these machines – something that they'd never seen in any of the previous gyms they'd visited.

"I'm trying it!" Richard said, immediately stepping forward to join the queue for them.

"Same!" Nicola jumped into place behind him.

"Good luck to you," James replied, turning to join the queue for the front desk.

"Not going for the new tech?" Will asked.

"I'll stick with what I know for now," James said. "It'll be fine."

"So, what do we do?" Nicola asked as she stepped forward to one of the screens.

"I think we need to choose our slot here," Richard replied. He tapped the screen. A box popped up requesting that he scan his trainer card.

"So, now you choose your slot?" Will asked. Growing bored of waiting with James in the queue, he'd come over to poke his head over their shoulders.

"Which one are you going for?" Nicola turned to Richard.

"There aren't any today, so I guess the earliest tomorrow," Richard replied with a sigh.

"And that is?"

"12:15. Hope you don't mind if I nab it."

"No problem." Nicola shrugged. There were several slots taken between then and the next available one. "I guess I'll go for this one."

"What time?" Will asked.

"1 o'clock," Nicola replied. However, as she attempted to confirm, a box appeared declaring the slot unavailable.

"I guess someone over at the front desk got it," Richard said.

"The one after that then." Nicola quickly clicked the next box and confirmed it.

"So, that's it! We're booked in for tomorrow!" Richard grinned.

"I wish every gym had something like this," Nicola said, returning the smile as the three of them stepped away from the screens.

"All done?" James asked as he re-joined them.

"All done." Richard nodded. "What time's yours?"

"1 o'clock tomorrow," James replied.

"So, you're the one who stole the slot I was going for!" Nicola laughed. "I'm at 1:15 now."

"Ah, sorry about that!" James replied with a grin. "That's the trouble with having multiple people trying to register at once, I guess."

"It looks like we've got lots of time for training now," Richard said. "Almost twenty-four hours."

"We can't train for that long."

"You know what I mean."

"Are we beginning training straight away?" Nicola asked as they stepped out of the gym and back onto the street.

"I say that we head and find somewhere to have lunch first," James replied. "We can head back to the pokémon centre and make plans after that."

"Yeah, there's no need to rush after all," said Will, the one person who had no time pressure at all.

"Well, it's always good to be stocked up for training, so I don't mind," Richard said, shrugging his shoulders. "Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm." James looked around at the countless restaurants lining the street.

This was going to be their first challenge.

* * *

 _3:56pm, 12_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Phew! Great work, everyone!" James called. "How about we take a quick break?"

"Fine by me!" Nicola said.

After lunch, the four of them had been quick to scout out the local practice arenas and get to work training their teams for their upcoming gym battles. Everyone had been surprisingly focused today, at least that's how it appeared to James. The fact that he was the one who was forcing a break was unusual to say the least.

The pokémon seemed relieved, however. It had been an intense couple of hours and they all probably felt that they were owed a rest. Most of them had sprawled out by the side of the arena as soon as James had made his suggestion.

"I was kind of hoping to practise using the new moves again," Richard sighed.

"It can wait for a little while," James said. "They've been trying hard enough as it is."

"How long are we stopping for?" Will asked, glancing around. "If we're not doing anything for too long, then someone else is going to come and ask to use the arena."

"I wasn't thinking of stopping for a particularly long time," James replied. "Maybe five minutes?"

"If you want to keep practising on your own, then why don't you do that?" Nicola said. "It kind of suits everyone that way."

"Well, if you're still going to train, then I guess I will as well!" Richard grinned, jumping back to his feet.

"Thinking about it, maybe we should have just done a rotation like this in the first place," James sighed.

"Arro, Dish!" Richard called. "You're back up!"

The two pokémon shot him alarmed looks. They'd only just laid down!

"You too, Toya!" Will beckoned to the squirtle.

Toya reluctantly pulled himself to his feet, followed by Arro and Dish. The three of them obediently trooped back onto the arena.

"Shall I start?" Richard asked.

"Be my guest."

"Alright!" Richard turned to his pokémon. "Dish, I want you to use Rain Dance!"

Dish nodded. She started bouncing and jumping around. In only a couple of seconds, a black cloud appeared over the arena and thick raindrops started falling around them.

"Try making it bigger!" Richard called. The cloud was still quite small and didn't cover the entire battle area.

Dish nodded and focused herself before jumping about with even more vigour. The cloud, however, failed to grow any further.

"I guess that's our limit for now," Richard sighed. "Never mind. You're doing great, Dish!"

"Toya, use Rapid Spin!" Will called.

Toya immediately pulled himself back into his shell and started spinning rapidly on the spot.

"Now try moving forwards!" Will ordered.

Toya tipped his shell slightly and shot forwards. Though his path was shaky, he was still on target.

"Use Iron Defence!" Richard shouted to Arro, who stood directly in Toya's way.

Arro gave him a nod and tensed up. The steel covering his body suddenly grew thicker and tougher, glinting in the sunlight that was shining through Dish's rain cloud. Toya slammed into him and ricocheted off. Falling out of his spin, he crashed to the ground, dazed and disoriented.

"Now use Take Down!" Richard called.

Arro charged forwards and slammed into the prone Toya with a powerful tackle, sending him flying back.

"Wow! Arro's really gotten the hang of those moves," Will said as he walked over with a potion for Toya.

"But it looks like Dish and Toya still have some work they need to do," Richard replied. "You ready for a second go?"

The two trainers and three pokémon quickly got ready to start again.

"Arro's really listening to Richard now, isn't he?" Nicola said.

"I thought he would eventually," James replied. "But it's still pretty startling, isn't it? Back when he first caught him, it was hard to imagine him ever becoming like this!"

"Agreed." Nicola nodded. She let out a sigh.

"What's up?"

"It's just, everyone else has had a pokémon learn a new move, but mine haven't."

"I wouldn't call Screech an exciting move!" James grinned reassuringly, casting a glance over at Muro, who was sat against the chain link fence around the practice arenas.

"You know what I mean though," Nicola said. "It kind of feels like I haven't been putting in the same effort…"

"Don't let it bother you," James replied. "If they haven't learned any new moves, then it must be because they feel like they're capable enough as they are. You can't force them, after all!"

"I guess…"

James's attention was suddenly distracted as he felt something poking at his knee. He looked around to see Kacha looking expectantly at him.

"What's up, Kacha?" he asked. "You want to get back to training too?"

Kacha squeaked and nodded enthusiastically, allowing some electricity to spark from his cheek pouches.

"I guess he's feeling left out since you haven't used him for a while," Nicola said.

"Can't deny that." James got to his feet. "Right! Are you ready, Kacha?"

Kacha nodded and start running towards the arena.

"Richard! We're coming over!" James called to Richard.

"Good! You can go up against Dish!" Richard called back, waving his hand in the lotad's direction.

"Alright then, use Agile Slam!" James shouted.

Kacha sprang forwards with a sharp burst of speed, appearing behind Dish in almost an instant. Before she could even react, he smashed his tail into her.

"Stay strong, Dish!" Richard called. "Use Mega Drain!"

Dish cried out to acknowledge the order as she used the momentum from Kacha's attack to spin herself around. She fired a more powerful beam of green energy towards the pikachu, scoring a direct hit. Kacha cried out as his energy was drained.

"Looks like that's another move you've mastered pretty quickly," Will said, watching the battle unfold.

"Mega Drain isn't all that different to Absorb," Richard replied. "If you've mastered one, then you've basically already mastered the other."

"Use Thunderbolt!" James called.

Kacha shouted as he jumped into the air. He fired a powerful jolt of electricity at Dish. She cried out in pain as she was struck, the lightning coursing through her body.

"Kacha's still as strong as ever!" Richard grinned. "Looks like we're going to have to dig deeper if we're going to win!"

"This has become a proper battle?" Nicola cried as the two pokémon continued exchanging attacks. It really didn't take that much to get James and Richard feeling competitive towards one another.

"Slam!" James called.

Dodging Dish's next attack, Kacha charged towards her. Dish jumped back at the last minute, just managing to avoid the attack.

"Use Mega Drain again!" Richard yelled.

Dish fired a green beam toward Kacha, who suddenly vanished from sight as he raced around her too fast to be seen.

"Thunder Wave!" James ordered.

Kacha quickly fired a weak electrical pulse from right behind Dish. She attempted to dodge as quick as she could, but was unable to predict the route of his attack. Her muscles seized up as she was struck.

"Now use Thunderbolt!" James called.

"Not so fast!" Richard yelled. "Use Nature Power!"

Both sides fired their attacks, a bolt of electricity from Kacha and a stream of star-shaped rays from Dish. They both struck in the middle and created an explosion.

"I guess we'll call it a draw," said James.

Both pokémon were worn out, though both still stood facing each other.

"Yeah, no point in knocking ourselves out in practice," Richard replied. "Great work, Dish!"

"You too, Kacha!"

Both Kacha and Dish grinned happily back at their trainers.

"I'd better get back to training as well," Nicola sighed, pulling herself to her feet. It might be a while until their gym battles, but she didn't want to let this time go to waste either.

* * *

 _12:11pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

"How's everyone feeling?" Will asked as the group walked through the automatic doors and into the Mauville gym.

After spending most of the previous afternoon and much of the morning training, the other three were finally ready to face off against the gym leader. Or as ready as they were going to be, at least.

"I'm not feeling too bad about it," Richard said.

"That's good, since you're up first," James replied.

"I'm going to give it my best shot!" Nicola declared.

"Glad to hear it!"

As they reached the front desk, they waited their turn to check in for their battles. The lobby was just as busy as it had been the previous day. There was no chance of them finding somewhere to sit here in the lobby.

"Looks like I can head on in," Richard said, stepping away from the front desk. "It's almost time for my match." Thinking about it, they'd really cut it quite fine. Most of the other people waiting for matches had probably shown up with up to an hour to go.

"Good luck then, Richard!" James grinned at him. "Don't embarrass yourself out there!"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Richard replied. "See you guys in a bit!"

* * *

 _12:15pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

Richard stepped out into the brightly-lit arena that lay at the end of the corridor from the lobby. Much like the rest of the gym, it felt very modern and sleek. The yellow walls below the stands were made up of smooth, featureless panels, while the arena floor itself was made of a tough material that was neither concrete nor metal. It felt both smooth and strong beneath Richard's feet as he walked over to take his position.

Opposite him, an old man stood firmly in the gym leader's position. He held himself lightly, completely at ease, yet there was no doubt that this was his place.

"Welcome to my gym!" he called over to Richard. "You look like you're full of spirit! Just what I like to see in my challengers!" He chuckled loudly.

"Happy to be here!" Richard grinned back, pulling out a poké ball and tossing it into the air before catching it. "I'm Richard Winter, from Pewter City!"

"The name's Wattson!" The man grinned back. "I'm the gym leader here in Mauville City!"

"Are you both ready to begin?" the referee called.

"I'm good to go!" Richard nodded.

"Very well! This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Mauville City gym leader, Wattson, and the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!" the referee shouted. "This match will be fought using a three-on-three single format and will be over when all three of one side's pokémon are unable to battle! In addition, only the challenger may substitute pokémon!"

Richard gripped his poké ball tighter as he waited. Across the arena, Wattson did the same.

"Begin!" the referee called.

"Go, Arro!" Richard shouted as he threw out his poké ball.

Arro burst out and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

"Go, Electrike!" Wattson called, throwing his own poké ball.

The green form of an electrike materialised at the other end of the arena.

"Let's get started!" Richard grinned. "Arro, use Take Down!"

Arro nodded and raced forwards, faster than one might have expected from his weight and build.

"That's the spirit!" Wattson laughed.

Wattson had a really loud laugh, the kind that seemed to really boom. It was a little distracting, to be honest.

Electrike was quick to react to Arro's incoming attack and darted to the right.

"Use Howl!" Wattson yelled.

Electrike immediately started howling loudly as Arro stopped and starting to turn to find him again.

"Use Metal Claw!" Richard ordered.

Arro surged forwards once again, slamming into Electrike and slashing at him with his steel-coated claws. Electrike stumbled back, though the attack hadn't actually hurt him as much as it first appeared.

"So, steel doesn't work that well against electric types," Richard mumbled. "Need to remember that for the future."

"Use Shock Wave!" Wattson called.

Electrike drew in electricity and fired an arc of electricity outwards towards Arro, striking him before he even had a chance to attempt a dodge.

"Again!" Wattson called.

Electrike quickly fired another arc of electricity towards the aron, scoring another direct hit.

"Tough it out, Arro!" Richard yelled.

Arro clicked his tongue in annoyance at his trainer's words, but pulled himself forwards again. It would take more than a little electricity to bring him down.

"Again!" Wattson grinned.

Electrike fired another blast of electricity towards Arro, who darted to the side to try and avoid it.

Up in the stands, a concerned look appeared on Nicola's face as she watched the electric wave strike Arro.

"Is he going to be alright?" she asked James. "Electrike is getting in a lot of hits."

"Shock Wave is a nasty attack like that," James replied. "There are ways around it though."

"Electrike are pure electric type, right?" Will asked.

"I think so."

"Then that means Wattson is an electric type trainer," Will said. "Richard just has to switch out for Naro and he's won the battle."

"It might not go that smoothly for him," James replied. "Remember that Wattson will know what his weaknesses are too."

"Use Mud Slap!" Richard shouted in a break between Electrike's attacks.

Arro kicked a clump of mud at Electrike, scoring a direct hit. As he stumbled back, his vision blocked by the mud now clinging to his face, his opponent surged forwards and slammed into him with a heavy tackle.

"Keep it up!" Richard shouted. "Use Mud Slap again!"

Arro fired another spray of mud at his recovering opponent.

"Dodge it and use Shock Wave!" Wattson called.

Electrike darted to the side and fired another wave of electricity towards Arro.

"Stick it out and use Take Down!" Richard yelled. "Full power!"

Arro charged towards Electrike's incoming attack, tensing himself as the electrical wave struck him. Sparking with residual electricity, he charged on, slamming into the surprised electrike and knocking him back with a crash.

"Electrike is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Aron is the winner!"

"Alright!" Richard cheered. "Great work, Arro!"

Arro grunted in acknowledgement, marching back to his half of the arena.

"Wahahahah!" Wattson laughed loudly as he recalled Electrike. "That wasn't bad at all! I guess it's alright to go a little harder on you!"

"Bring it on!" Richard grinned. "We'll take whatever you're giving!"

"Go, Electrode!" Wattson called as he threw out his second poké ball.

The spherical shape of an electrode, almost identical to the poké ball from which it came, appeared on Wattson's half of the battlefield.

"Use Spark!"

Electrode reacted quickly. It cloaked itself in electricity and fired itself towards Arro.

"Iron Defence!" Richard shouted.

Arro stiffened the steel armour around his body just in time. He was thrown back by the force of the impact, but the worst of it was absorbed before it did any real damage.

"Rollout!" Wattson shouted.

Electrode rolled forwards, slamming into Arro again and hurling him back. He landed with a crash, but pulled himself back up once again. It was going to take more than that to break through his defences.

"Use Iron Defence again!" Richard ordered as Electrode circled around for another strike.

Arro nodded and hardened his armour even more. Electrode struck its target once more, but this time Arro was able to hold his ground.

"Shock Wave!" Wattson yelled.

Electrode rolled backwards, firing a wave of electricity as it did.

"Arro's weakness," James mumbled as the aron was struck and thrown back. "Iron Defence can toughen him up, but it doesn't do anything against non-physical attacks."

"Does that mean that Wattson can just keep chipping away from a distance?" Will asked. "Most of Arro's attacks are close-ranged, so as long as he can keep Electrode away from him…"

"Possibly," James replied.

"Richard will just attack again though, won't he?" Nicola said. "That's what he did with Electrike."

And that's what Richard and Arro seemed poised to do again.

"Charge straight through and use Mud Slap!" Richard ordered.

Arro rushed forwards, slowing momentarily as he was struck by another wave of electricity. He kicked up a clump of mud, which struck Electrode directly. As it prepared to fire back with another Shock Wave, Arro fired another blast of mud, knocking it off-balance.

"Finish this up with Take Down!" Richard shouted, spotting his opportunity.

Arro shouted back in acknowledgement as he surged forwards. He slammed into Electrode as hard as he could.

At that moment, however, Electrode suddenly started glowing.

"That's…" Richard let out a gasp. "Arro! Get back!"

Arro attempted to jump back, but was too slow.

There was a loud bang as Electrode focused its remaining energy into an explosion that reverberated around the arena hall. When the smoke cleared, both pokémon lay collapsed on the arena floor.

"Both Electrode and Aron are unable to battle!" the referee announced. "This round is a tie!"

"Not bad at all!" Wattson nodded approvingly as he recalled Electrode. "Wahahahah! You might just manage to beat me yet!"

"I'm not going down yet!" Richard grinned back as he recalled Arro. "I've still got two pokémon, after all!"

"Go, Magneton!" Wattson threw out his final poké ball.

Three small balls of steel, each with their own eye and with several bolts and magnets attached, emerged from the ball, all sticking closely together.

"A magneton?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Magneton, the magnet pokémon and the evolved form of magnemite. A linked cluster formed of several magnemite, magneton emit a powerful magnetic force that is fatal to mechanical devices. As a result, large cities sound sirens to warn citi-"_

The Pokédex died.

"Huh?" Nicola exclaimed, shaking it.

"Well, that's a magneton for you," James said. He couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry, we can get it fixed at the pokémon centre."

"That's a relief," Nicola sighed, putting the now-dead Pokédex back in her bag.

"Go, Naro!" Richard called, throwing out a poké ball.

Naro let out a roar as he burst out of the ball and materialised opposite Magneton.

"Use Poison Sting!" Richard shouted.

Naro immediately surged forwards, not wanting to wait until Magneton moved first. His horn glowed a purple colour as he slammed into it. However, the collection of magnets showed no reaction to the hit, neither the poison nor the impact.

"Hmm. That's odd." Richard frowned. He'd wanted to poison his opponent to put more pressure on Wattson, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Richard! Poison type moves don't have any effect on steel types!" James shouted from the stands.

"They don't?!"

"Watch out!" Nicola yelled.

Magneton emitted a high-pitched noise. Naro stumbled backwards, disoriented as it echoed around his head.

"Naro! Hang in there!" Richard called. "Use Megahorn!"

The nidoking's horn turned a lime green colour as he swung it from side to side wildly. He completely missed Magneton and ended up leaning too far. There was a crash as he fell to the ground.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson called.

Magneton quickly fired series of powerful shock waves as Naro struggled back to his feet. The nidoking roared in pain as each one hit, knocking him back slightly further each time.

"Use Thrash!" Richard yelled.

Naro swung his arms wildly as he stormed towards Magneton, only to be struck by another volley of shock waves.

"This isn't good," James said. "Sonic Boom isn't a powerful attack, but it strikes a pokémon's internal organs instead of the outside of their body."

"So, all that tough armour on Naro's body?" Will looked at him.

"It's useless," James replied. "And it would have been the same for Arro's steel armour as well."

"There are moves like that?" Nicola gasped, watching as Naro struggled against another volley.

"They're rare," James replied. "But it's worth keeping an eye out for them."

Down in the arena, Naro had finally shaken off his confusion and, wincing in pain, turned his gaze directly on Magneton.

"Use Megahorn!" Richard shouted.

Naro charged forwards again, this time managing to score a direct hit on Magneton before it or Wattson could react. The impact did little damage against its steel body.

"Double Kick!" Richard yelled.

"Get back!" Wattson reacted quickly to the sudden order.

However, Magneton was slightly slower. Naro slammed into it with two powerful kicks and sent it flying back. It attempted to regroup, but Naro was already charging forwards for another attack.

"Sonic Boom!" Wattson yelled.

Magneton fired a series of shock waves at the last minute. They struck Naro, who gasped in pain and stumbled.

Everyone held their breath for a few seconds as Naro started to fall.

At the last moment, he managed to regain his balance and pulled himself up.

There was a crash as he ploughed into Magneton and delivered another pair of powerful kicks. The magnet pokémon crashed to the ground and lay still.

"Magneton is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Nidoking is the winner! All three of Wattson's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!"

"Alright!" Richard shouted, raising a fist in the air in triumph.

"Wahahahah! Looks like you beat me!" Wattson laughed loudly as he recalled Magneton. "I hadn't expected you to keep an ace in the hole!" He nodded approvingly. "You're definitely worthy of receiving the Mauville gym's Dynamo Badge!"

"Thanks!" Richard grinned back. "You had me worried for a little while though. I'm glad that Naro was able to pull through for me."

Naro gave an affectionate growl as Richard patted him on the arm.

"But you were able to recover and counter attack at the perfect moment!" Wattson said. "That's all that matters in the end!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, circular shaped badge with two thin extensions at either end. "Well done on your victory!"

"Thank you for the great battle!" Richard replied as he took the badge.

That made four badges. He was halfway to the Hoenn League.

* * *

 **The makeup of Richard's team meant that this was always going to be an easy battle for him, really. Still, I hope that this battle was still entertaining regardless of the comparative ease of Richard's victory.**

 **We'll have James's gym battle on Tuesday, followed by Chapter 11 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **on Wednesday and finally Nicola's gym battle on Thursday. It's going to be another busy week…**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	40. A Shocking Development! (Part 2)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Richard go up against Wattson, the Mauville City gym leader, and emerge victorious, only using two of his three pokémon. With his battle over, it's now James's turn to fight Wattson for the Dynamo Badge.**

 **Upload Date: 28** **th** **November 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 40: A Shocking Development! (Part 2)**

 _Mauville City, Hoenn_

 _12:51pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

"…We really should have just stayed up in the stands," Nicola sighed.

She was stood alongside James, Richard and Will against the wall in the lobby of the Mauville City gym. Some twenty or so minutes had passed since the end of Richard's gym battle, but it still wasn't time for James's go.

Rather than waiting around awkwardly in the stands, watching strangers battle Wattson, the three of them had gone back down to the lobby to meet up with Richard and wait down there until it was James's turn.

However, the lobby was just as packed now as it had been when they'd first walked in before Richard's battle. There was no hope of them getting seats down here. Instead, they were just leaning against the wall where they'd found space, killing time by talking idly amongst themselves.

The only person who was happy was Richard, who'd put his shiny new Dynamo Badge straight into his badge case as soon as he was done waving it in the others' faces. Everyone else was either uptight about their own battle, or simply irritated at needing to stand around waiting.

"Look on the bright side," James said. "At least it won't be like this after my battle."

"Good," said Will, jigging his leg impatiently as he looked around the lobby. "I wouldn't wait around here a second time."

"I'm glad the slot immediately after yours was still available," Nicola sighed. "It would have been awful if someone else had gotten in before me as well."

"Yeah, if only a certain someone else hadn't been so overly keen to have his gym battle earlier." James raised an eyebrow. "Then we could have had them all in a row."

"I have no regrets," Richard replied. "I came, I saw, I conquered!"

"Let's not pretend that Naro wasn't close to defeat against Magneton," said Will. "You were really lucky that he managed to recover from that last stumble."

"Luck is just another part of a pokémon battle," Richard replied. He'd had this slightly smug atmosphere about him ever since he'd stepped out of the arena. It was starting to get a little irritating.

"And if you'd been unlucky?" Nicola asked.

"We'd have thought of something," Richard said, grinning at her. "After all, I still had a pokémon left in reserve when I won!"

"Are gym leaders supposed to do that?" Nicola asked.

"What, lose? I think that's supposed to happen every now and again," Will replied.

"No, I mean, if they adjust their approach based on the skill of the trainer, then surely they'd be able to force any opponent to use all their available pokémon," Nicola said.

"Richard managed to catch him off-guard." James shrugged. "A gym leader isn't there to prevent anyone from earning that gym's badge, and more trainers than not are supposed to walk away victorious sooner or later. The Pokémon Association needs lots of trainers to make it to the league, after all."

"Got to make money somehow," said Will.

"Then what are they there for?" Nicola wondered.

"Obstacles," James replied. "Or maybe checkpoints? Either way, their job is to make sure that trainers are strong enough to be worthy entertainment when they reach the league."

"We're just entertainment?"

"Well, it's a competition as well, so obviously they only want the best to be competing." James let out a sigh. "Believe it or not, there are actually trainers who set off on journeys and never manage to earn a single gym badge, and others who only earn some of the ones they need."

"That sounds so tragic!" Nicola gasped.

"No need to bring up my unfortunate past, James," Richard muttered. "I _did_ go on to win all the badges I needed for the Sevii League, remember?"

"In all seriousness though, you earned that badge," James said, turning to look at him. "A gym leader will never just let a trainer win – they need to fight for it themselves."

"Glad to hear you admit it!" Richard grinned.

"Is it still not time?!" Will snapped, spinning around to glance at the clock on the wall behind the front desk.

"Five minutes to," said James, looking over there as well. "I guess I'd better started heading in."

"In that case, we'll go back up to the stands," said Richard. "Make sure you don't hold back, James! Wattson certainly won't!"

"Thanks for the advice!" James called back.

"Good luck, James!" Nicola and Will quickly called to him as they started following Richard back towards the staircase to the stands.

* * *

 _1:01pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

Standing in their positions at either end of the arena, Wattson and James quickly hurled out their first poké balls.

"Go, Magnemite!" Wattson called.

"Go, Kacha!" James shouted.

Kacha burst out of his poké ball and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Across from him, a small, steel ball with a pair of magnets attached to either side materialised and started hovering in the air.

"Magnemite, huh?" Will said, pulling out his Pokédex. "Must be related to magneton."

" _Magnemite, the magnet pokémon. Magnemite float in the air by emitting electromagnetic waves from the units at their sides. These waves block gravity. These pokémon become incapable of flight if their internal electrical supply is depleted._ "

"So, this one won't fry your Pokédex, right?" Nicola asked anxiously.

"I don't think so," Will replied. "I'll turn it off in case Magneton reappears though."

"Start off with Agile Slam!" James called to Kacha.

Kacha nodded. A split second later, he'd covered the ground between himself and Magnemite and reappeared behind it. There was a loud whack as he slammed his tail into his opponent, who was knocked forwards.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson called.

Magnemite swiftly recovered and, spinning around, fired volley of sonic blasts back towards Kacha.

"Use Agility!" James shouted.

Kacha vanished from sight just in time, reappearing on Magnemite's left. He fired a blast of electricity at his opponent, scoring a direct hit.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson ordered as Magnemite recovered.

The magnet pokémon reacted quickly and fired another burst of sonic waves, this time hitting Kacha before he had a chance to dodge.

"Now use Supersonic!" Wattson shouted as the pikachu was blasted back.

With a mechanical nod, Magnemite emitted a high-pitched noise. Kacha clutched his ears in pain and cried out. The sound was disorienting him – he could hardly tell which direction it was coming from anymore.

"Sonic Boom!" Wattson called.

"Jump back!" James yelled.

Kacha made his jump just in time, though crashing onto his side wasn't exactly the smooth landing James had envisaged. Magnemite's attack had missed though, which was a relief.

Still, there was no way that Kacha would be able to recover quickly and, as James had observed, his attacks were doing little against Magnemite. As much as James wanted to fight with him, there was no point keeping him out there just for the sake of it. They were unfortunate that this gym had been an electric type one.

"Kacha, return!" James held up the pikachu's poké ball.

Kacha was struck by the red recall beam and was sucked back inside.

"That was a good idea." Richard nodded approvingly as he watched James return the poké ball to his side. "Magnemite's attacks were more dangerous for Kacha than the other way around. Better to use someone else."

"You say someone else," said Nicola. "But the only one he can really use is Charka. Nulin is really weak to electric types and Muro would have the same trouble Kacha had."

"He could do some real damage with Charka as well," Will said. "And, since Kacha came off worst in this round, he needs to hit back with all he's got."

"Go, Charka!" James called as he threw out his next poké ball.

Charka roared eagerly as he burst out of the ball and landed on the ground. Once again, his trainer had called upon him in his time of need. That seemed to make him even more keen to get out there and fight Wattson's pokémon.

"Use Supersonic!" Wattson called.

Magnemite quickly started emitting another high-pitched noise.

"Use Flamethrower!" James shouted.

Charka was quick to obey. He expelled a searing burst of flames from his mouth, accompanied with a guttural roar. He was trying to drown out the high-pitched sound waves heading his way.

As it happened, it was unnecessary. Magnemite halted its attack and dodged to the side as the flames got closer. They had some breathing room.

"Use Smokescreen!" James ordered.

With a shout, Charka fired out a billowing cloud of thick, black smoke. It completely concealed James and Charka's half of the field.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson called.

Magnemite immediately fired a volley of sonic waves into the murky darkness. A split second later, a jet of flame shot back out towards it, licking its way along the arena floor before spiralling up around it. The flames intensified as they trapped it in place.

"Use Thundershock!" Wattson ordered quickly.

Sparking with electricity, Magnemite fired a spark out around itself, dissipating the flames and allowing it to drop free towards the ground again. It stopped itself gently and started floating using electromagnetism.

"Use Thundershock again!" Wattson called as the smoke cleared.

"Use Flamethrower!" James shouted.

Both pokémon immediately fired their attacks, a small jolt of electricity flying in one direction, while a burst of glowing orange flames billowed out in the other. They both passed each other and struck their intended targets.

Charka stumbled backwards, trying to shake off the numbness spreading through his body. Magnemite, meanwhile, was completely engulfed. When the fire and smoke finally faded, his blackened body dropped to the ground with a loud clank that echoed around the room.

"Magnemite is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Charmeleon is the winner!"

"Great work, Charka!" James grinned.

Charka raised his arm with great difficulty, trying to give his trainer a thumbs-up in response.

"Did that attack…?" James gasped. It had hardly damaged Charka at all, but it had caused his muscles to start seizing up. The battle was going to be more difficult from here on.

"He's doing well so far," Will said. "But it took him longer than I was expecting to defeat Magnemite."

"Now that Charka is paralysed, won't that make it harder for him to take down whichever pokémon Wattson sends out next?" Nicola asked in concern.

"He's made of tough stuff," Richard replied dismissively. "Besides, I'm sure James will have some tricks up his sleeve as well!"

"Go, Magneton!" Wattson called, throwing out his next poké ball.

James groaned. "Of course, Magneton was going to appear!" He glanced at Charka.

The charmeleon grinned back confidently, despite his paralysis.

However, James decided that it was time to give someone else a go. "Charka, return!" As the charmeleon was sucked back into the ball, he held it close to his face and whispered: "Don't worry, you'll get another chance soon."

"Who's he going to use?" Nicola wondered, a confused look crossing her face. "Charka's the only real one who can fight Magneton."

"He's got a plan," Richard replied. "James always has a plan."

"Go, Muro!" James called, throwing out another poké ball.

Muro bellowed loudly as he materialised, jumping about and stamping his feet in excitement.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson shouted.

Magneton was quick to react, firing a volley of sonic waves towards Muro. The loudred dove to the side, just managing to dodge at the last moment.

"Use Screech!" James yelled.

Muro let out an ear-splitting screech, stunning Magneton. He stormed forwards and slammed his foot into the magnet pokémon, sending it crashing to the ground.

"Now use Uproar!" James ordered.

Muro jumped back and started shouting loudly, each one causing a sound wave that struck the recovering-Magneton.

"Use Shock Wave!" Wattson shouted.

Magneton held fast and charged up a pulse of electricity to fire back at Muro.

"Stay strong, Muro!" James yelled.

Muro held his ground, but was knocked back slightly by the force of the impact. Skidding to a halt, he quickly pulled himself forwards again.

"Sonic Boom!" Wattson called.

Magneton fired another series of sonic bursts towards Muro.

"Dodge it and use Howl!" James shouted.

Muro tried to jump to the side, but was struck and knocked back. Pulling himself up again, he howled loudly and glared at Magneton.

"Muro seems to be holding out okay," Will said. "But can he really beat Magneton?"

Nicola nodded in agreement. "Yeah, his attacks don't seem to be having that much of an effect."

"Muro does have one advantage though," said Richard.

"Which is?"

"He's naturally immune to sound-based attacks, so Wattson and Magneton can't confuse him with Supersonic in the same way that they could Charka and Kacha."

"Ah, there is that." Nicola nodded.

"Use Stomp!" James yelled.

Muro stormed forwards, only to be intercepted by another blast of electricity from Magneton.

"Use Thunder Wave!" Wattson ordered.

Magneton followed up his attack with a weak electrical pulse, striking Muro before he'd had the chance to get back on his feet. As he was struck, his muscles started to seize up and his arms and legs locked in place.

"Good work, Muro!" James called, whipping out his poké ball. "Return!"

Muro managed a brief nod as he was hit and recalled.

"Go, Charka!" James threw out his next poké ball.

Charka roared happily as he emerged again and materialised on the ground. He looked over at Magneton, chewing for a couple of seconds before turning to the side and spitting out a small, brown pip.

"Use Fire Spin!" James shouted.

With another roar, Charka shot a jet of flames towards Magneton. The magnet pokémon attempted to avoid it, but moved too slowly. The flames caught up with it and quickly encircled it. The arena lit up with an orange glow as the flames gained height.

"Now use Flamethrower!" James yelled.

Charka took a deep breath and fired a blast of flames towards the trapped Magneton. There was a bright flash as the attack struck it and engulfed it. As the smoke cleared, Magneton dropped down to the ground with a loud clang. Its blackened form made no attempt to lift off again.

"Magneton is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Charmeleon is the winner!"

"Great work out there, Charka!" James grinned.

Charka grinned back confidently.

"And good work to you too, Muro!" James smiled at the poké ball.

"I was certain that Charka had been paralysed by Magnemite." Will frowned. "Did he do something while Muro was out in the field?"

"Didn't you notice that Charka was chewing?" Nicola asked.

"Oh yeah, he was, wasn't he?" Richard said.

"James must have given him a cheri berry before the battle," Nicola explained. "I guess he figured that it would be a potential problem against an electric user."

"I guess you'll be doing the same thing then?" Richard grinned at her.

"Naturally!" Nicola nodded. "All three of my team members are already holding cheri berries, just in case."

Down in the arena, Wattson had recalled Magneton.

"What a dominating style," he said, looking over at James and Charka. "Taking advantage of the rules to rotate your pokémon around is an excellent strategy. I'm impressed!"

"Glad to hear it!" James grinned at him.

"Though, of course, all three of your pokémon are now slightly weaker than they were at the start of the battle." A smile appeared on Wattson's face. "While I still have a pokémon on full strength!"

"We've still got a lot left in us!" James called back.

"Wahahaha!" Wattson laughed. "That's good to hear! Go, Voltorb!"

A small, round pokémon that looked almost exactly the same as the poké ball from which it had emerged appeared on the battlefield, shooting a glare across at Charka.

"Voltorb, huh?" Will pulled out his Pokédex and switched it back on before pointing it at Voltorb.

" _Voltorb, the ball pokémon. They bear an uncanny and unexplained resemblance to a poké ball. Because they explode at the slightest shock, even veteran trainers treat them with caution. They are usually found in power plants._ "

"So, it's like that electrode we saw earlier?" Nicola asked.

"Electrode is the evolved form," Richard replied. "Still, it shouldn't be too much trouble for Charka to overpower it…"

"Use Flamethrower!" James called.

Charka quickly fired a burst of flames towards Voltorb. The ball pokémon quickly rolled to the side though and avoided the attack.

"Use Shock Wave!" Wattson shouted.

Voltorb fired a blast of electricity towards Charka.

"Use Metal Claw!" James yelled. "Aim for the ground!"

Charka turned his claw to steel and slammed it into the arena floor below.

"What's he doing?" Nicola exclaimed as Charka was struck by the electrical blast.

"Just look!" Richard replied.

Though the attack had hit and hurt Charka, most of the electricity was flowing straight down his claw and into the ground.

"What happened?" Nicola asked, looking over at Richard.

"It's an old tactic of James's," Richard replied. "Electricity naturally flows down towards the ground, so, by digging one claw into the ground, Charka earthed the electricity and prevented it from harming most of his body too much."

"Wow! That's incredible!" Nicola cried. "I need to keep that in mind as well!"

"Use Rollout!" Wattson called to Voltorb.

Voltorb started rolling forwards, quickly picking up speed.

"Use Flamethrower!" James shouted as Charka pulled his claw back out of the ground.

The charmeleon nodded and fired a burst of flames, consuming the approaching electric type completely. However, it tore straight through and ploughed into him. Taking a hit directly to the chest, Charka stumbled backwards. His opponent dropped to the ground and continued spinning, slamming into him a second time.

"Use Metal Claw!" James yelled.

As Voltorb spun in a third time, Charka swung his claw in from the right. He caught Voltorb and knocked it off-balance. It spun out of its arc and only glanced Charka on the shoulder with his third attack.

As it spun out of its attack, both sides paused to take stock of the situation. Both pokémon were injured after the exchange of blows, though Charka's exhaustion was starting to show more than Voltorb's. In particular, Voltorb's last couple of attacks had left their mark.

"Alright, Charka, return!" James called.

Charka was hit by the recall beam and returned to his poké ball.

"Go, Kacha!" James pulled out another poké ball and threw it.

Kacha burst out of the ball and landed on the ground. He looked thrilled to be back in the action.

"Use Rollout!" Wattson called to Voltorb.

With a curt nod, Voltorb started rolling forwards.

"Use Agile Slam!" James yelled.

Kacha sprang forwards, appearing on Voltorb's flank and striking it before it had a chance to react.

"Shock Wave!" Wattson shouted.

"Thunderbolt!" James yelled.

Both electric types fired their attacks, crackling electricity flying in all directions. Both were hit, but the attacks did little damage.

"Use Slam again!" James shouted, moving quickly to try and break the deadlock.

"Use Rollout!" Wattson ordered.

Both pokémon charged at each other. As they got closer, Kacha suddenly jumped into the air. Swinging his tail, he slammed down on his opponent, causing it to bounce up into the air.

"Finish this up!" James shouted. "Use Thunderbolt! Full power!"

Letting out a shout, Kacha fired everything he had at Voltorb. He scored a direct hit, thousands of volts coursing through Voltorb's body.

"Rollout!" Wattson yelled as it started to drop back towards the ground.

It nodded and started whirling as it crashed down towards Kacha.

"Agile Slam!" James shouted.

Kacha moved in an instant. Jumping up at a high speed, he was in front of Voltorb before anyone had realised he'd moved. With a heavy swing from his tail, he smashed into the ball pokémon and sent it flying. There was a loud crash as it struck the ground and bounced off, crashing again near Wattson.

"Voltorb is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Pikachu is the winner! All three of Wattson's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"Yes!" James cheered. "Fantastic work out there, Kacha!"

Kacha grinned back at him as he wearily walked back over.

"That was a great battle, all of you!" Wattson called. "Managing to defeat all three of mine without losing a single one of your own is no mean feat!"

"You almost had me and Charka with Rollout," James replied as he walked over towards him. "And I would have struggled without Charka being there."

"Wahahaha!" Wattson laughed. "But it's because you knew that that you were able to beat me!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small badge, the same shape as the one Richard had received earlier. "Here! The Dynamo Badge is yours!"

"Thanks, Wattson!" James grinned as he took the badge.

"Wahahaha!" Wattson laughed again. "Two losses in the same afternoon? Looks like I'm going to have to go even harder on my remaining challengers today!"

"Ugh!" Nicola groaned as she got to her feet. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Don't worry," said Richard. "You'll be fine as long as you remember everything we practised!"

"Give it your best shot," Will added.

"Sure." Nicola nodded, taking a deep breath before setting off back towards the stairs.

* * *

 **Wattson's team was a real disappointment to me in terms of tactical options for this gym battle. I realised that I'd kind of let Kacha fall by the wayside, but the closest gym battle was this one and the makeup of Wattson's team meant that Charka was really the only member of James's team that could reliably go up against Wattson. Still, I tried to vary things up and I'm sure that both Kacha and Muro will get more opportunities to shine in future chapters.**

 **We'll have a brief break from gym battles tomorrow for the next chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **, but we'll have Nicola gym battle to look forward to on Thursday!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	41. A Shocking Development! (Part 3)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James defeat Wattson and earn his fourth Hoenn League gym badge. It's now Nicola's turn to face the Mauville City gym leader.**

 **Upload Date: 30** **th** **November 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 41: A Shocking Development! (Part 3)**

 _Mauville City, Hoenn_

 _1:14pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

James walked back along the passage towards the lobby. Pulling out his badge case, he slipped his new Dynamo Badge into place next to the others. Now he was up to four badges as well. Just four more and he'd be ready for the Hoenn League.

Still, the battle had worried him somewhat.

Though he'd been victorious, he'd left his team exposed on occasion and had relied, once again, far too heavily on Charka. He needed to find ways to make his team more versatile and more capable of adapting to changing situations on the battlefield. It was going to be an evening of planning for him.

As he reached the end of the passage and turned into the lobby, he spotted Nicola approaching from the other direction.

"Congratulations!" Nicola smiled at him as they reached each other.

"Thanks," James replied. "It was pretty tense, but we made it through in the end."

"Anything I should keep in mind for my battle?" Nicola asked.

"Wattson will probably try and throw you off using paralysis and confusion," said James. "Make sure that you watch yourself and don't panic when he starts throwing those moves around."

"Got it!" Nicola nodded. "I'll give it my best shot!"

"Don't just say that!" James laughed. "You've got a bad habit of selling yourself short, Nicola! Don't just give it your best shot – believe that you can win!"

"I-I'll try!"

"Don't just 'try' – do!"

"G-Got it." Nicola nodded. "I can win this. I've just got to remember what we did in training…" She continued mumbling to herself as she stepped away and turned into the passage leading down towards the arena.

James let out a sigh once she was gone. Was she going to be alright?

She'd suffered defeats in two of the three gyms she'd challenged so far. Each one had knocked her confidence, even if she'd managed to make a comeback in Dewford. Combined with her quick elimination from the Anamarc contest, all the conditions were there for a complete breakdown in her confidence in herself.

But there was only one way to deal with that – for her to believe in herself and guide her team to victory.

Wattson was a tough gym leader, tougher than he appeared in both James and Richard's battles. He knew how to put trainers into a tough spot and how to throw their plans into disarray. To beat him, one needed to be prepared to deal with the chaos he created on the battlefield.

"Well, I guess she'll find her own way," James muttered to himself as he started walking up the stairs towards the stands.

Nicola had grown stronger over the course of the last month, but she needed to find a way to overcome her own weaknesses by herself if she was going to truly stand a chance at the Hoenn League. James and the others could do their best to help, but this was ultimately something that only she could resolve.

* * *

 _1:16pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Welcome back!" Richard grinned at James as he made his way along the stand towards them.

"Good to be back," James replied.

"Well done on winning, James," said Will. "It was a pretty good fight."

"What do you mean 'pretty good'?" James frowned as he sat down. "My pokémon and I put a lot of effort into that win."

"How was Nicola when you saw her?" Richard asked.

"How I'd expected," James sighed. "I hope she's able to overcome her own insecurities this time. I'd hate to see her lose at a third gym in a row."

"Do you think that might happen?" Will asked.

"Depends on how she handles the challenges Wattson throws at her," said James, looking down at the arena.

Nicola had taken her position opposite Wattson and the referee was just finishing his announcements. The battle was about to begin.

"Go, Plusle!" Wattson called as he threw out his first poké ball.

"A pokémon he didn't use against us?" Richard murmured. "That'll make it harder for Nicola to predict what's coming."

"Go, Zaggy!" Nicola called, throwing out a poké ball of her own.

Zaggy burst out of his poké ball and landed on the ground. Though he was immediately tempted to run off to look at the shiny wall panels, he managed to hold himself back. He seemed to get that this was a more serious situation than normal.

"Use Thunder Wave!" Wattson ordered.

Plusle nodded and fired a weak electrical pulse towards Zaggy, who quickly swerved to the side to avoid it.

"Use Tackle!" Nicola shouted.

Zaggy skidded to a halt and started charging directly towards Plusle. As he got closer, however, the electric type suddenly smirked at him.

"Thunder Wave again!" Wattson called.

With a shout, Plusle fired another electrical pulse towards Zaggy, who was too close to dodge it this time.

"Zaggy!" Nicola cried in alarm as the zigzagoon was bathed in electrical jolts that darted across his body.

"Now use Spark!" Wattson yelled.

Plusle stormed forwards, electricity sparking from his body. He crashed into Zaggy and sent him flying back towards Nicola.

"Are you okay?" Nicola cried as he landed with a thud.

"It was a fine attempt at an attack!" Wattson grinned over at her. "But don't think that I'm going to be a pushover!"

"I'm far from finished!" Nicola cried, trying to sound as confident as she could.

In front of her, Zaggy slipped a small red berry into his mouth and started chewing. The numbness that was holding his muscles in place started to wear off and he gave himself a shake.

"A cheri berry?" Wattson grinned. "Well thought out, young lady, but a berry is only good for one use! And Plusle still has plenty of electricity left!"

"Use Mud Sport!" Nicola called.

Zaggy threw himself to the ground and started rolling and wriggling around, his fur becoming covered in dust in the process.

"Err…"

James, Richard and Will all shared confused looks.

"I don't think it's working," James said.

"You got that right." Richard nodded.

"That dust isn't going to do anything," Will added.

"O-Okay, Zaggy! You can stop now!" Trying to ignore the fact that her face was turning red, Nicola quickly called out to the zigzagoon.

"Use Spark!" Wattson called to Plusle.

Plusle nodded and surged forwards again. He crashed into Zaggy and hurled him back.

"Now use Thunder Wave!" Wattson yelled.

Plusle fired another weak electrical pulse towards Zaggy.

"Dodge it and use Headbutt!" Nicola shouted.

Zaggy tore himself to the side, just managing to avoid the electrical pulse, and ploughed straight into Plusle, knocking him back.

"I'm surprised that Zaggy's actually listening to her for once," Richard said as he watched Zaggy continue his counter attack. "I thought he'd be wandering all over the place."

"I think he's spent enough time with Nicola to want to help her when she needs it," James replied. He chuckled. "But I bet he'll be back to causing trouble as soon as the battle's over!"

"Use Tail Whip!" Nicola ordered.

Zaggy, who'd just jumped back from a fierce scuffle with Plusle, immediately started wagging his tail. It made it seem like he thought it was all just a game.

Plusle seemed angered by his light-heartedness and stormed forwards.

"Use Spark!" Wattson yelled.

Plusle did as he was told, breaking into a run as electricity started sparking from all over his body.

"Use Headbutt!" Nicola shouted.

Zaggy shot forwards, lowering his head. Both pokémon smashed into each other head on and recoiled in pain.

"And again!" Nicola called as Zaggy skidded to a halt.

Flinching in pain, Zaggy rushed forwards again. Just as Plusle was pulling himself back up, the zigzagoon reached him and slammed into him again. He was thrown back, landing with a crash on Wattson's half of the field.

"Plusle is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Zigzagoon is the winner!"

"Phew!" Nicola let out a sigh of relief. "Great work, Zaggy!"

Zaggy, meanwhile, had taken advantage of the short break to dash over and sniff at the referee's ankles.

"Zaggy!" Nicola cried in horror. "I'm so sorry!" She bowed her head to the referee as she rushed over to pick the zigzagoon up.

"That's more what I was expecting," said Will.

"Still, he managed to beat Plusle," said Richard. "This battle had started in Nicola's favour."

"Wattson will bring out a tougher opponent next though," James said, frowning as he watched Zaggy squirm out of Nicola's arms and drop back to the ground. "And Nicola knows it."

"Go, Magneton!" Wattson called, throwing out his next poké ball.

Magneton let out a mechanical cry as it burst out and started hovering over the battlefield. At the words of its trainer, it fired a volley of sonic bursts towards Zaggy. The zigzagoon jumped to the side to avoid the attack.

"Use Tail Whip!" Nicola shouted.

Zaggy nodded and started wagging his tail in the direction of his opponent.

"Now use Headbutt!" Nicola called.

Zaggy charged forwards, slamming headfirst into Magneton. Despite knocking it backwards, the electric type remained upright and didn't seem all that fazed by the attack.

"Shock Wave!" Wattson yelled.

Magneton fired an arc of electricity outwards, easily catching Zaggy and sending him flying backwards with electricity sparking all over his body.

"Now use Sonic Boom!" Wattson ordered.

Magneton was quick to fire another series of sonic blasts towards Zaggy. Once again, the zigzagoon was struck and flung back.

"Zaggy!" Nicola cried in alarm.

Zaggy lay still for a moment before pulling himself back to his feet and giving his trainer a quick cry. He could keep going.

"It's a tough situation for Nicola," James sighed. "She doesn't really have any pokémon that can defeat Magneton quickly and easily."

"It's good that she beat Plusle as quickly as she did though," said Will. "This way she can focus on wearing Magneton down."

"True." James nodded. "But you're assuming that her pokémon are all able to hold out that long."

"Yeah," said Richard. "The balance of power is in Wattson's favour at the moment. And Sonic Boom gives him the edge in a battle of attrition."

"Use Headbutt again!" Nicola shouted to Zaggy.

The zigzagoon immediately tore forwards, limping slightly from the injuries he'd suffered earlier. He slammed straight into Magneton again, who wasn't even attempting to dodge, and knocked him back. However, Magneton's tough, steel exterior meant that the attack seemed to be hurting Zaggy more than it.

"Pull back and Tail Whip!" Nicola shouted.

"Use Shock Wave!" Wattson called.

Zaggy jumped back and started wagging his tail as Magneton fired another blast of electricity towards him. He let out a cry as he was struck by the electricity and thrown back. There was a crash as he landed in front of Nicola.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Magneton is the winner!"

"You did great," Nicola said as she recalled Zaggy to his poké ball. "You've still got two pokémon left," she whispered to herself.

The urge to panic was strong. She knew that Magneton was a tough pokémon, and that she didn't have an effective counter for it. She needed to think carefully about what she did next.

"Who do you think is next?" Will asked.

"Either Mushy or Tricky," Richard replied. "Even Nicola wouldn't use Kipa in a battle like this."

"Both of them can resist electricity," said James. "Plus, Tricky can absorb electrical attacks completely thanks to his ability…"

Still, it would be a tough fight. Sonic Boom would be a real threat to both of them.

"Go, Mushy!" Nicola called as she threw her next poké ball.

Mushy materialised on the ground and nodded her head confidently.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola ordered quickly.

Mushy didn't hesitate. She rushed forwards, firing a cluster of seeds towards Magneton. It tried to swerve to the side to avoid them, but was caught by several. They started sprouting and leeching energy from its body.

"Great work, Mushy!" Nicola grinned.

"Use Thunder Wave!" Wattson called. He didn't seem all that alarmed by the success of Nicola's attack.

Magneton was quick to retaliate with a weak electrical pulse, striking Mushy as she attempted to retreat back to her half of the field.

"Mushy!" Nicola cried in alarm.

Mushy staggered, her muscles seizing up as electricity coursed through her.

"Sonic Boom!" Wattson ordered.

Magneton fired a burst of sonic waves at Mushy, who desperately tried to move. She was too slow, the waves striking her and throwing her to the ground with a loud thud.

"Supersonic!" Wattson continued, not letting up.

Magneton emitted a high-pitched noise, stunning Mushy. She staggered about as Nicola tried to call out to her.

"Use Mega Drain!"

Mushy attempted to spin around to face her opponent again, but she overturned and crashed to the ground.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson shouted.

Magneton fired another blast of sonic waves towards Mushy, scoring another hit.

Things were starting to look bad.

Nicola gritted her teeth as she watched Mushy struggle. Even though the seeds from earlier were draining Magneton's energy and Mushy had finally managed to pop the cheri berry she'd been holding into her mouth, it still looked like Magneton and Wattson held the advantage.

Still, there was only really one thing she could do now.

"Mushy, use Mega Drain!" she called.

Mushy managed to launch her attack, firing a green beam towards Magneton. It tried to dodge to the side, but the shroomish was able to change the angle of her attack. She scored a hit, more of Magneton's energy being drained and some of Mushy's wounds healing slightly.

"Mega Drain again!" Nicola called.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson yelled.

Mushy and Magneton fired their attacks at the exact same moment. The green beam struck Magneton and drained some of its energy just moments before Mushy was struck by the sonic waves and was blasted back. There was a crash as she hit the ground.

"Shroomish is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Magneton is the winner!"

"So, it's all down to Nicola's last," James sighed as he watched Nicola recall Mushy.

"Do you think Tricky will be able to handle it?" Will asked.

"It'll be tough for Wattson to use electric attacks against him," said James. "But Sonic Boom is the one that she really needs to watch."

"Leech Seed is still in effect though," Richard said, noticing the small sprouting plants on one of the three magnemite that made up Magneton.

"Yeah." James nodded. "She just needs to keep it together."

"Go, Tricky!" Nicola called, throwing her last poké ball.

Tricky barked eagerly as he materialised on the battlefield, shooting a glare over at his opponent.

"Use Leer!" Nicola shouted.

Tricky shot another fierce look at Magneton. If it was affecting the mechanical pokémon, however, then it didn't let it show.

"Use Supersonic!" Wattson called.

"Quick Attack!" Nicola yelled quickly.

Just as Magneton was starting to emit a supersonic noise, Tricky bolted forwards and slammed into it so quickly that it was as if he'd already been standing in from of it. Magneton was knocked backwards, but remained upright. It emitted a high-pitched noise, which caused Tricky to yelp in pain and recoil back.

"Stay strong, Tricky!" Nicola shouted.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson called.

Magneton was quick to react, firing a series of sonic blasts towards Tricky. However, as he writhed around in pain from the previous attack, he inadvertently rolled out of the way of the next one. The sonic blasts struck the ground, gouging holes in the arena floor, but Tricky was fine.

"Use Howl!" Nicola shouted.

Pulling himself up and trying to clear his head, Tricky let out a loud howl. He continued howling as Magneton fired another blast of sonic energy towards him.

Spotting the attack, he threw himself forwards, just managing to dodge it.

"Great work, Tricky!" Nicola called enthusiastically. "Use Spark!"

Tricky shook his head to finally clear it. Electricity started sparking all over his body as he raced towards Magneton again. He slammed straight into it, knocking it back with a crash.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Wattson shouted to the prone Magneton.

"Spark again!" Nicola yelled.

Both pokémon moved at once. Magneton fired a series of sonic bursts towards Tricky as he approached. They all hit.

However, Tricky fought to keep his momentum and broke through. He smashed into Magneton a second time, crackling electricity covering the field.

The magnet pokémon fell back with a crash.

"Magneton is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Electrike is the winner!"

"She beat Magneton!" Richard grinned. "There's just one pokémon left to go now!"

"Hopefully, this has made her more confident," said James.

"But wouldn't it be bad if she got overconfident?" Will asked.

"That too," Richard sighed.

"Go, Minun!" Wattson called, throwing out his last poké ball.

A minun burst from the poké ball and landed on the ground with a soft thud.

 _If Wattson picked this pokémon as his last, then it must be pretty capable_ , Nicola thought. _I'll need to be careful_. She shared a nod with Tricky. "Use Howl!"

Tricky let out a loud howl, the noise echoing around the room. In reaction, Minun started growling cutely back at him.

"Use Quick Attack!" Wattson called.

"Same!" Nicola yelled to Tricky.

Both pokémon rushed each other with a burst of speed. Both struck, with the lighter Minun being thrown back.

"Use Spark!" Nicola called, spotting an opportunity.

With a bark, Tricky cloaked himself in electricity as he raced on. He slammed into Minun before he could recover from the previous attack. He was hurled back again, but this time landed on his feet.

"Use Quick Attack!" Wattson ordered.

Minun sprang forwards, recovering quickly. He ploughed into Tricky's shoulder, forcing him to step back. He took little damage, but Minun and Wattson still looked confident. Was there something that he and Nicola were missing?

Still suspecting that there may be some kind of trick, Nicola decided to move cautiously.

"Use Leer!" she called. Minun might have been able to use Growl to counter Tricky's Howl, but he had no way of boosting his own defence.

Tricky leered at him with such a look that he seemed momentarily intimidated. However, he quickly regained his nerve and stepped forwards.

"Use Quick Attack!" Wattson shouted.

"Use Spark!" Nicola called.

Both pokémon sprang towards each other again, each striking the other. It looked as though the final round had become a battle of attrition – who would be able to outlast their opponent?

Tricky jumped back, nursing the bruises he'd picked up from the previous attack, and looked over at Nicola, eagerly awaiting her next order.

Across from him, Minun was starting to look worse for wear. However, his face remained determined. He wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Use Swift!" Wattson called.

Minun jumped into the air, firing a spray of star-shaped rays towards Tricky. The electrike had just enough time to yelp in alarm before he was struck and hurled back. As he skidded to a halt, he once again glanced back to Nicola for his next order.

"And again!" Wattson shouted.

Minun was weak in close quarter fighting, but if he was able to keep Tricky at bay using a reliable move like Swift, then he'd be able to wear him down. Nicola knew that Tricky was looking to her for directions. He'd decided to put his faith in her, so she had to think of a way out of this.

Minun jumped up and fired another volley of star-shaped rays towards Tricky. There was no way to avoid them.

An idea crossed Nicola's mind.

"Use Quick Attack!" she shouted. "Go from the right!"

Tricky sprang forwards almost too quickly to see. He bounded over to the right of the arena, the star-shaped rays changing course to follow him. With a second bound, he smashed into Minun and knocked him to the ground. As he leapt off of him, the rays caught up with them.

Both pokémon were pounded by them, the stars exploding into showers of sparks, and thrown to one side. Tricky pulled himself painfully back to his feet, but Minun remained on the ground.

"Minun is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Electrike is the winner! All three of Wattson's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"We did it!" Nicola looked over at Tricky ecstatically.

"Wahahaha!" Wattson laughed loudly. "Looks like you were tougher than I gave you credit for! Still, you put up a great fight, Minun!"

Both trainers recalled their pokémon and Wattson started walking across the arena to join Nicola.

"I was surprised that your trick at the end was so easy to counter," said Nicola.

"I'd forgotten that your electrike can absorb electricity when I was choosing my last pokémon!" Wattson grinned. "I had to make the best with the moves I knew would work! Guess my age is really starting to show! Wahahaha!"

"Th-That does kinda sound like the kind of mistake I would make…" Nicola laughed nervously.

"Here." Wattson held out his hand and dropped a Dynamo Badge into Nicola's palm. "I may have made some mistakes, but you earned that gym badge!"

"Thanks, Wattson!" Nicola grinned.

* * *

 _1:31pm, 13_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Congrats, Nicola!"

James, Richard and Will all immediately came over to Nicola as soon as she stepped into the lobby.

"Thanks, guys!" Nicola beamed around at them. "I can't believe I actually managed to win in one go!"

"I told you – you need to have more confidence in yourself!" James grinned.

"Yeah!" Richard nodded. "Most of your problems are in your head!"

"I'll keep that in mind for the future," Nicola replied.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Will asked. "Is there a plan?"

"I didn't know how our gym battles were going to go, so I haven't looked at the map yet," James said. "We might as well stay here in Mauville City tonight, but beyond that there's nothing planned yet."

"Do we know where the next gym is?" Richard asked.

"No idea."

"What about contests?" Nicola asked enthusiastically.

"Same."

"I guess that's our evening planned out then!" Richard grinned. "Once we're back at the pokémon centre, we should have a good look at the guidebook!"

"It would be kind of a shame to leave Mauville City so quickly," Nicola sighed as they stepped out of the gym and back onto the street. "There's so much to do here, after all."

"I usually plan for at least a couple of days in each town with a gym," James said. "You know, just in case someone ends up losing."

"So, we could stay here an extra day?" Will asked.

"If you guys want to, then that's fine by me," James replied.

"I would be nice to have a more relaxed day for a change," Nicola said.

"I'm a bit curious as well," Richard added. "No complaints here."

"We'll come up with something when we get back to the pokémon centre then," said James. "I think we could all use a break after today!"

* * *

 **I wasn't originally planning on letting Nicola win against Wattson on her first try, but I figured that I'd given her enough trouble between Petalburg, Dewford and the Anamarc contest. Hopefully, you enjoyed the battle – it's been nice to give her a reason to feel better about herself.**

 **As a result, I'm now down half a plan for Chapter 42. I've still got a central plot that I can use, but this will give me an opportunity to have the group explore Mauville City a bit more. Regardless, it'll be a somewhat more relaxed chapter than the original plan called for!**

 **On that subject, I'll be taking a 'week' off due to reaching Chapter 40, so there won't be an upload on Sunday. I'm also bringing forward my weekly uploads to Friday starting from next week. Please note that this remains a rough guide and not a guarantee.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	42. King of the Hill

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **The previous three chapters saw our gym-challenging trainers defeat Wattson to earn the Dynamo Badge. To recover from the intense training, they decide to spend some time enjoying Mauville City before moving on.**

 **Upload Date: 17** **th** **December 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 42: King of the Hill**

 _Mauville City, Hoenn_

 _12:34pm, 14_ _th_ _May 2006_

After a morning spent visiting the arcades, shops and other areas of Mauville City, the group had decided that it was time to stop for lunch. And since they were in the city centre, there was one place that they simply had to go.

The food court.

"What's so special about it?" Richard asked.

"It's cheap?" Nicola suggested.

"Cheap, but good," James added. "It's probably not the healthiest option, but at least we can eat something halfway decent without spending too much."

"Besides, don't you guys get tempted when you see somewhere that everyone else is going to?" Will said. "If lots of people like something, that usually means it's good."

"Not necessarily," Richard said, frowning as he looked at the queue. "They might not like the same thing as them."

"Exactly." James nodded. "Just because lots of people like something doesn't automatically make it right – lots of people can still be wrong."

"You've changed your tune."

"Not so! I still think we should eat here!" James grinned. "Just not because it's popular."

As they walked through the entrance to the large food hall, they quickly spotted a different problem.

"Are we going to be able to find somewhere to sit?" Nicola wondered, looking around at the crowded tables.

"There are still some spaces left," James replied. "And there are other people who are leaving as well." He didn't seem that worried.

And, to be fair, they did still need to get their food before they started thinking about getting a seat. The food court was very much the domain of the food stand. It would be a free-for-all when they needed to sit down, but it would be difficult to get a table and then start worrying about getting food.

"We can stand," Richard added unhelpfully.

Nicola hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Fortunately, after getting her Village Sub Combo, she was relieved to find that there was still space at the table James and Richard had already sat down at.

"See? Nothing to worry about!" Richard grinned at her as she approached. "And there's even a seat left for Will as well!"

"Sure, sure," Nicola replied dismissively as she sat down. She'd just started eating when she suddenly noticed a commotion heading their way.

Will had stepped away from the food counter with his meal at the same time as another customer. They'd both looked at the empty seat next to her, then at each other. Then they'd both started walking quickly forwards, accelerating as they got closer.

At the last moment, Will rushed forwards, just managing to slide onto the seat before his rival could.

James, Richard and Nicola, their attention briefly drawn, returned to their food, thinking that that was the end of it.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Will competitor, another trainer by the looks of him, wasn't content with quietly accepting this result.

"Hey! That seat's mine! I saw it first!"

The look on Will's face seemed to say: 'are we ready going there?' With a sigh, he turned to look at the other trainer. "Look, these chairs are all free for anyone to use. I got here before you did, so, sorry, but you're going to have to go somewhere else."

"You cut in ahead of me!" the other trainer shouted.

"I didn't see a queue."

"W-Will!" Nicola hissed. The situation was starting to escalate, and they were quickly becoming the centre of attention.

The two trainers locked eyes, the tension increasing.

"Fine." The other boy pulled out a poké ball. "How about we fight for the seat?"

"Music to my ears!" Will called, jumping up and pulling out a poké ball too.

There was pandemonium for a few brief seconds as both trainer made to throw their poké balls and a number of other people swiftly moved to try and stop them.

"Will! This isn't the place to fight a pokémon battle!" James shouted, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"Hey! I didn't start it!" Will snapped back, trying to pull free as Richard grabbed his other arm.

The other trainer was being hastily restrained by a couple of other people as well. Apparently realising that they'd caused quite the scene, he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Fine! I guess you can keep that seat." He fixed Will with a fierce glare. "But if you want to settle this, then come and fight me at Trainer Hill!" He shrugged off the other trainers and stalked off to find another table.

Will watched him go, silently.

"Wow! What a nasty piece of work," Nicola sighed. "It's just a chair."

"You'd be surprised," one of the other trainers replied wearily. "Some of the trainers who visit here get quite aggressive when it comes to this."

"Well, it's good, affordable food after all," another added.

"So, what are you going to do?" Richard asked as he, James and Will sat back down. "About that challenge?"

"What do you think I'm going to do," Will replied. "We're going to pound his team into the ground!"

"He's deliberately baiting you," James said, shaking his head. "You might end up getting crushed instead."

"You _did_ get to keep your seat," Nicola said. "Why don't you quit while you're ahead?"

"What's this 'Trainer Hill' anyway?" Richard asked. "Have you heard of it, James?"

"It rings a bell," said James. He paused to take a bite out of his sandwich. After quickly chewing and swallowing, he continued. "I think I briefly caught sight of it on the map."

"Is it close to here?" Nicola asked.

"I can check for you." James reached into his pocket and pulled out the guidebook. After quickly scanning pages, he pointed to a spot on the map. "Not far from here, no."

"And what is it?" said Will, leaning closer.

"It seems to be some kind of battle venue," James replied. "Or some kind of challenge. It's actually a tower, rather than a hill."

"Then let's going!" Will said, making to stand up.

"Finish eating first," said James. "We'll go after lunch."

* * *

 _1:44pm, 14_ _th_ _May 2006_

Despite their reservations about Will's motives, the others would have been lying if they'd said they weren't at least somewhat interested in Trainer Hill. The name itself sounded quite impressive and they wondered what kind of place it could be.

As it turned out, the guidebook led them to a modern-looking tower with blue-ish glass covering its façade. It lived up to its name.

There weren't a lot of people coming and going though, while piqued their curiosity as well. What kind of place was it? Was this the kind of place that most people avoided, or the kind of place that kept most people out?

So, it was with increasing trepidation that the four of them (well, three of them – Will seemed oddly at ease) pushed open the heavy glass doors and stepped inside the lobby.

"Wow," Nicola murmured.

The lobby seemed almost futuristic, the walls sleek and shiny. The decorations were all very distinctive and quirky, the kind that screamed 'modern art'. A large chandelier with countless shiny, white discs hanging from it was suspended from the ceiling directly in the centre of the room.

"Can I help you?"

Even the receptionist seemed like part of the decorations, his smart uniform seemingly perfect and his hair neatly combed. His smile was politely warm – very professional.

"Some guy at the Foot Court challenged me to come and fight him here," Will said, walking over to the desk.

"I-I see," the receptionist said, keeping his smile despite Will's blunt response. "Did you happen to get the name of the gentleman who challenged you?"

"Hmm." Will looked back towards James, Richard and Nicola.

"Don't look at me!" James said. "You're the one who should have asked for his name!"

"Would you have gone over to him just to ask that?" Will replied.

"I wouldn't have let him goad me!"

Ignoring the two brothers, Richard and Nicola approached the reception desk.

"Umm, if you don't mind me asking, what is this place?" Richard asked, speaking for both of them.

"Ah, I see. You came here not knowing," the receptionist replied. "This is Trainer Hill, somewhere for trainers to test their skills against one another and ascend to the top of the tower."

"Just a straight-up battle facility?" Richard said.

"Isn't that what the gym is for?" Nicola wondered.

"The gym is more for training," the receptionist explained. "Trainer Hill is for regular battles against other trainers. Once you start your challenge, you battle others like you on each floor until you reach the top. Aside from the experience and the prestige of getting to the top, there's also a prize available to anyone who manages to get there."

"That seems reasonable," said Richard.

"…Of course, you'd need to defeat the owner in order to climb the last staircase," the receptionist added awkwardly. "But you'd need to worry about getting past the other trainers first."

"There's always a catch."

"Anyway, did you want to try climbing Trainer Hill?" the receptionist turned his attention back towards Will.

Fortunately, at that moment the trainer from earlier walked through the door.

"Oh, you actually showed up," he said to Will.

"Ah, so it was young Mr Davis," the receptionist said knowingly. "I hope your paths will cross on your way up the tower."

"Same as normal," the other trainer said as he approached the desk. He turned back to Will. "If you really are going to go for it, then make sure you get as high as you can – that way we have a better chance of settling this."

"I'll be there," Will replied.

"I'll just need you to register here," said the receptionist. "And there's a 5,000 poké participation fee as well."

"Looks like you're on your own, Will," said James.

Richard and Nicola looked equally hesitant. 5,000 was a bit of a steep price, and they still wanted their teams to mostly rest after the previous day's gym battles.

"I'll be fine," said Will, stepping forwards as the other trainer left the desk. He filled in the form and handed over his money.

"Thank you," the receptionist said. "If you take the stairs up to the next floor, one of my colleagues will guide you to your first battle."

"Are we allowed to watch him?" James asked.

"That's not a problem, as long as you don't otherwise participate in the battle," the receptionist replied.

"Let's get going then!" Will led the way towards the stairs.

* * *

 _2:16pm, 14_ _th_ _May 2006_

Toya spun to the side, just dodging an attack hurled by his opponent.

"Use Water Gun!" Will ordered.

With a quick nod, Toya fired a blast of water back towards the ninjask. It dived low to avoid it, but the squirtle was ready for that. He surged forwards, pulling into his shell and spinning like a top. There was a crash as the two pokémon collided. The ninjask was thrown back by the force of the impact.

"Use Water Gun!" Will ordered.

Toya fired another blast of water at his now-disoriented opponent.

A direct hit!

The ninjask was blasted back and crashed to the ground.

"Niney!" it's trainer cried.

"Ninjask is unable to battle! Squirtle is the winner!" the referee announced. "All three of Jack's pokémon are unable to battle, so this match goes to Will!"

"Great work, Toya!" Will grinned.

"Ugh! Knocked out already," Jack groaned as he recalled his ninjask. He walked over to Will and the two of them shook hands.

"Good battle," Will said.

"Thanks," Jack replied. "Be careful as you go further up." He walked past Will and left the room, heading for the stairs back down to the lobby.

"Nice work, Will," said James, walking over from the side line. "You handled that pretty well."

"Agreed." Richard nodded.

"Congratulations on your victory," the referee said. "You can head on up to the next floor." He gestured to a door at the far end of the room.

"Thanks," Will replied.

The four of them walked across the arena and left the room. Following the corridor around to the left, they found the next staircase and started walking up.

"This place is just as fancy inside as it is outside," Nicola said.

"I bet the owner makes a ton from the trainers challenging this place," Richard muttered.

"I wonder how they keep it operating if they're dependent on trainers coming in for this?" James said.

"Yeah. It didn't seem to have loads of trainers stopping by," Richard said.

"Maybe you'll get to a floor and have to wait until someone else shows up?" Will said.

"Or maybe the staff battle you if there isn't anyone else?" Nicola suggested. "You know, like how you'll have to beat the owner if you want to get to the top of the tower."

"Well, we know you have at least one more opponent before that!" James grinned.

"Exactly." Will nodded.

They stepped through the door into the next arena room. Much to Will's relief, the boy from earlier was stood waiting for him, arms folded confidently.

"Let's see." The referee glanced at his notes. "So, Will Burton, is it?"

"That's right." Will nodded.

"Alright. Both of you, get to you positions," the referee said, leaving his desk and moving over to stand at the centre line.

Both Will and his opponent stepped forward.

"I've been looking forward to this!" the other trainer said, pulling out a poké ball

"Same here! I never back down from a challenge!" Will grinned, pulling out his own.

"So, this battle will be fought between Edward Davis and Will Burton," said the referee. "Three-on-three, single format. Play nice, both of you!"

"Got it!" Both Edward and Will replied.

"Begin!"

There was a whoosh as both of them hurled out their poké balls.

Gulpy burst out of her ball and landed on the ground. Across from her, a surskit materialised and started darting from side to side.

"Use Pound!" Will ordered.

Gulpy was quick to respond, surging forwards at a decent pace. The surskit darted to the side to avoid the attack and retaliated with a stream of bubbles that struck Gulpy and knocked her back,

"Now use Quick Attack, Kit!" Edward shouted.

Kit sprang forwards with a bright flash of light, knocking into Gulpy's flank. Though she recoiled from it, her opponent didn't weigh very much and didn't have the power to make the attack that heavy hitting. She quickly regained her nerve.

"Use Sludge!" Will called.

Gulpy fired a blast of sludge towards Kit, who darted out of the way once again. This time, however, Gulpy was prepared and, with a powerful second blast, managed to strike the evasive surskit.

"Now use Pound!" Will shouted, determined not to lose the initiative.

Gulpy surged forwards again and struck Kit with one of her stubby hands, the force being enough to hurl the smaller pokémon back.

"Use Bubble Beam again!" Edward shouted.

Kit skidded to a halt and fired a blast of bubbles towards Gulpy. As the gulpin tensed up against the bubbles, he spotted his opportunity and sprang forwards to strike. There was a soft thud as he ploughed into her side. Again, though, the attack didn't seem to be doing much.

"Use Pound!" Will ordered.

Gulpy swung her arm at Kit, scoring another hit. However, as the surskit was flung back, he whipped his head forwards again and fired a multi-coloured beam towards her. There was a blast as she was hit and thrown back. She landed with a crash, but pulled herself back up.

"Psybeam," Will muttered to himself, recognising the move. A very effective attack against a pokémon like Gulpy. He couldn't afford to drag the battle out. "Use Pound!"

Gulpy sprang forwards, weaving to the side as Kit fired another attack at her. With a smooth lunge back towards him, she slammed into him with one of her arms, knocking him back.

"Now use Sludge!" Will yelled.

Gulpy fired a blast of sludge towards Kit, scoring another direct hit. He stumbled backwards in pain, but managed to fire another beam of psychic energy towards Gulpy, who quickly darted to the side to avoid it.

"And again!" Edward called.

Kit, shaking himself to get rid of the sludge, fired another beam at Gulpy, this time managing to find his target. Gulpy cried out in pain as she was thrown back. There was a crash as she slammed to the ground.

"Gulpin is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Surskit is the winner!"

"Urk!" Will groaned. He could tell that they'd been close to Kit's limit as well. Just a little more and they might have managed to gain the upper hand. Still, Gulpy had done enough – the stage was set for his next pokémon.

"So, are you regretting earlier yet?" Edward grinned as he watched Will recall Gulpy.

"I'm just getting started!" Will called back as he pulled out his next ball. "Go, Toya!"

Toya burst out and landed on the ground.

"Use Water Gun!" Will ordered quickly.

Toya nodded and fired a jet of water across at Kit, who immediately moved to dodge it. As he prepared to counter attack, however, he spotted Toya charging forwards. Taking advantage of his opponent's momentary preoccupation, Toya swept in and chomped down on him with his powerful jaw.

"Now use Rapid Spin to finish him off!" Will called.

"Break free, Kit!" Edward shouted.

Both pokémon reacted quickly, with Toya immediately tucking in his limbs and starting to spin, while Kit attempted to aim a stream of bubbles towards his captor. There was a brief, confused melee before the two of them separated violently.

Lightly injured, Toya landed safely and upright some distance back, while Kit crashed down to the ground with a thud and lay still. It really had been a narrow win over Gulpy.

"Surskit is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Squirtle is the winner!"

"Is Toya going to be alright?" Nicola whispered to James as Edward recalled his fallen pokémon. "He and Turkey both fought in the last battle, didn't they?"

"I think that's part of the challenge," James replied. "You have to fight battles back-to-back to get to the top, so I guess it's as much a test of endurance as anything else."

"Don't forget the entrance fee," Richard said cynically. "I bet there are hardly any trainers whose pokémon can hold out long enough to beat the owner."

"Go, Koth!" Edward called, throwing out a poké ball.

A vigoroth materialised on the field, swinging his arms wildly as he stared at Toya.

"Use Slash!" Edward ordered.

Koth rushed forwards, swinging one of his large claws at Toya. The squirtle quickly ducked out of the way, but a second strike caught him and hurled him back.

"Use Water Gun!" Will shouted.

"Drop back and get ready to evade!" Edward yelled.

Toya fired a jet of water as Koth leapt back. With a smooth slide to the side, the vigoroth avoided the attack. As he turned back to Toya, he started making some mocking gestures.

"As long as you keep hiding at a distance, there's no way you can beat me!" Edward grinned.

"We can beat you up close as well!" Will shouted. "Toya, Rapid spin!"

"He fell for it," James sighed, shaking his head.

Toya spun himself like a top and whirled towards Koth. He was waiting for him. With a vicious swipe, he instantly knocked Toya off-course and sent him spinning too far to the right. As he attempted to pull out and reorient himself, Koth leapt at him a second time and slashed viciously.

"Water Gun!" Will shouted as Toya stumbled back.

With quick reflexes, Toya fired a blast of water directly at Koth as he advanced on him again. Though he scored a direct hit and forced the vigoroth to take a couple of steps back, it seemed as if he was managing to hold his position.

"More power!" Will shouted.

Toya fired out water as fast as he could, but he wasn't making any gains. Koth took a step forwards, then a second. Finally, he swept his claws to the sides, breaking the jet up into a shower of water, and stormed forwards. He smashed into the exhausted squirtle and sent him flying back.

"Koth and I have been training together for years!" Edward called. "We've built up our toughness against attacks like that!"

Toya had crashed to the ground. He'd worn himself out during the previous battle as well and had simply run out of energy.

"Squirtle is unable to battle!" the referee called as he slumped forwards. "Vigoroth is the winner!"

"Toya, return!" Will called. The battle had swung decisively against him. He needed to hit his opponent hard with Turkey if he was going to make up for it.

"So fast!" Nicola gasped. "And Turkey was knocked out in the last battle – is he even going to be able to fight?"

"Well, Will wants him to," James said. "I didn't realise that Edward was such an experienced trainer. I think it's already over."

"I just hope he doesn't push Turkey too far," Nicola replied.

"Go, Turkey!" Will called, throwing out his last poké ball.

The already-worn down Turkey materialised on the field. He flapped his wings and hauled himself into the air.

"Use Slash!" Edward ordered.

"Double Team!" Will yelled.

A group of doubles appeared around Turkey as Koth charged towards him. As he took a swipe at the nearest, it vanished. Using the opening, Turkey lurched forwards and nailed him with a powerful peck.

"Again!" Edward called.

Recovering, Koth moved forwards a second time. He struck a double for the second time, the real Turkey swinging around and turning his wings to steel. He slammed into Koth with his wings and knocked him to the ground.

Still, Turkey was visibly flagging. Even if he could avoid attacks, he was still running out of what little energy he had left. A sudden swipe from below clipped one of his wings and sent him tumbling to the ground, though he was able to pull himself back into the air again.

Thinking about it, Will was starting to realise that this had been Edward's plan from the very beginning when he challenged him. That was why he'd told to him to "make sure he got to the higher levels" – the further through the tower he'd gotten beforehand, the more exhausted his team would be. He was angry at himself for having fallen for it.

But he had no intention of going down without a fight.

He shared a nod with Turkey. "Use Steel Wing! Give it everything you've got!"

With a cry, the swellow soared up into the air and then dived down towards Koth. Though he attempted to intercept, his movement was marginally too slow. Turkey slammed into him with all his might, pressing his full weight onto the vigoroth's chest. Both of them crashed to the ground with a thud. Both were injured, but it was Koth who pulled himself back up.

"Swellow is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Vigoroth is the winner! All three of Will's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is Edward!"

"Honour has been restored." Edward gave a satisfied nod. "Though I must admit, you did a little bit better than I was expecting."

"Well, as wonderful as that battle was, we really should be going!" James said loudly, quickly moving across the arena and grabbing Will by the arm. "Things to do and all that! Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime!"

Will was prone to being bad-tempered, as James was familiar with on a personal level. He was visibly seething and James didn't want the situation to escalate any further than it already had.

The other two followed after them, with Richard scooping up Turkey on his way past. With a quick "thanks" directed at the referee, they scarpered for the stairs down before Edward could say anything else.

* * *

 _2:56pm, 14_ _th_ _May 2006_

"If my team hadn't have been worn out after the first battle, then we'd have won easily," Will muttered bitterly. He'd been like that ever since they'd arrived back at the pokémon centre.

"No offence, Will, but I doubt it," said Richard. "That Edward guy was clearly older and had more experience. You need to actually battle more if you want to one day be that good."

"Yeah, it's difficult for less experienced trainers to beat ones with more experience." James nodded. "Edward clearly knew how to manoeuvre his pokémon in the heat of battle and how to take advantage of your attacks."

"Don't let it get you down!" Nicola said encouragingly. "You still got the seat back in the food court!"

"I think we're a bit beyond that now," Richard replied.

The four of them were sat around on a sofa in the trainers' lounge, where they were waiting for Will's pokémon to recover. They'd already spent quite a bit of time discussing what they should do next, with the others eventually giving in to Will's demands for an immediate training session so that he could start improving for this next battle.

Nursing Will's wounded pride was important, but there was a part of the others that was a little bit resentful that they weren't going to continue exploring the city. They consoled themselves with the fact that they'd still have the evening. Unless Will became very pushy, of course.

At the appearance of the nurse in the doorway, Will jumped to his feet. "Come on, guys! Let's go!"

"Right behind you." The others got to their feet and started following him over.

* * *

 _3:01pm, 14_ _th_ _May 2006_

If there was an advantage to a hub of trainer activity like Mauville, then it was the fact that facilities that would be comparatively scarce in other cities were abundant here. However, the downside was that it meant that there were far more trainers using them.

This was especially true in the city centre, and it came as no surprise to the four trainers that the practice arenas outside the pokémon centre were already occupied. Some of them, though, were being used by individual trainers, so there was always the opportunity of persuading them to share.

It was better than scouring the city for one and wasting more time.

The nearest arena was being used by an older girl, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. There was a large, green, tortoise-like pokémon with a tree growing from its back stood by her. Though they were positioned on the arena, it wasn't entirely clear if they were doing anything.

"Excuse me!" Nicola called as they approached.

"Huh?" The girl looked around, apparently having not noticed their arrival. "Can I help you?"

"We were wondering if we could use the other half of this arena?" James asked, throwing a couple of curious glances at the large pokémon stood next to the girl.

"Oh, sure! That's fine!" The girl nodded. "We were having a break anyway."

Now that she mentioned it, both of them looked pretty tired.

"What kind of pokémon is that?" Richard asked.

"He's a torterra," the girl explained.

"Torterra, huh?" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Torterra, the continent pokémon and the evolved form of grotle. Groups of this pokémon migrating in search of water have been mistaken for 'moving forests.' Some pokémon are born on a torterra's back and spend their entire life there._ "

"Oh, sorry! I haven't introduced myself yet," the girl said. "My name's Yvette. I'm an aspiring pokémon breeder."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nicola," Nicola said.

The others quickly introduced themselves as well.

"So, what does a breeder do, exactly?" Nicola asked as the three boys trooped over to the other half of the arena. "I've never met one before."

"It's pretty self-explanatory," Yvette replied. "We breed and raise pokémon."

"Don't most people just catch their own pokémon though?"

"You'd be surprised how many people would rather buy one instead of trying to tame one," Yvette said. "If parents want a pet for their children, for example."

"What about raising them?" Nicola asked. "I'm raising pokémon right now, aren't I? Is it different to what a trainer does?"

"It's a little different." Yvette frowned as she thought about how to explain it. "It's kind of like comparing a coach and a parent. A trainer is teaching their pokémon how to fight battles, while a breeder teaches them how to behave."

"Ah, I see." Nicola nodded. "That makes sense."

"I'm still just learning though," said Yvette, giving her a tired smile. "And it's hard work as well."

"Do you travel?"

"I did a couple of years ago, both in Sinnoh and Kalos." Yvette nodded. "But I'm working as an apprentice at a nearby pokémon day care instead so that I can learn from a professional."

"It sounds like a lot of work," said Nicola.

"Yeah," Yvette sighed. "It's hard remembering how all the different pokémon moves work as well…"

"Pokémon moves?"

"Yeah." Yvette nodded. "That's one of the things I'm being taught. This way I can teach the pokémon in my care all kinds of moves while I raise them."

"Can you teach any moves to my pokémon?" Nicola laughed. "I think we could use some after our performance at the Mauville gym!"

"Ah, you struggle against electric types?" Yvette asked. "Let me see your pokémon – I probably know something I can teach them."

* * *

"Use Rapid Spin!" Will ordered.

Toya raced forwards, tucking himself into his shell and spinning. He slammed into Arro and knocked him back, though the attack didn't do much damage.

"Use Take Down!" Richard called.

Arro charged back and crashed into the still-spinning Toya, sending both of them flying.

"Use Water Gun!" Will yelled as Toya sprung out of his shell and crashed to the ground. Glancing around, he called out a second time: "And Turkey, use Steel Wing!"

As Toya fired a jet of water towards Arro, Turkey extended his wings and dived down towards Muro. The loudred shouted loudly, shooting a sound wave towards the swellow, though he fought through it and hit his target.

Arro darted to the side to avoid Toya's attack, but was promptly struck by another blast of water, this time fired by Nulin. The fighting pokémon momentarily broke apart, panting and watching each other carefully.

"Great work, guys!" James called.

"Looks like we need to work more on watching our blind spots," Richard sighed. He glanced over in the direction of Nicola and Yvette. "Oh! What are they up to?"

"Looks like some kind of training," James replied. There was no battle practice though – Yvette's torterra was fast asleep by the side of the arena, in fact.

"What are you up to, Nicola?" Richard said loudly, walking over in her direction.

"Ah! Richard, look at this!" Nicola called enthusiastically. She turned to Yvette, who nodded. "Zaggy, use Dig!"

Zaggy, who'd been standing just in front of her, immediately started digging. Very quickly, a tunnel had formed and he'd disappeared from sight.

"Wow! You and Zaggy learned a new move?" Richard grinned.

Zaggy burst back to the surface a short distance away. He immediately started wandering off, prompting Nicola to chase him down.

"Th-That's right!" she gasped as she walked back over. "And Yvette taught Kipa how to use Take Down as well."

"Nice work!" James said. "You're really starting to get stronger."

"I just wish we'd had Dig when I went up against Wattson," Nicola sighed.

"You still won though," said Richard. He glanced between Nicola and Will. "Hey, how about the two of you practise together?"

"I don't mind," Will replied. "If Nicola's getting stronger, then it benefits me too."

"I'm up for that!" Nicola nodded.

"Then let's do it." Will stepped back on the half of the arena he'd been using.

"Good luck!" Yvette called as Nicola walked over to join him. "Make sure you keep your pokémon focused, then you'll be able to use the new moves easily."

"I'll keep it in mind!" Nicola smiled back.

"Turkey." Will nodded at the swellow, who immediately jumped back into the air.

"Let's go, Kipa!" Nicola called. She felt slightly aggrieved that Will had apparently deliberately chosen a pokémon she couldn't use Zaggy's new move against.

The mudkip rushed forwards confidently, fixing Turkey with a determined stare.

"Use Quick Attack!" Will called.

Turkey called out and dived towards Kipa at a blinding speed.

"Bide!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa tensed himself at the last moment, absorbing the damage from Turkey's strike. The swellow swung around and flew back towards Will.

"Use Double Team!" Will ordered. No way was he going to knowingly add to the recoil they'd take when Kipa unleashed the built-up energy.

Turkey dutifully summoned a bunch of doubles, each sweeping across the battlefield in different directions as they waited. Finally, Kipa charged forwards, cutting through several of the doubles and managing to strike the real one. Turkey was thrown back, but the damage was relatively light.

"Use Take Down!" Nicola called, deciding to press her attack.

Kipa tensed himself and then hurled himself towards his opponent. Taken aback by the sudden follow-up, Turkey attempted to pull backwards, only delaying the impact. There was a thud as Kipa made contact and the swellow was hurled down towards the ground.

"Wow! They're really going for it!" Yvette exclaimed.

"Our training sessions always end up looking a bit like this!" James chuckled as he watched Turkey haul himself back into the air and charge at his opponent.

"Look at this, Tredger!" Yvette called to her torterra. There was no reaction.

"Kipa seems unusually aggressive today," said Richard. "Mind you, so does Nicola."

"I'm glad that she's putting her new attacks to practise straight away," said Yvette.

"Use Take Down!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa raced forwards again, narrowly missing as Turkey shot up at the last minute.

"Use Peck!" Will called.

Turkey immediately dived back down, slamming into Kipa before he could move out of the way. The mudkip was thrown back, landing with a crash close to Nicola.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Kipa pulled himself back up and nodded. A watery aura appeared around him as his power surged.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola called.

Kipa immediately fired a blast of water at Turkey, missing the first time, but scoring a direct hit as he attempted to charge towards him. The swellow crashed to the ground with a thud.

"Alright, we give!" Will said, walking over to Turkey and pulling out a potion.

"Not every day that we manage to beat you so easily, huh, Will?" Nicola grinned.

"Wow. Such a gracious winner." Will rolled his eyes.

"Let's not pretend your not-"

Nicola was interrupted as Kipa was suddenly enveloped in a bright light.

"Is he…?"

"Looks like it."

The sudden development drew the attention of most of the nearby trainers using the arenas, who paused their battles to watch. Kipa suddenly grew, rearing up onto his hind legs, the fin on his head growing even larger and his tail dividing in two and lengthening.

There was a burst of sparks as his new form became visible, his skin now a lighter shade of blue

"Congratulations, Nicola," said James, while the other trainers all clapped.

"Ah, thanks!" Nicola smiled happily. She walked over towards Kipa, only to see him suddenly stagger. "A-Are you okay?" she cried. She grabbed him before he could fall.

"Let me have a look," Yvette said, quickly coming over.

"Is he okay?" Nicola asked anxiously.

"No need to worry." Yvette smiled at her. "As I thought, he's just tired out after evolving."

"Any sign of evolution exhaustion?" Richard asked.

"No." Yvette shook her head. "He'd be acting more distressed if that were the case."

"Evolution exhaustion?" Nicola and Will both looked at the older trainers in confusion.

"Pokémon can sometimes become dangerously drained of energy after evolving," James explained. "It's not fatal by itself, but it leaves them vulnerable to other diseases."

"That's what happened to Tredger when he evolved from a grotle," said Yvette. "Though he's kind of a rare case even then – he's never had as much energy after evolving as he had before."

"Is there a risk that could happen to Kipa?" Nicola asked in concern. "Or any of my other pokémon?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Yvette replied with a smile. "Even though Tredger sleeps most of the time, he can still battle – and he's pretty good at it – but he always falls asleep right afterwards!"

"So, what did Kipa evolve into?" Will asked.

"Umm…" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Marshtomp, the mud fish pokémon and the evolved form of mudkip. The surface of a marshtomp's body is enveloped by a thin, sticky film that enables them to live on land. These pokémon plays in mud on beaches when the ocean tide is low. Marshtomp are much faster at traveling through mud than they are at swimming. These pokémon's hindquarters exhibit obvious development, giving them the ability to walk on just their hind legs._ "

"It looks like marshtomp are both water and ground type as well," said James, glancing through his own Pokédex. "That would have been quite handy for your battle with Wattson, wouldn't it?"

"That doesn't bother me too much." Nicola put her Pokédex away and patted Kipa's head. It felt a little weird looking at this much stronger-looking pokémon and thinking that it was her little mudkip. She'd get used to it soon, she hoped.

"There you are!"

The group were suddenly interrupted by an irritated shout from a short distance away.

"Eep!" Yvette exclaimed in panic. She spun around to see the source of the voice, as did the others.

An elderly lady was approaching them, a stern, reproaching look on her face.

"Yvette," she said.

"Y-Yes, Ma'am?"

"If you're done goofing off here in Mauville City, then you have work you need doing back at the day care centre!"

"O-Of course! I was just about to head back!" Yvette cried. She quickly recalled Tredger to his poké ball. She turned back to face the others. "I've got to go now. I'm guessing you guys are on the gym trail though, so maybe we'll see each other again some time?"

"Maybe," Nicola replied. "It was nice meeting you and thanks for all your help with Kipa and Zaggy!"

"No problem! Make sure you keep training hard!" Yvette briefly waved before turning and hurrying after the stern elderly lady – her boss, by the sounds of things.

"Let's head back to the pokémon centre," said Richard. "Best to get Kipa checked up just to make sure that there's nothing wrong.

"Agreed." James nodded. "Let's go, guys."

* * *

 _5:24pm, 14_ _th_ _May 2006_

With the pokémon all rested up and confirmation from the nurse that there was nothing wrong with Kipa, the group had settled down into the comfortable sofas of the trainers' lounge and started planning their next move. As fun as it had been in Mauville City, it was time for them to move on.

"Should we focus on getting to the next gym?" Will asked.

"I think that would probably be in Lavaridge Town," James replied. "It wouldn't be too difficult to get to."

"Have you got something else in mind?" Richard asked.

"Nothing in particular," James said, shrugging. "But I noticed that there aren't any contest happening in the towns between here and Lavaridge any time soon."

"Are there any contests that you've found?" Nicola asked.

"There's one in Leevay Town." James pointed to a dot on the map. It was on a completely different path to the one leading to Lavaridge. "It's two days from now, but I think we can get there tomorrow."

"That would be ideal for us," Nicola said cautiously, glancing at Richard.

"What's this here?" Will pointed to a large, yellow area on the map.

"Oh, I looked at that earlier since it seemed interesting," said James, reaching over to pick up the guidebook. Flicking through the pages, he found what he was looking for. "There's this massive desert on Route 111, the one we need to get to Leevay Town. All kinds of rare pokémon live out there and there are some interesting places along the way. I thought it would be exciting to trek across it."

"That could be pretty fun," Will said enthusiastically. "Would we go on to the east coast?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "I thought we could then make our way towards this place, Fallarbor Town, and then work out what we want to do after that."

"That sounds good to me as well," said Nicola.

"Hang on a second." Richard raised his hand. "We're talking about crossing a _desert_ , right?"

"That's right."

"Doesn't that seem a little dangerous to you?"

"Not if we prepare sufficiently and keep to the main paths."

"But if something goes wrong, then that becomes a serious problem."

"…Did I mention that there's a fossil dig site on the main route through the desert?"

"Alright, we're going."

"I guess that's a unanimous vote then?" James looked between the other three. "We'll set off for Leevay Town tomorrow. Once we're there, we'll make our preparations and cross the desert."

There was a brief chorus of nods and yesses.

"Right, shall we go and see if they've opened the restaurant?" Will said as he stood up. "I'm starving."

"Right behind you!" Nicola grinned, jumping to her feet as well.

They were going to need all the energy they could get for tomorrow.

* * *

 **So, this chapter both took longer than I intended and didn't work out quite how I envisioned it. Nonetheless, I hope it was an enjoyable little filler to warm you up for the next section of the story.** **I wanted to combine some aspects of Mauville City in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and also cover the main developments originally planned (Kipa evolving and both him and Zaggy learning new moves). I also wanted to do something with Will and the eventual result was incorporating Trainer Hill (from Emerald Version) into Mauville City. With hindsight, 'King of the Hill' wasn't the best name choice since we didn't spend that much time there, but it still sounded good. Maybe I can revise and make some adjustments to this chapter at some point in the future.**

 **Anyway, I've had a hectic past few days, while is partly why this chapter ended up being so far behind schedule (having to plan a new chapter to replace the originally planned rematch for Nicola had an impact as well). But I've just about managed to get it done for the second revised deadline. Sorry it took me so long to get this out. I'm hoping that there won't be a repeat with next chapter.**

 **On the plus side, though, the delays meant that I could put this chapter out today, 17** **th** **December, which, as I'm sure you all remembered, is** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **'s birthday – on this day five years ago,** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **was first published on FFN. I had a kind of vague hope of doing something special to mark it, but time was against me. You'll just have to make do with this chapter instead (though I've also updated the first ten chapters of** _ **Kanto**_ **to bring them more in line with** _ **Hoenn**_ **'s system).**

 **Thanks go to shadowsilv3r for the character of Yvette.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have for me and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	43. The Lost Nuzleaf

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **In the previous chapter, Will was defeated by a rival trainer at Trainer Hill in Mauville City, while a later training session with both a pokémon breeder named Yvette and with Will led Kipa to evolve into a marshtomp.**

 **Upload Date: 22** **nd** **December 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 43: The Lost Nuzleaf**

 _Mauville City, Hoenn_

 _9:03am, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

"All set?" James asked, looking back at Richard and Will as they picked up their bags and put them on their backs.

"I think so," Richard replied. He looked around the room one final time. "We haven't forgotten anything, have we?"

"Not after that triple check," Will said.

"That's good," said James. "Let's head over to Nicola's room and make sure she's ready then."

"She'd better be," said Richard. "The agreed time was nine o'clock."

"We always knew that there'd be some delays." Will shrugged as they left the room and started walking down the corridor towards Nicola's. "Isn't that why we decided on such a ridiculously early time?"

It was a long way up Route 111 to Leevay Town. They were expecting to spend virtually the whole day travelling and didn't want to still be short of their destination when the sun started to set. An early start would give them some extra time to work with, but the guidebook's estimate of a six-hour journey didn't factor in stopping to rest or for meals.

And, for pokémon trainers, there were always little distractions that could get in the way while they were travelling. It was impossible to tell when an interesting wild pokémon would suddenly appear.

"I'm almost ready!"

It was the response that they'd been expecting when they'd knocked on Nicola's door. Still, she was good at getting moving when she knew they were waiting for her.

"It's going to be a tough hike, so make sure you're ready for it!" James called through the door.

"It's not going to be the kind where we need to cover our feet in blister plasters again, is it?" Richard winced.

"Depends on how well you prepare," James replied with a grin. "I hear that the terrain is quite spectacular though, so that'll distract you from your aching body!"

"Any idea what kind of pokémon live there?" Will asked.

"Not sure," said James. "According to the guidebook, they tend to be pretty sparse in the area. There are lots of mountains and forests off the main path for them to hide in."

"I guess it'll be an uneventful day then," said Will. "You're not going to let us go off the main path, are you?"

"Not if you want my help finding your way to Leevay Town," James replied. "Besides, you never know what could happen on the road."

"That's true." Richard nodded.

Nicola's door opened and she hauled herself and her bag out of the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" she cried.

"No problem." James glanced at his watch. "We're a tiny bit later than I was hoping, but it won't make a massive difference."

"Let's get moving then," said Richard. "You guys want as much time to prepare as possible, right?"

"That would be helpful, yes."

They started walking down the corridor towards the stairs. As they did, James ran through a mental checklist to make sure they'd done everything. They'd bought supplies the previous evening, everything had been packed up and nothing had been left behind. Their pokémon were all healed up and fighting fit again after the last couple of days, and he'd checked the planned route several times already. Maybe it would be worth checking it again as they were leaving the pokémon centre.

Aside from that, the only thing left to do was to return their keys and hit the road.

* * *

 _Route 111, Hoenn_

 _12:48pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

"How much further is it, James?"

"We've been walking for about three hours now," James said. "I'd say we're about halfway to Leevay Town."

"Well, that's good to hear," said Richard.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "If we get there soon enough, then we should have some time to practise some new combinations, right?"

"There might be a bit of time," James replied. "But we'll have plenty of time tomorrow morning if we need it." He glanced around at his companions. "How's everyone feeling? Anyone need a rest?"

They all shook their heads.

"Alright, we'll keep moving then," James said, nodding as he turned back to face forwards.

He'd been expecting Richard to be okay, but he was impressed that both Nicola and Will had adapted so well to travelling. They were stopping for rests far less often these days and there were far fewer blisters and other ailments that needed patching up at the end of each day. It wasn't just their pokémon that grew stronger on this journey.

That was just as well, of course – if they were going to be crossing a desert once they were past Leevay Town, then they were going to need all the strength they could muster.

"Whoa! Look up there!"

James snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Richard's voice. He was pointing to a relatively small gap between two cliff faces. A number of small, brown pokémon, each with a green leaf on its head, were racing towards the edge. With powerful leaps, they were clearing the gaps and landing on the far side.

"Wow! You're right!" Nicola cried in delight. "What are they?"

"Can't tell from here," Richard replied. "They seem to be in a hurry though."

"Ah! Look there!" Will said, pointing at the cliff top they were jumping from.

A number of dark grey poochyena had appeared, racing after the pokémon. Some of them were starting to slow down now that they'd spotted their targets jumping to safety.

"Are they hunting them?" Will wondered.

"Could be," said James. "But it could just be the poochyena being territorial."

"Ah!" Nicola suddenly cried in alarm.

One of the brown pokémon had slipped while attempting to jump. It staggered for a second before toppling over the cliff edge.

"Will!" James called.

"Got it!" Will threw Turkey's poké ball.

The swellow burst out and, spotting the falling pokémon, immediately tore towards it as fast as he could. There was a brief, terrifying moment when both disappeared below the treeline. But, scarcely a second later, Turkey reappeared, the brown pokémon clutched in his talons.

"Great work, Turkey!" Will called.

Turkey cried out and nodded as he returned to them. The pokémon he'd saved didn't seem quite as happy and was flailing around desperately. It probably thought the swellow was going to eat it.

"Hold on!" James called to it. "We're not going to hurt you!"

"Let it down, Turkey," said Will.

Turkey dutifully released the pokémon, who dropped down to the ground and immediately scuttled into the undergrowth, peering out mistrustfully at the four trainers.

"What is it?" Nicola wondered.

"I've never seen one before," said Richard, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Nuzleaf, the wily pokémon and the evolved form of seedot. Nuzleaf live in densely overgrown forests. They occasionally venture out of the forest to scare people. These pokémon dislike having their long nose pinched. They can pull out the leaf on their head and make a flute with it. The sound of a nuzleaf's flute strikes fear and uncertainty in the hearts of people lost in a forest._ "

"It sounds quite scary," Nicola said, glancing cautiously at the nuzleaf hiding in the bushes.

"It's still here?" James followed her gaze with concern. "Why isn't it trying to re-join the rest of its group?"

"Maybe it can't find its way from here?" said Richard. He looked back up at the cliff top. Both the poochyena and the rest of the nuzleaf had disappeared completely.

"In that case, should we help it track them down?" asked Will.

"We'd need to get it to trust us first," James replied.

"Should I try offering it a berry or a pokéblock?" Nicola asked.

"I'm not sure it would work," said Richard. "Maybe we could try talking to it."

"It might listen to a pokémon that's the same type," James said thoughtfully.

"It's a grass type, right?" Nicola asked.

"And dark type," Richard added.

"So, that means we've got Mushy and Dish," said Nicola. "Well, and Chena too."

"I don't think that Chena would be the best choice here."

"Agreed."

In the end, both Mushy and Dish were called upon to venture forwards and try communicating with the nuzleaf. It was a tense couple of minutes as the humans waited patiently for the pokémon to have their conversation. It seemed as though Mushy wasn't having much luck, but the nuzleaf appeared interested in Dish.

Finally, the nuzleaf emerged cautiously from the bushes, keeping one eye on the humans as it followed Dish and Mushy.

"You don't need to worry," Nicola said kindly, smiling at the wild pokémon. "We'll help you find your friends again." She offered it a pokéblock.

The nuzleaf, however, didn't budge, instead preferring to hide behind Dish. The lotad took the pokéblock and turned around to offer it to the nuzleaf.

"I guess you're our go-between!" Richard said, grinning at Dish as the nuzleaf took the pokéblock and ate it.

"So, any idea where we'll find the nuzleaf's group?" Will asked.

"Good question," James replied, sighing. "I guess a good place to start would be to stop in the next village and ask if they know anything."

"Let's get moving then," said Richard. He turned back to Dish. "I hope you'll be okay with all this walking!"

Dish nodded at him as she started walking forwards. She beckoned to the nuzleaf to follow them.

* * *

 _1:09pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

Though the terrain and relative remoteness of Route 111 made it difficult to imagine that many people lived there, the guidebook had pointed out several small villages spread out across the valleys between the mountains. None of them were really that large at all, often little more than a handful of houses surrounded by mountainside fields. There certainly weren't any pokémon centres between here and Leevay Town.

But all the group needed was information on where they could find the nuzleaf's group. And, fortunately, there was apparently no shortage of people who were familiar with the movements of the neighbouring wild pokémon in the first village they'd come across.

"Ah, the nuzleaf. They tend to move around quite a bit, so it can be difficult to keep track of them." One of the men they'd spoken to in the village frowned as he spoke.

"Do you have any idea where they'd go?" James asked, glancing back at the nuzleaf cautiously peering out from behind Dish.

"That's a tough one," the man replied. "You have to understand that there are lots of nuzleaf groups that live in the forests around here and they all have different ranges. It's hard to give you a solid idea, since we don't know which group this nuzleaf belongs to…"

"I see," Richard said sadly. "Thanks for telling us."

"You could try asking one of the other villagers," the man said. "I bet they'll have a better idea than me." He looked around and quickly got the attention of one of the other villagers.

As she came over, they explained what had happened and what they needed help with.

"The nuzleaf, huh?" she said, frowning as she thought. "It's not common for the groups to overlap, but they all seem to visit a glade in the forest further north along the valley. If this group has lost a member, then maybe they'd head there."

"Whereabouts is the glade?" Nicola asked.

"I can point it out to you on your map," the woman replied. As James held out the guidebook, she quickly scanned it and put her finger down on a spot some way off of the main road.

"There are no paths leading there?" James asked.

"The nuzleaf probably wouldn't gather there if there was," the woman replied. "One other thing though – there's a particularly territorial pack of poochyena who live near the glade. If you're going to head there, then be ready to fight them off."

"That's really helpful," said Richard. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The woman smiled at them. "Good luck on your journey!"

"So, I guess we need to head for that glade then," said Will.

"I'll work out which direction we need once we're on the main path," said James, starting to walk forwards. "But I get the feeling that it's going to be easier getting to the glade than finding our way back again."

"Well, we can't be gone for long," Nicola said. "We still need to get to Leevay Town today, remember!"

"We should be okay," James replied. "We just need to remember which direction we follow when we leave the main path.

"Let's get this done then!" Richard grinned. "The sooner we've reunited the nuzleaf with its group, the sooner we'll be back on the road to Leevay Town." He smiled back at Dish and the nuzleaf, who were walking behind them.

* * *

 _1:52pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

Though there was no official path that led towards the glade they were supposed to be finding, the four trainers had spotted a dirt track leading off into the forest when they'd reached roughly the point where they were supposed to turn off. That came as a relief to them, since it would give them a way to help keep their bearings and find their way back.

"How far away are we?" Nicola asked James as they continued walking through the forest.

"I'm not sure," James replied. "We might be about halfway there?"

"Let's keep an eye out then," said Richard. "We don't want to accidentally scare off the group when we get there."

"Movement." Will, who was up ahead of them, turned back and gave them a quick warning.

"The poochyena?"

"I think so."

James, Richard and Nicola hurried to catch up to Will and started pulling out poké balls.

"I see them," said Richard, beckoning to Dish and the nuzleaf as they ran over to join them.

Glinting in the gloom of the forest, the eyes of several poochyena had appeared, watching them as they drew closer. They didn't seem happy to see them. A couple of howls filled the air as they gathered pace, approaching the group from several sides.

"Poochyena will run if we fight back," said James. "Make sure you hit them as hard and fast as you can."

"And make sure you hit as many of them as you can," said Richard. "If more of them start to flee, then we'll see them off quicker."

"Got it!" Nicola and Will both nodded.

"Use Mega Drain!" Richard called to Dish.

With a shout, Dish fired a green beam towards an approaching poochyena. It yelped in pain, visibly slowing down as its energy was drained. However, it retained its nerve and kept coming.

"Use Thunderbolt!" James called as he threw Kacha's poké ball.

Kacha emerged, immediately fired a blast of electricity at the nearest poochyena, sending a shock running through its body. It was flung back by the force, its fur singed and smoking. As a second one came forwards to take its place, Kacha fired a second blast, but this time striking a nearby tree instead.

"Use Mud Shot!" Nicola shouted.

In front of her, Kipa shot a blast of mud through the trees. One poochyena was struck and winded, while a second jumped back in fright and turned tail.

"Water Gun!" Will ordered.

Toya nodded and sprayed a jet of water through the air. It was difficult for him to see in the gloom, but the attack was enough to scare off a couple of poochyena. A third one continued charging, with Toya racing forwards to meet it.

"Keep it up, guys!" James called encouragingly as Kacha shocked another approaching poochyena.

Knocking one enemy back with a solid tackle, Kipa fired a jet of water from side to side, striking a handful of poochyena and sending them scarpering back into the forest.

To his right, Toya had slammed into one of them with Rapid Spin and, knocking it aside, had continued through the three poochyena behind it. Jumping back out of his shell he fired a jet of water at his stunned opponents. Soaking wet and bruised from the impacts, they dashed back into the undergrowth.

Meanwhile, Dish continued holding her own against another two that had attacked her. Growling in an attempt to intimidate them, she fired a green beam towards the one on the right. Though it jumped sideways to avoid it, she was quick to change directions. The poochyena howled in pain as his energy was drained.

"Use Nature Power!" Richard ordered.

A green aura briefly surrounded Dish. With a cry, she suddenly fired a cluster of leaves towards her opponents. She struck both of them at the same time, the sharp-edged leaves slashing at them as they passed. Blood oozed from the wounds as the two poochyena turned and fled.

"And again!" Richard called, spotting another poochyena approaching.

Repeating the process, Dish fired another cluster of leaves forwards. The poochyena attempted to dodge to the side, but the leaves struck its hind legs just before it could get clear. With a startled yelp, it turned tail and limped away into the gloom.

There was the sound of Kacha firing another jolt of electricity, followed by a final yelp and the sound of four feet hurriedly turning tail and fleeing. Then there was silence.

"We did it!" James looked back at the other three and grinned. "Great work, everyone!"

"I'm glad they fled so quickly," said Nicola, sighing as she recalled Kipa. "I was worried that we'd need to fight the whole way."

Richard was about to respond, when he suddenly noticed that Dish had started glowing. "Whoa!"

"Oh? She's evolving?" James said as he looked around.

"Looks like it," Will said.

Dish's body grew rather substantially. Her middle pair of legs vanished, while the remaining pairs grew larger and more developed. She reared up onto her hind legs and remained that way, the lily pad remaining atop her head. There was a burst of light as the process ended.

"Great work, Dish!" Richard grinned at her. "I can tell that we're going to be even stronger together now!"

"So, what kind of pokémon is she?" Will wondered, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Lombre, the jolly pokémon and the evolved form of lotad. Lombre are nocturnal - they will get active after dusk. They are also mischief-makers. When these pokémon spot anglers, they tug on their fishing lines from beneath the surface and enjoys their consternation. A lombre's entire body is covered by a slippery, slimy film. It feels horribly unpleasant to be touched by this pokémon's hands. Lombre are often mistaken for human children._ "

"Sounds like you'd better watch out, Richard!" James said with a grin.

"Hey, we're all in this together!" Richard replied quickly. He reached down and patted Dish on the head. He flinched as he touched the slimy film that was covering her body, but tried to avoid reacting.

The nuzleaf, having spent the entire battle hiding in the centre, enthusiastically called out to Dish, clearly as happy as everyone else was that she'd grown stronger.

"Let's hurry up and get this nuzleaf to the glade," James said, remembering why they were there. "We don't want the poochyena to come back for round two."

* * *

 _2:03pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

Moving deeper into the forest, the group had been conscious that the poochyena were continuing to watch them carefully for some time. As they started to get closer to where they believed the glade would be, they noticed that the pack had disappeared. They'd made it out of their territory.

"We'll probably have to watch out for them on the way back though, won't we?" Nicola said, sighing.

"We can deal with that when it happens," James said. "I can't see them being too much of a problem, though."

"You say that, but there could be even more of them next time," said Will.

"All the more training for you and Toya then," Richard said.

"What's that up ahead?" Nicola pointed through the trees ahead.

"Could we have reached it?" Richard wondered.

There was an excited cry from beside them.

The nuzleaf, finally willing to move away from Dish, had started running forwards towards an increasingly large gap in the treeline.

"I think we might have found it," Will said.

"I agree." James nodded, glancing between the gap and his guidebook.

As they continued walking forwards, they reached the edge of a wide, open space. Out in the middle, a group of nuzleaf were gathered, anxiously looking around. Whether they were looking out for their friend or for any possible sign of the poochyena was difficult to tell.

They reacted as soon as they saw the nuzleaf race from the trees towards them, calling out cheerfully. There was a wave of chatter among the group as they pulled themselves up and started running back to greet it. They all seemed relieved.

"All's well that ends well," James said, smiling at the scene. He and the others were deliberately keeping their distance. They didn't want to spook the nuzleaf unnecessarily.

"I guess we should start thinking about getting back to the main road," said Richard. "I'm glad we were able to help it though."

"Yeah." Will nodded.

As the four of them turned to leave, they heard a cry from behind them. Looking back, they saw the nuzleaf waving gratefully to them. It no longer seemed afraid of them – just happy to be back amongst its group.

The rest of the group also waved and called out gratefully.

"You're welcome!" Richard called to them. "Make sure you look out for each other, okay!"

The nuzleaf nodded as they started gathering together and moving towards the far side of the clearing.

"Right!" Richard turned back to the others, Dish stood at his side. "Let's get back on the road then, shall we?"

* * *

 **A shorter chapter this week. We seem to be having a lot of pokémon evolving lately – I wonder if it's something in the water…**

 **Anyway, there's not much I really wanted to say about this chapter. It fills the gap between Mauville City and the Leevay contest quite nicely and we** _ **did**_ **get an evolution out of it, but it was never going to be a massively important one.**

 **My aim is to put Chapter 44 out on Wednesday 27** **th** **December. I'll end the year with Chapter 12 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **– which, you'll be pleased to hear, I've already finished work on. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to be doing any writing on the 25** **th** **, but I'm hoping to get most of the work on Chapter 44 done over the weekend.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page. And, since this is my last update before the 25** **th** **, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	44. Strength and Beauty

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group depart from Mauville City and pass along the mountainous lower half of Route 111. Along the way, they helped a lost nuzleaf reunite with its group and Dish evolved into a lombre while helping battle a pack of wild poochyena.**

 **Upload Date: 29** **th** **December 2017**

* * *

 **Chapter 44: Strength and Beauty**

 _Route 111, Hoenn_

 _3:58pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Use Water Gun!"

"Counter with Wing Attack!"

Set against the mountains of Route 111, Nulin and Toya exchanged attacks on a patch of flat ground just off the main path. As Toya fired a blast of water, Nulin dived low and soared close to the ground, approaching his opponent before he could adjust his aim.

"Use Mud Shot!"

"Take Down!"

A short distance away from the other two, Kipa fired a spray of mud towards Arro, who immediately charged forwards in an attempt to slam into his opponent. Kipa reacted in time and quickly lowered his aim. The aron was struck and blasted back, the mud scraping at the steel armour covering his body.

"I know I'm not a coordinator," Richard said. "But I don't think that move looked that appealing."

"Sorry! I was in battle mode!" Nicola replied.

"Great hit, Nulin!" James called. "Now use Mist!"

Nulin quickly fired a cloud of mist into Toya's face as he tried to recover from the previous attack. He coughed and spluttered as he reeled back.

"Good hit!" said Will. "Toya, try using Rapid Spin!"

Toya regained his balance and jumped back into his shell. Spinning like a top, he hurled himself towards Nulin, only for the wingull to fly up out of range.

"Alright, try using that new attack, Nulin!" James called. "Water Pulse!"

With a shout, Nulin took a deep breath and fired a ball of water towards Toya. As it reached him, it suddenly burst, sending a shock wave of water crashing into him. The squirtle was knocked to the ground, dazed and disoriented by the blast.

"That looked pretty good to me!" Richard called over as Arro jumped sideways to avoid a blast of water fired by Kipa.

"We're still not quite there yet!" James called back. "The power's still a bit lacking!"

"It felt pretty powerful to me and Toya," Will said quietly.

"Try it again, Nulin!" James called.

Nulin nodded and quickly fired a second ball of water towards the squirtle.

"Not so fast!" Will shouted. "Toya, use Water Gun!"

With a shout, Toya fired a jet of water towards the incoming ball of water. The two attacks meet in the middle, the impact triggering the detonation of Nulin's ball of water. For a moment, it seemed as though it had started raining as water thudded to the ground, the weakened shock wave travelling outwards and lightly buffeting both pokémon.

"Wow! That was a nice move!" James called. "Are you sure you don't want to give contests a try, Will?"

"I'm good," Will replied. "I wasn't aiming for it anyway."

"Still, it's good practice for me and Nulin!" James grinned, glancing over at the wingull.

"In that case…" Will turned back to Toya. "Use Bite!"

"Sneak attack, huh?" James grinned as Toya started charging forwards. "Counter with Supersonic!"

Nulin quickly emitted a supersonic pulse. Toya grimaced as he was hit by it, but he continued struggling on. With a roar, he jumped into the air and swatted at Nulin with his hand, knocking him to the ground. Diving down, he snapped his jaw around the wingull.

"Break free and use Wing Attack!" James ordered.

Nulin tried to break free of Toya's grip, but wasn't strong enough. With a cry, he was hurled to the side and thrown to the ground with a crash.

"On second thoughts, stick to battling," said James.

"Gladly," Will replied.

The conversation was suddenly interrupted as a white light enveloped Toya.

"Another one?" Nicola exclaimed, looking over.

"I guess we all get quite competitive with each other, don't we?" Richard said. "The pokémon react to that."

Toya grew larger, his tail becoming furrier and a pair of visible ears appearing on the sides of his head. With a flash, the light faded and revealed his new form.

"Wow! Great work, Toya!" Will grinned. "We're getting even stronger!"

Toya panted in exhaustion, but grinned back at him.

"I guess that's the end of that training session then," said James, watching as Will pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Wartortle, the turtle pokémon and the evolved form of squirtle. A wartortle's large tail is covered with rich, thick fur that deepens in colour with age. The scratches on their shells are evidence of their toughness in battle. These pokémon often hide in water to stalk unwary prey. For fast swimming, they move their ears to maintain balance._ "

"Congratulations, Will!" Nicola said enthusiastically, coming over to them.

"Thanks," Will replied. "I'm definitely going to win the next battle I fight now!"

"You might want to hold off on that until Toya's had a chance to rest," said James. He glanced at his watch. "I think we should get moving again. We don't want to be too late getting into Leevay Town."

"Agreed." Richard nodded. "Everyone, let's pack up and get back on the road!"

* * *

 _Leevay Town, Hoenn_

 _4:21pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

"That looks like the contest hall over there."

"I don't think it can be anything else in this town…"

After a final slog through the mountains, the group had finally walked into Leevay Town, a welcome sight after all the wilderness they'd been passing through. Their priority was to locate the contest hall so that James and Nicola could register for the contest the following day. After that, they could worry about the pokémon centre.

The first thing that they'd noticed as they descended into the valley housing the town was that the air felt much drier. Given their proximity to the desert, perhaps it wasn't that surprising, but it still came as a shock to them, as did the increased temperature.

Leevay Town's valley wasn't a desert area, but it was clearly somewhere between that and temperate. It was very much like they were in the gap between the desert and the rest of Hoenn.

That being said, the desert was something for them to be worrying about after the contest. And for that, they needed to locate the contest hall. Fortunately, they were big places, if Slateport and Anamarc were anything to go by, and there were only so many buildings that were that large.

If they needed extra convincing, then the sign above the door as they reached it confirmed their thoughts.

Stepping through the doors, they recognised the familiar amenities of a contest hall's lobby, though this place was much smaller than the ones they'd visited in Slateport and Anamarc. Given how out-of-the-way Leevay Town was, that didn't come as a big surprise. There was just a single level in the lobby, with the waiting area, berry blenders, reception desk and both the entrances for spectators and contestants all in one place.

There was also almost no one in the lobby aside from the staff. Only three other people were lingering around, all of them using the berry blenders on the left side of the hall.

Of course, that didn't mean that there would be too few coordinators to progress to the battle round, but it didn't look hopeful.

"Let's go and register," said James.

He and Nicola walked over to the reception desk while Richard and Will loitered by the door.

"It's hard to believe that a town in the central part of Hoenn is this quiet," Richard said. "Mauville was completely different."

"I guess that's because people don't want to walk across a desert if they can help it," said Will. "And the coastal road is quicker for getting to the southern part of Hoenn, so…"

"I hope the contest won't be cancelled," Richard murmured.

Fortunately, James and Nicola quickly returned, having registered successfully.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," said Nicola.

"Let's head for the pokémon centre." James started walking towards the door.

"Right behind you!" Richard grinned as they turned to follow him. "It all went alright?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "There was plenty of space."

"Apparently, there are enough coordinators entered for them to put on a competition – they were expecting that much," Nicola said. "But they're not expecting many people to show up to watch."

"That makes sense," Richard said. "I guess it'll just be me and Will then!"

"It seems strange though," James sighed. "Why would they host a contest out in a place like this, where they're probably not going to get that many spectators?"

"Is there anything in the guidebook?" Will asked.

"Not that I can see." James shook his head.

"Well, whatever." Richard shrugged as they stepped onto the street and started walking. "You guys get the chance to compete for a ribbon, so who really cares how many people are around to see it."

"A fair point."

* * *

 _6:43pm, 15_ _th_ _May 2006_

"I'm still not sure about that combination. Do you think it would work better if we increased the power?"

"I understand what you mean, but wouldn't adding more power just make it harder to control?"

"I guess, but I need impact in the appeals round."

"A failure will make a bigger impact than a success."

Nicola let out a sigh and rested her face between her hands. The brief practice session she'd had with James had been called off as night approached, leaving her with more worries than solid tactics for the following afternoon.

A part of her had been hoping to distract herself over dinner, but now she was sat there throwing out ideas instead of eating. The plate of food in front of her was cooling down quickly.

"Are you sure about using Tricky as your appeal pokémon?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I think Kipa will do better in the battle round than in the appeals round."

"We'll go over the combinations again tomorrow morning," said James. "We'll have a chance to iron out some of the issues with Tricky's performance before the contest starts."

"Let's just focus on eating for now," Will said irritably. "You guys can talk about contests after dinner."

"Sorry," Nicola and James both mumbled.

"Aw, come on, Will!" Richard grinned. "You know that they're both nervous after losing the contest in Anamarc Town!"

James and Nicola both tensed.

There was no denying it, really. Of course, the two of them had been affected by their performance in the Anamarc contest. This wasn't like a gym, where they could keep trying until they eventually won. If they failed here in Leevay Town, then they'd have to move on to another town, with a new set of competitors, in order to make another attempt to get a ribbon.

It was a far more daunting prospect.

"Well, we can talk more about it once we're finished," said James, returning his attention to his meal and allowing the hustle and bustle or the pokémon centre's restaurant to cloud his thoughts.

Across from him, Nicola seemed content, for now, to do the same.

* * *

 _3:36pm, 16_ _th_ _May 2006_

There was a gloomy sky overhead as James, Richard, Nicola and Will returned to the contest hall the following afternoon. Despite the clouds, the air still felt humid and hot – perhaps another impact of the nearby desert.

The lobby was livelier now than it had been the previous day, though it was still much quieter than they were used to. A number of coordinators were queueing up to complete their registration and enter the holding room, while those spectators that had arrived were already heading for the entrance to the main stage.

"I guess we'll see you guys later then," said Richard, turning to look at James and Nicola. "Good luck!"

"Yeah, do your best," said Will.

"Will do!" James and Nicola both nodded as Richard and Will turned and walked off to buy tickets. They both turned to look at each other.

"Same as last time," James said. "Do what you can and don't hold back, even if we end up against each other."

"Understood!" Nicola nodded. She felt her heart knot uncomfortably. Despite all the time they'd spent practising this morning, she couldn't shake off her nerves.

"Let's go then," James said, leading the way over towards the registration desk.

Nicola hurried after him. There was no point thinking about things now. She and Tricky had worked hard and she was confident that he'd be able to pull everything off. If that wasn't enough, then she'd just have to deal with that when it came.

"I'm ready," she said to James as they joined the queue.

"Good." James nodded. "Even if there are fewer competitors, I get the feeling that it's still going to be a tough contest. Stick to what we practised and I'm sure you'll be fine."

"But once we're at the battle round, we're on our own," Nicola sighed.

There was only so much she could do to prepare for the battle round. That was part of what bothered her.

* * *

 _4:19pm, 16_ _th_ _May 2006_

The main stage in the Leevay Town contest hall was much smaller than the one in Anamarc Town.

This discovery hadn't come as a surprise to Richard and Will when they'd taken their seats. Neither had the fact that only about half the seats were occupied when the MC had stepped out onto the stage to introduce the contest.

Still, the MC himself was enthusiastic and had done a good job setting up for the first appeal. As ever, Richard and Will felt that they weren't able to appreciate how good each one was.

That may have been partly down to the fact that they weren't really paying that much attention to the competitors and their pokémon, only really snapping briefly to attention if they saw an unfamiliar pokémon.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait all that long before they heard the MC announcing one of the names they were listening out for.

"Contestant number six: James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"He's on!" Richard shot back up, having been slouched back in his seat. His eyes instantly homed in on the stage as the MC walked over to the side and James appeared from backstage.

Walking forwards firmly, trying to look as confident as he could, James pulled out a poké ball.

"Go, Charka!" he called.

There was a pop as the ball burst open and Charka materialised on the stage. He looked around confidently before emitting a small burst of flames.

Turning both his claws to steel, he started slashing at the air around him and moving from one side of the stage to the other. He made sure that every movement was as smooth and flowing as possible.

As the crowd politely applauded the display, he suddenly held both arms across in front of him and blasted them with an intense burst of flames. As he finished, he wrenched his arms apart, the metal on his claws shimmering with a dull orange glow and occasionally emitting small jets of flame.

He resumed his elegant swipes and movements across the stage, the effect having all the more impact thanks to the glowing metal.

The crowd were starting to sound more enthusiastic now, much to James and Charka's relief. With a discreet nod, James indicated to the charmeleon that it was time to move on to the next stage.

With a shout, Charka broke his claws free of the metal, scattering the still-glowing pieces around himself. It was the riskiest part of the performance – ensuring that no pieces ended up injuring someone had been a top priority in training.

It worked without any problems.

Charka now fired a jet of flame towards his right foot, spinning as he did so. Continuing to expel flames, he whipped up a fiery vortex around himself that glowed brightly as it rose higher and higher.

With a pair of precise slashes, Charka dissipated the flaming tornado. Flames and embers scattered in all directions around him, vanishing in almost an instant.

He repeated the process, this time firing a more powerful blast of flames directly at the ground and causing it to rush up around him. Once again, he slashed at the flames, causing them to dissipate.

Moving on to the final part of his performance, he once again cloaked his claws in steel. Repeating the elaborate moments from earlier on, he started expelling a stream of flames as he spun and wove around. He occasionally emitted puffs of black smoke at the same time, adding to the display.

He finally span to a halt, embers and smoke scattering everywhere and looked directly at the crowd.

There was a round of applause from the distant gloom, while the judges quickly scribbled their notes on the performance.

Waving to the crowd, James recalled Charka to his poké ball and left the stage. There was still plenty that could be done to improve that appeal, but he felt as though Charka had done a great job. It had been a gamble having him and Nulin swap roles, but the charmeleon had risen to the occasion.

* * *

With the end of James's performance, Richard and Will lost interest in the contest for the most part. They kept one eye open, waiting until the MC finally announced that it was Nicola's turn.

"Contestant number nine, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"Finally!" Richard snapped back to attention.

"I guess we'll see if all that hard work paid off," Will muttered.

Down on the stage, Nicola emerged from the side. She squinted momentarily as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights. She stepped forwards and held out a poké ball.

"Go, Tricky!" she called as she threw it.

Tricky burst out of the ball and landed smoothly on the stage. Though he seemed to freeze up for a split second now that he was actually stood there, he quickly recovered.

He started off with a howl before starting to dart around the stage, bright flashes appearing with each bound. He wove around, keeping his movements smooth and showing off his agility and balance. He occasionally shot confident looks towards the audience.

"It looks like it's working out so far," Richard said quietly, keeping his eyes fixed on Tricky.

"She needs to move on to the next stage soon though," Will replied. "The crowd will get bored if they just keep doing that."

Fortunately, the same thought seemed to be running through the minds of Nicola and Tricky. A brief glance back from Tricky was answered by a subtle nod. It was time.

With another howl, Tricky suddenly let electricity spark across his body. As he continued running, the electricity jolted across the stage around him, sparkling brightly.

He occasionally combined this with quick bursts of acceleration to build up his speed. He was getting increasingly fast, creating the impression that there was electricity sparking all over the stage at the same time.

The rest of the performance was based around this, though Tricky alternated his movements and occasionally intensified or lowered the power of his electricity. He finally brought the appeal to an end with a last howl, allowing the electricity around him to burst outwards and dissipate.

The audience clapped as Nicola recalled Tricky and started walking off the stage.

Though she was happy that they'd avoided any major missteps like in the previous contest, a part of her still felt uneasy. She felt as though she'd done all that she could with Tricky's limited move pool and had put on a good show with it. But would that be enough to win her the favour of the judges?

* * *

 _4:43pm, 16_ _th_ _May 2006_

There was silence in the holding room as the judges finalised their decisions. All eyes were fixed on the screen up in the top corner of the room as the blacked-out boxes appeared.

One by one, the pictures of the coordinators who had progressed to the next round appeared in the boxes, eliciting a sequence of sighs as those who had made it expressed their relief.

"Phew," James murmured as he spotted his picture appear. Better yet, his opponent had had quite a lacklustre performance in the appeals round. He might actually stand a chance at getting the ribbon.

Next to him, Nicola's heart sank as the final coordinator's picture appeared. She couldn't say that she was surprised, but it still cut deep. A lot of effort had gone into that combination – for it to be rejected was a bitter pill to swallow.

She fought off a brief spark of resentment towards James and turned to look at him, forcing a smile onto her face. "Great work on getting through," she said.

"Thanks," James replied. He looked troubled, perhaps recognising Nicola's disappointment at not getting through. "Look, don't let it bother you. We'll come up with some even better combinations for the next contest."

How easy it was to say that.

Nicola's smile faltered for a second. "Don't worry about me!" she said, trying to sound more enthusiastic than she felt. "You just focus on getting through the battle rounds!"

"…Sure." James nodded.

It wouldn't have made much difference anyway. Ultimately, the contest could only have one winner. Even if Nicola had gotten through, she might have been knocked out in the next round. And even if she managed to get to the final, she would have had to defeat James at some point too.

Such was the agony of pokémon contests.

* * *

"Things didn't go so well, huh?" Richard said.

"Agreed." Will nodded. "But at least James got through."

"I hope Nicola isn't taking it too hard," said Richard. "She's had to deal with two defeats in a row before, after all."

"Well, she came back from that," said Will. "I'm sure she'll be able to get over this as well."

The second of the first round of battles had just ended, with the two competing coordinators exiting the stage. It was James's turn next.

As he stepped out and took up his position at one end of the stage, he looked across at the boy standing opposite.

Dave Naylor. Though he was older than James, he seemed just as new to contests as he was. His appeal had been rather disappointing and his pokémon had sometimes seemed unsure of exactly what it was supposed to be doing. Of course, all that could change in the battle round.

"Are you both ready?" the MC called.

Both James and Dave nodded.

"Begin!"

"Go, Nulin!" James called, throwing his poké ball.

Nulin cried out as he burst from the ball and started hovering in the air above the stage.

Across from him, a well-groomed poochyena had appeared on Dave's side.

"Use Bite!" Dave ordered.

With a snarl, the poochyena started charging towards Nulin.

The wingull dived to the side, however, and easily evaded the attack. Swinging around, he swept close and raked his opponent's side before he could fully turn to face the threat.

"Water Pulse!"

Nulin wasted no time in turning back to face the poochyena and fire a ball of water towards him. There was a subdued boom as the ball burst, sending a sonic wave and a shower of water flying downwards.

The poochyena yelped in pain as the sonic wave hit him, followed seconds later by the water. His well-groomed fur was immediately soaked, while the blast threw him backwards. He landed with a loud thud.

"Now use Mist!" James called.

Nulin didn't waste time, emitting a cloud of pale, white mist that quickly drifted across his side of the battlefield.

"It looks like James has the advantage here," said Will, watching Dave's points bar continue dropping.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Richard said. He pointed to the poochyena. "Since he's a dark pokémon, he can hide in the mist and strike Nulin from below."

"Aren't you thinking about it too much like a battle?" Will asked. "Nulin could just dodge for the next three and a half minutes and still win the battle."

"No, you're the one who's thinking about it the wrong way. That poochyena doesn't need to even hit Nulin to lower his points – he just needs to look appealing."

"That's fair, I guess. But then, James isn't going to just sit back now."

Dave and his poochyena did indeed attempt to make a comeback, attempting to use the mist to broaden their appeal. However, James and Nulin were waiting for them and didn't let up the pressure.

Carefully timing his attacks and having Nulin moderate his power to increase his appeal, James suddenly found that he was on the cusp of victory with a full two minutes remaining.

"Use Water Pulse!" he called, deciding to press forwards.

Nulin fired a ball of water down at the poochyena, who attempted to duck out of the way. There was a burst and a splash as the attack just managed to connect.

The poochyena skidded backwards, remaining upright. Though he shook the water out of his fur and made to step forwards again, the last of his points had trickled away.

"And that's it!" the MC announced. "James Burton from Pallet Town moves on to the next round!"

* * *

 _5:10pm, 16_ _th_ _May 2006_

The semi-finals were much harder than the initial battle round. James's second opponent had been much more in tune with how to increase his pokémon's appeal and the start of the battle had seen James's points dropping rapidly.

Fortunately, Nulin had held firm and they were able to recover sufficiently to take the lead just seconds before time ran out. It was a close victory, one which James and Nulin both knew was down to luck as much as their own skills.

But a win was a win, and neither of them were unhappy to have made it through to the final.

This time, their opponent was far more skilled – Henry Rhodes, a coordinator from Mauville City. He'd twice competed at the Hoenn Grand Festival, something which he'd been very keen to inform James of when they first spoke in the holding room.

And it wasn't empty boasting.

Already approaching the halfway mark in the final battle, it was clear that Nulin and James were being kept on the backfoot by Henry and his dustox.

"Use Silver Wind!"

Having already blown Nulin back with a gust of wind, the dustox quickly dropped a cloud of silver particles and started fanning them towards the wingull.

"Watch out!" James called.

Too late.

Nulin was hammered by the silver particles, not injuring him too much, but draining his points bar. Recovering, he shot up higher, trying to put some distance between himself and his opponent.

"Use Confusion!" Henry ordered.

With a shout, his dustox's eyes started glowing blue as he channelled his psychic power.

Nulin was grabbed out of the air and started hurtling down towards the ground.

"Use Water Pulse!" James shouted.

At the last moment, Nulin fired a ball of water. It soared through the air before bursting, sending a blast of energy and water towards the dustox.

The dustox was hit and knocked backwards. He seemed momentarily disoriented by the blast, but quickly started flying forwards again. His concentration, however, had broken, and Nulin had freed himself from his grasp.

James briefly glanced at the screen. He'd managed to narrow the gap with his last attack, but there was just two minutes left on the clock now. He needed to be decisive.

"Use Confusion again!" Henry called.

"Use Supersonic!"

Just as the dustox grabbed Nulin again, the wingull managed to emit a loud, high-pitched noise. His opponent flinched, the sound causing him discomfort.

It was the chance they needed.

Nulin already knew what to do, even though James called out anyway. He dived down towards the dustox, his wing glowing white. There was a thud as he crashed into him, sending both of them toppling towards the ground.

"Now use Mist!" James shouted. A powerful attack was good, but he needed visual impact as well if he was going to turn this around.

Nulin released a cloud of pale mist as he pulled back. It trailed behind him as he circled above.

"Use Moonlight!" Henry ordered.

A ghostly, yet serene beam of light settled on the dustox. The glow started to heal his injuries, with James's points starting to drop even further.

A split second later, the dustox vanished from sight as Nulin corkscrewed his way downwards, surrounding him with a pillar of mist. Spinning out just before he could hit the ground, he fired another ball of water into the air, even as a blue glow from inside the pillar grabbed him.

The ball exploded, scattering mist and water everywhere.

Stunned by the hit, the dustox lost focus and tumbled down towards the ground.

"Time's up!" the MC called.

Both Henry and James whipped around to look at the scoreboard.

At first, it looked as though the two bars had the exact same amount of points left in them. It took a closer examination for James to realise that, by only a handful of points, his bar was the largest.

"The battle has now ended!" the head judge announced. "The victor is James Burton from Pallet Town!"

The crowd cheered as James and Henry recalled their pokémon and started walking towards each other.

"I underestimated you," Henry said as they reached each other. "I won't be holding back next time, so make sure you keep training."

"Got it!" James nodded.

The two of them shook hands.

"A fine display, both of you," the head judge said as he approached them. "Still, your perseverance and bond with your wingull saw you through, James."

An aide scurried over quickly with a small, wooden box. Opening it, the head judge pulled out a small, orange coloured ribbon with a shield-shaped crest.

"I present you with the Leevay Ribbon," he said. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you very much," James said as he took the ribbon.

There was another round of applause.

* * *

 _5:28pm, 16_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Whew! What a competition!" Richard said, grinning as he and the others left the contest hall and started walking back towards the pokémon centre.

"I still can't quite believe that I managed to win it," James said. "If I can get four more, then I'll be able to enter the Grand Festival."

"So, this is what a ribbon feels like?" Nicola said quietly, holding James's new ribbon in her hand. "Will I ever be able to get my own?"

"You're being too hard on yourself," said Richard. "You were unlucky in the last two contests, but I'm sure you'll do better in the next one."

"Don't forget that you have to get lucky with who you're competing with as well," said James. "We've been up against some tough competition, both here and in Anamarc."

"I guess so." Nicola frowned. "I'll have to see what I can come up with for the next contest. I need to make sure that I can beat you as well."

"Well, I'm sure that we'll come to blows sooner or later," said James. He smiled. "Just make sure that you give it your all, no matter who you're facing."

"Anyway, that's enough about contests!" said Will. "We need to talk about tomorrow!"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "We're going to need to prepare for crossing the desert."

"I thought that we could spend some time tomorrow morning stocking up on everything we need," James replied. "There are still a few things that we need to get."

"It'll be a busy morning then," Nicola sighed.

"Make sure you get lots of sleep tonight," said James. "It's going to be a tough day, that's for sure."

* * *

 **So, I'd originally hoped to get this chapter out on Wednesday, but it seems that the days immediately surrounding Christmas aren't exactly the most productive. Still, it was the first time that I've held a proper upload schedule over the Christmas period, so it as always going to be highly experimental.**

 **Anyway, an evolution for Will and a contest ribbon for James. I thought long and hard about exactly how to handle the contest in this chapter, but I eventually decided to settle on only showing parts of the important battles instead of all of them. I figured that you'd probably get bored if you had to sit through three battles in a row.**

 **I'm in a bit of a rush today because I've got family friends coming to visit, so if I missed anything in my hasty proofread, then let me know. Assuming I can rush through another proofread in time, Chapter 12 of** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **will be up soon after this one.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	45. Sea of Sand

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James win his first contest ribbon in Leevay Town and Will's partner, Toya, evolve into a wartortle. The group's attention now turns to their imminent journey across Hoenn's desert.**

 **Upload Date: 7** **th** **January 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 45: Sea of Sand**

 _Route 111, Hoenn_

 _8:59am, 17_ _th_ _May 2006_

Nestled in a large, dry basin in the interior of Hoenn, the Great Central Desert was one of the most difficult and dangerous routes in the whole region. Though the roads through the area were well-marked, it was somewhere that most people tended to avoid. Even trainers preferred to stick to the more hospitable Route 112 to the north.

At the same time, though, there was something compelling about the thought of swapping out the normal mountainous and forested roads of Hoenn for the unfamiliar, if bleak, terrain of the desert. After all, how cool would it be to tell friends back home about travelling across a desert while on a journey?

For others, the appeal lay in the fact that it was a route less travelled. The desert's ecosystem, unique in Hoenn, was very specific and different to anything else in the region. The pokémon that lived there would have to be tough in order to survive and it was unlikely that most other trainers would come across them.

Besides, there were all kinds of rumours about the desert – stories of ancient ruins, enigmatic pokémon and towers that appeared and disappeared under the scorching sun. For anyone looking for a true adventure, this was the place to be.

"Alright, everyone!" James called, coming to a stop as the last blades of dry, coarse grass disappeared and the group found themselves surrounded by sand. "Remember that this is a desert. It's much more dangerous than any route we've taken before and getting lost will be much riskier."

"The road looks like it's marked out clearly," said Nicola, noting the large posts lining either side of the road ahead. "It would be pretty hard to leave it."

"Don't be so sure," said James. "The guidebook says that this place can suffer from frequent sandstorms that bury the road and make it hard to keep your bearings."

"So, we just need to stick close to each other?" Richard said. "Got it."

"What's our plan?" Will asked.

"We're heading for a town about three hours away," James replied. "We can stop there to restock supplies and plan for tomorrow."

"We've got plenty of water though, right? Nicola asked anxiously.

"Yeah." James nodded. "We've got enough water to last several days. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Let's get moving then!" Richard grinned eagerly. "I can't wait to get out there and see what the desert looks like!"

"Just take it easy, okay!" James said. "It's much hotter here than anywhere else in Hoenn – be careful of sunburn and dehydration."

"I feel like it's going to be tough to walk on this as well," Richard said, briefly walking on the sand by the road. "I guess we should try and save energy as well."

"Sounds good to me," said Will.

"Alright, if everyone's ready, then let's get moving!" James called. "I know I've said all that stuff about being careful, but don't forget to enjoy the experience – it's not every day that you get to walk through a desert!"

* * *

 _9:35am, 17_ _th_ _May 2006_

James had deliberately ensured that he and his companions were out of the pokémon centre in Leevay Town and on the road through the desert as early as possible. They didn't want to be hiking through the intense midday heat, after all.

Even so, the sun was still beating down on them relentlessly as they walked along the road past the bleak surrounding landscape. Their foreheads were already sweaty and their clothes clung to them uncomfortably. The jumpers had been put in the backpacks long before they'd reached the desert and all of them had made sure to put on shorts before heading out, but even so they were still dripping with sweat. The desert was nothing to scoff at.

"How much further?" Nicola asked, gasping as she walked alongside James.

"Just another hour or two," James replied. He understood how she was feeling. "Stay strong – we'll be through soon enough!"

"Why didn't we just travel by night?" Will said. "We could have avoided all of this."

"It might not be a bad idea, actually," James said. He frowned as he thought it over. "Though, the wild pokémon tend to be more active out here during the night…"

"I wonder why?" Will raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we can decide when we get to the next town," said James. He briefly glanced back at his companions. "Hang on a second! Where's Richard?"

There was no sign of the fourth member of their group.

"He spotted a pokémon he was interested in," Will said. "He told me that he was going to slip off and catch it and then re-join us."

"Seriously?" James groaned. Just like Richard to do his own thing. He was normally the one who was talking about avoiding all the potentially dangerous places on their journeys.

"How long ago was this?" Nicola asked, wide-eyed. It seems she had no idea either.

"About five minutes," Will replied. He pointed to a large sand dune to their left. "He climbed up there and disappeared over the top. He's probably still just over there."

"We best go and get him then." James sighed, starting to walk towards the dune. "It's not worth the risk getting separated in the desert."

"Ugh!" Nicola let out a groan as she followed him. "Now it's going to take us longer to get to the next town!"

The sand dune was much harder to climb than they'd been expecting. The soft sand tended to fall away as soon as they put their weight on it. It was only by using both their hands and feet to spread their weight more evenly that they were able to make quick progress. It wasn't pleasant. The sand was hot and stung their hands as they climbed.

As soon as they reached the top and stood up again, James looked around for Richard. After a brief moment of panic when he couldn't see anyone nearby, he finally spotted him crossing another dune a distance away. He was following a small dust cloud – it must have been the pokémon he was chasing.

"You're kidding me!" Nicola cried, spotting him as well. "Richard! Get back here!"

Whether Richard heard her or not, he continued moving forwards.

"Come on!" James called to Nicola and Will, starting to walk forwards and pulling his feet through the sand.

It felt like it took them a long time before they finally caught up to Richard, by which time he'd finally managed to force the wild pokémon into a battle.

"Use Bite!" he called to Chena.

The poochyena, grimacing as he ran across the hot sand, dived towards his opponent with his mouth wide open, showing his sharp teeth.

"Richard!" James yelled between pants as he reached him and placed his hand firmly on his shoulder.

"Huh? What are you guys doing here?" Richard asked, looking back.

"What are you thinking?" Nicola demanded. "You can't just wander off into the desert by yourself!"

"I only came a short way – I was going to come straight back," Richard replied.

"A short way, huh?" Will said, glancing back at the fairly substantial distance they'd covered.

"Whoa! When did that happen?" Richard looked back as well. "I thought I'd only just come over the sand dune!"

"So, what's this pokémon you've found then?" James asked. There was no point admonishing him now, given that they were already out here. They just needed to prioritise getting back once the battle was over.

"It looks…odd," said Nicola, pulling out her Pokédex.

" _Baltoy, the clay doll pokémon. Baltoy move while spinning around on their one foot. Primitive wall paintings depicting these pokémon living among people were discovered in some ancient ruins. As soon as they spot others of their kind, baltoy congregate with them and then begin crying noisily in unison. These pokémon sleep while cleverly balancing themselves on their one foot._ "

"It sounds interesting," Will said as Nicola put her Pokédex away.

"I know, right?" Richard grinned, turning back to face Chena and the baltoy's scuffle.

The wild pokémon fired a clump of mud towards Chena, taking him by surprise. As he stumbled back, it threw a cluster of rocks at him. They knocked into him and pinned him to the ground.

"Hold on!" Richard called. "Use Tackle!"

Chena thrashed around as he tried to wriggle free of the rocks. The baltoy came in spinning, only for him to jump clear at the last moment. He watched carefully as the baltoy continued spinning. He retreated to avoid being struck, patiently waiting for an opening.

As the baltoy finally ceased its spinning, Chena struck forwards. He slammed into it and knocked it back.

"Now use Bite!" Richard ordered.

Chena bit his opponent, gripping it tightly before hurling it to one side.

"Great work!" Richard grinned as he pulled out a poké ball. He threw it at the descending baltoy. It glanced off it and sucked it inside.

The ball dropped to the ground and shook twice before it broke apart and the baltoy burst free again.

"So close!" Richard glanced at Chena and nodded.

The poochyena rushed forwards again, only for the baltoy to sway out of way and hit him in the flank with clump of mud.

"Tackle!" Richard ordered.

Trying to shake the mud and sand out of his fur, Chena charged forwards and smashed into the baltoy again, this time much more heavily than before.

The baltoy hit the sand with a soft thud. Seconds later, a second poké ball flew through the air and bounced off its head. This time, it sealed shut with a click and a burst of sparks.

"Phew!" Richard wiped the sweat from his forehead. He'd been so caught up in the battle that he hadn't noticed it at all. "Great work, Chena!"

The poochyena glanced back at him, panting heavily. All that dark fur was probably making the desert heat unbearable. He was relieved to be heading back inside his poké ball.

"Congratulations, Richard," said James. The others quickly parroted him.

"Thanks, guys!" Richard grinned as he picked up both the shattered poké ball and the one that had captured his new team member. "I'm looking forward to training with this guy!"

"What are you going to call it?" Nicola asked.

"I was thinking 'Vortex'," Richard replied. "It was spinning along when I first saw it."

"Since that's over, how about we head back to the road?" said James.

"Yeah. Sorry to have held us up," said Richard.

"Umm, guys." Will looked around uneasily.

A gust of wind had started blowing while they were stopped and was starting to pick up. Sand was being lifted off the ground around them and blown away.

"A sandstorm." James grimaced. They needed to get back to the road.

"Did we come from that way?" Nicola asked, peering through the sand that was being blown off.

"I thought it was that way," Will replied, pointing in a different direction.

"Just follow our tracks!" Richard said.

"They're gone," Nicola replied. "The sand's been blown away."

It was true. There was no indication at all of where they'd come from. All their tracks had vanished and the surrounding dunes were starting to look increasingly similar as the wind tore at them.

The pace of the storm had picked up as well. They were finding themselves shielding their faces from it.

"Everyone, we need to put on our go-goggles!" James coughed.

Everyone stared at him for a brief moment.

"Did you just stutter?" Richard asked.

"Some dust got in my mouth, okay!" James replied quickly, his cheeks turning red. "Anyway, get the goggles out and put them on!"

Everyone quickly pulled the goggles they'd bought in Leevay Town the previous evening out of their bags and fastened them over their eyes. It was a big help – they could now look around without having to squint. Even so, the increasing intensity of the sandstorm meant that they couldn't see that far anyway.

"What now?" Nicola shouted over the noise of the wind.

"Hang on!" James called back. He rummaged through his bag. "Found it!" He pulled out a compass and held it in the palm of his hand.

"Of course! I'd completely forgotten about that!" Richard walked over to join James.

"We don't normally need it, after all," James replied. "But we can find our way back to the road using this."

"That's a relief," said Will.

As they waited for the compass to adjust, however, a particularly strong gust of wind blew past, sending a cloud of sand into James's face. He instinctively raised his hands to protect himself. The compass went flying off, quickly disappearing from sight.

"Where is it?" Richard exclaimed, scanning the surrounding sand.

"Sorry!" James cried as he lowered his hands and started looking as well.

"It can't have gone far!" Nicola said. "Let's find it!"

However, they couldn't find any trace of the compass. Most likely, it had been buried under the sand as soon as it had hit the ground.

That left the group to try and find their way back to the road without any guidance at all.

* * *

 _8:15pm, 17_ _th_ _May 2006_

The wind howled as the sandstorm continued lashing the surface of the desert. With all the sand in the air, darkness had fallen even quicker than usual over the shifting dunes.

Without the compass, the group had taken completely the wrong direction in their attempt to get back to the road and had wandered through the empty desert until forced to stop by the increasing darkness.

Setting up the tent had been difficult, but they'd managed to find an open spot between a couple of sand dunes – far enough away that they wouldn't be buried by a collapse, yet close enough to provide some respite from the sandstorm. Regardless, it was going to be a tough night.

"All the food in my bag has survived so far. How about you?"

"Same here."

"These bags are built to last, after all!"

After setting up the tent and disappearing inside it, the group's first order of business was to work out how much food they had left. It looked good so far.

"What do we do about all the sand?" Nicola sighed, looking around.

Small heaps of sand seemed to have gathered all over the place in the tent, the result of the sandstorm following them in whenever they opened the tent flap.

"There's nothing we can do now," James replied. "We'll just have to grit our teeth and bear it."

"Still, we've got plenty of food left," said Richard. "Do you reckon this will be enough to last us until we get back to the road?"

"That depends," James said. "It could take us a while to get back."

"We don't know where we are," Will said, frowning as he looked at the food stockpile.

"I'm more worried about the water. We used more than we were supposed to today and we'll have to do the same tomorrow." James glanced down at the water bottles. "We might run out…"

"D-Don't say that!" Nicola cried in alarm. "Can't we get Kipa, Toya and Nulin to give us water?"

"Have you ever tried drinking water produced by a pokémon?" Richard asked.

"No." Nicola shook her head. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"It's not healthy for humans to drink," said James. "I've heard it's like trying to drink seawater."

"Really?" Nicola looked down, crest-fallen. "But, if we ration what water we've got left, will we have enough?"

"Perhaps." James let out a sigh. "Anyway, let's not worry about this now. We're all tired, so let's try and get as much sleep as we can ready for tomorrow."

The four of them passed a restless night in the tent that night.

* * *

 _2:16pm, 19_ _th_ _May 2006_

"It's no good!" Will gasped. "I can't go on!"

"Come on, Will," James said weakly. "We need to keep moving or we're finished."

"You think we're going to happen upon the road now, after two days of aimlessly walking in the desert?" Will asked wearily, shaking his head. "It's hopeless."

The others shared uneasy glances.

Will's words summed up what each of them was thinking. They'd spent much of the previous day travelling and hadn't seen any sign of civilisation. The same could be said for today. All that walking, expending energy and drinking what remained of their precious water supply, and nothing to show for it.

It was easy to see why Will had become so disheartened.

They weren't feeling all that great either. Two days of water rationing had them all perpetually dehydrated. Resisting the desert mirages and keeping their heads clear had become incredibly difficult.

And all the walking had sapped their energy too.

Though he didn't want to admit it, James felt as though he was about to collapse himself. Still, he focused himself and forced himself to walk back down the sand dune to where Will had stopped.

"Come on! I'll help you!" He grabbed Will by his arm and pulled him roughly to his feet.

"It's hopeless. Hopeless," Will mumbled as he stumbled alongside James. Both of their feet constantly slipped on the sand, threatening to send them back down to the bottom.

However, Richard and Nicola reached out to grab them and helped them up. They all dropped to the ground as they reached the crest of the sand dune.

"I was really hoping that the sandstorm would have cleared up by now," James mumbled despairingly.

All around them, clouds of sand and dust tore through the air, darkening the sky and blocking their view. For all they knew, the road could have been just in front of them, just out of sight. But what if it wasn't, and they took a route that led further from civilisation?

James couldn't think anymore.

Beside him, Will had fallen silent. After all the exertion, he was exhausted.

"I think I'm going to sleep for a little bit," Nicola murmured from his other side. "It might make my headache go away…"

"I don't blame you." Richard seemed to be going the same way.

A pang of panic shot through James. They were far from the human settlement and no longer in a condition to walk. The danger of the situation was just starting to sink in, after all the effort he'd spent avoiding thinking about it over the last couple of days.

Were they going to die out here?

He swallowed. His throat was painfully dry. Letting himself lay back on the sand, he gazed up at the sky. If only the weather had been clearer, then they could have sent Turkey or Nulin to look for the road from above.

But they wouldn't have lasted long in this weather. There was no way that they could withstand all that battering…

An idea came to him!

He could remember that rock and steel type pokémon were capable of withstanding sandstorms. Ground types as well. They wouldn't be as fast as Nulin or Turkey on a clear day, but out here…

He managed to pull himself up and stumbled around to Richard. He gently removed Arro and Vortex's poké balls and released the two pokémon.

"I need you to head out and try to find help," he said to them as they looked around. "Work together and bring someone back here."

The two pokémon both nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation. They turned and started moving down the sand dune in the direction James hoped the road lay in.

Exhausted, he sat back down again before laying back on the sand. It was all down to the two of them now. He couldn't leave the others and, in any case, he was out of energy himself. He felt a wave of tiredness come over him, drowning out his other senses. He allowed his eyes to close, the howl of the sandstorm growing quieter as he drifted off.

* * *

 _3:28pm, 20_ _th_ _May 2006_

When James felt himself starting to swim back into consciousness, the first thing that greeted him was pain. His head felt about ready to tear itself apart.

He winced and cautiously opened his eyes. He winced again in the face of the bright light and screwed his eyes shut again.

Finally opening them a second time, he realised that he was staring at a ceiling overhead. He attempted to process what had happened, reconstructing events as best he could from his garbled memories.

"Oh! You're awake!" A nurse appeared on his left, peering down at him. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"

"My head hurts," James replied croakily.

"I see. Anything else?" the nurse asked. He'd already started reaching for some medicine.

"Nothing else," James replied. "I just feel really stiff." He slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Easy!" the nurse said, moving over to him. "You're still weak. Here – take these." He handed James a couple of pills and a small glass of water.

He quickly swallowed the pills and gulped down all of the water eagerly.

"Thank you," he said.

"Just doing my job," the nurse replied. "You're not the first trainer to have ended up here. And you won't be the last either."

"Where am I?" James said as he glanced around. "And my friends! Where are my friends?"

"Stay calm. No need to get excited," said the nurse. "You're in the general hospital in Lonaba City. Your friends are all fine – you'll be able to see them shortly. I just need to run some tests before I can release you…"

* * *

 _Lonaba City, Hoenn_

 _3:40pm, 20_ _th_ _May 2006_

Once the tests were done and he'd been given something to put on instead of the hospital gown he'd awoken in, James was free to leave the hospital. His headache had subsided and he was feeling much better, but he still felt a little lost as he walked through the double doors into the lobby. He still didn't know where the others were, or very much about the place he'd woken up in. Worse still, he didn't have his bag or his poké balls. As a pokémon trainer, that felt very unsettling.

Fortunately, as he glanced around the lobby looking for the way out, a boy about his own age caught his eye and started walking over.

"James Burton, right?" he said as he approached.

"Th-That's right." James nodded cautiously.

"Good to see you up and about!" the boy said, grinning at him. "I'm Jon. I'm the one who found you guys out in the desert."

"You did?" James said. "Thank you!"

"Hey, it wasn't just me," Jon replied. "I had to get some guys from here in Lonaba City to lift you all. And it was your friend's aron and baltoy who let me know to look for you."

"That's right! Where are the others?" James exclaimed.

"They're all out and about," Jon said. "You've been out since yesterday – the others all woke up much quicker."

"At least they're all alright," James said, sighing.

"Come on." Jon beckoned to him. "They'll want to see you."

The two of them left the lobby of the hospital and stepped out onto the street.

"Whoa!" James looked around at his new surroundings.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Jon grinned at him.

There was no denying that!

The street itself was narrow, made of light brown stone. More noticeable was the fact that it was mostly in the shade, covered by a stone roof. On the far side, there were no other buildings, just an empty gap through which the blue sky stood out starkly. Columns broke it up into glassless windows.

Each column was covered by plants, which also seemed to hang down from the side of the roof in places as well. They seemed mostly tropical, with either long, thin leaves or large, round ones to pick up the sunlight. A range of colours dotted the foliage – the beautiful flowers of these plants.

Stepping over to the far side of the street, James realised that they were stood on the side of a mountain. Lonaba City appeared to have been built into the side of it in a number of layers. Beneath them, the rest of the city seemed to stretch the whole was down the steep slope, each level covered in thick foliage.

"I've never seen a city like this before," said James, turning to look at Jon.

"A lot of people say that," Jon replied. "The city actually goes even higher up that this."

"It's pretty incredible," said James. "And all these plants can survive here?"

"Yeah." Jon nodded. "We get more rainfall here than the rest of the desert, and there's an aqueduct that brings in water from elsewhere in Hoenn, so we've got plenty to water them with."

Even in the shade and with all the foliage around, James could still feel the heat of the desert. Beyond the foot of the city, the sand stretched out for miles, far into the distance. A shimmering heat haze made it uncomfortable to look at for too long.

"Anyway, let's get moving," said Jon. "The others are waiting." He started leading the way down the street.

Much like other roads used for getting from the bottom to the top of a mountain that James had seen in the past, the streets here in Lonaba City ran along the length of the cliff face before sloping around a corner and moving down to the next level. If this was how one needed to get about in this place, then James dreaded to think what it would be like trying to get all the way from the bottom to the top.

Fortunately, as he was about to turn to Jon and ask how far they were going, he spotted Richard, Nicola and Will sat on a stone bench in what looked like a small garden built on the roof of a building on the level below.

"I'm back!" Jon called as he approached.

The other three quickly looked up. "James!" they cried.

"Hey," James replied awkwardly. "Sorry for worrying everyone."

"Don't worry about it," Will said, visibly relieved to see him. "I knew you'd be up and about sooner or later."

"We're just glad to see you safe!" Nicola added, smiling with relief. Zaggy was curled up in her lap, fast asleep.

"Yeah." Richard nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four poké balls. "Here. They've been worried as well."

"Thanks for taking care of them," James said. He quickly released his four pokémon, who gathered around him in a mixture of relief and concern. He patted Charka and Muro on their heads while Nulin and Kacha settled on his shoulders.

"Do you want to head to the pokémon centre?" Nicola asked. "We went ahead and booked rooms for the night earlier."

"I guess it's too late to set off for the next town," James replied, glancing at the sky. "Have you been up to much while I was out?"

"Just some training," Will replied. "We were too worried to really do anything else."

"We made lots of progress though," Richard said. "Arro's learned how to use Iron Tail now. Plus…" He turned to look at Nicola. "Do you want to tell him?"

"Ugh." Nicola glanced away briefly, her cheeks turning pink. "Zaggy learned a new move too."

"Oh, really?" James looked down at him with interest. "What kind?"

Nicola remained silent.

After a couple of seconds, Richard spoke up. "He learned Rest."

"Rest? Really?" James responded with a small amount of disappointment in his voice before he could stop himself.

"It-It'll definitely come in handy somehow!" Nicola insisted. "Richard's been teasing me all afternoon!"

"Well, pretty much every pokémon move is useful," Jon said. "Except Splash, maybe."

"Are you a trainer as well?" James asked, turning to him.

"I wouldn't really call myself a trainer in the same way as you," Jon replied. He frowned as he thought about how to explain it. "It's more like I'm working towards something else and I have pokémon to help me with that. They still need training."

"He's part of a team that constantly search the desert to look out for lost travellers like us," Will explained. "Sort of like a ranger, I guess?"

"That's pretty much it." Jon nodded. "If you like, I could show you my main partner – the one who helped me find you."

"Sure!" All four of them nodded eagerly.

"Just a second." Jon looked up at the sky. Putting his fingers in his mouth, a loud whistle escaped his lips.

After a few seconds, they heard a distant roar. A large shape appeared from over the higher levels and soared down towards them. A grey, sturdy pokémon with wide wings, a large jaw and a pair of strong-looking talons landed on the wall of the roof garden and looked across at them.

"Wow!" James exclaimed, looking at it. "I don't think I've ever seen one before."

"What is it?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Data not found._ "

"Huh?"

"Ah, pokémon like Tari here aren't registered on the Hoenn Pokédex," Jon explained.

"I'll try then," said James, pulling out his own Pokédex.

" _Aerodactyl, the fossil pokémon. Aerodactyl is a pokémon from the age of dinosaurs. It has recently become possible to regenerate them from genetic material extracted from amber. They are imagined to have been the kings of the skies in ancient times. They fly with high-pitched cries._ "

"Restored from a fossil?" Nicola gasped. "I remember hearing about this on the news, but to actually see a real one…"

"I've got a pokémon that was resurrected from a fossil!" Richard piped up. "An omastar called Helix!"

"You have?!" Nicola exclaimed. "How? Where?"

"He looks like a great choice for the desert," James said as Richard and Nicola moved into their own conversation. "He's rock type, right?"

"Yeah." Jon nodded. "Rock-flying. Sandstorms don't bother him at all. He and I fly in the sky over the desert to look out for trouble. Monitoring sandstorms, looking out for lost travellers or marauding wild pokémon – we both really enjoy it!"

The aerodactyl – Jon had referred to him as 'Tari', hadn't he – made a noise and nodded in agreement.

"He's a capable battler as well!" Jon grinned.

"Oh?" James perked up slightly, glancing around at his pokémon. "In that case, do you fancy having a battle with me?"

"Huh?" Richard and Nicola snapped back to them on hearing James's words.

"Eh. Sure, why not?" Jon shrugged. "I'm not due to go back out on patrol until the day after tomorrow, so Tari could use a workout!"

"Let's do it then!" James grinned. He patted Muro on the head. "Feels like I haven't used you in a while. What do you say?"

The loudred grinned back at him, stamping his feet eagerly.

"There's a practice arena down on the next level," said Jon. "Come on – I'll lead the way."

* * *

 _4:14pm, 20_ _th_ _May 2006_

James had fought on countless arenas since starting out as a trainer and he had no doubt that he'd fight on countless more over the coming years. But it would be tough to top the one he found himself standing on now.

Forget the normal, run-of-the-mill practice arenas with their chain link fences and often-dreary surroundings in the middle of cities. The arena that Jon had led them to here in Lonaba City was a far cry from that.

Inevitably, the arena was built out from the side of the mountain, atop the roof of the level below. It was entirely out from the ceiling that covered the street and it felt almost as though they were stood out in the sky.

"Are you both ready?" Richard called, looking between James and Jon as they took their positions at either end of the arena.

"Yeah!" Jon nodded.

"Same here!" James gave him a thumbs-up.

On the field, Muro stood watching Tari with a determined expression. The aerodactyl was holding position, flapping his powerful wings.

"Begin!" Richard called.

"Use Screech!" James immediately shouted.

Muro screeched at Tari, the deafening sound filling the air. The aerodactyl recoiled, wincing at the noise.

"Use Supersonic!" Jon ordered.

Recovering, Tari fired a wave of sonic energy towards Muro. As he was engulfed, however, the loudred didn't seem discomforted in the least.

"Soundproof, huh?" Jon muttered. "I should have known."

"Use Howl!" James ordered.

As Muro howled loudly, Tari dived towards him, his wings cloaked in white light. Though his opponent tried to dodge, he managed swipe at his flank. Muro was knocked to the side, rolling from the force of the impact. However, he pulled himself back to his feet and stepped forwards again.

"Use Bite!" Jon shouted.

Tari circled around again and started diving towards Muro, his large jaw open in preparation.

"Steady!" James called, noticing that Muro had started shifting uncomfortably, as if poised to run.

Muro glanced back at him, clearly still unnerved, but strengthening his resolve. He held position, even as Tari descended rapidly towards him.

"Jump!" James yelled.

Muro didn't need telling twice. With a powerful leap, he shot into the air. Tari reached the spot where he'd been a split second later.

"Now use Stomp!"

Muro immediately dropped back down again, extending one leg to smash into Tari's back. He missed his mark slightly, but he still struck the aerodactyl's wing and sent him crashing to the ground.

"Ancient Power!" Jon shouted.

"Uproar!"

Both pokémon readied their attacks. Muro moved first, a sound wave ripping through the air and slamming into the trapped Tari. As he struggled, he wrenched a cluster of rocks from the ground and sent them flying backwards.

Caught off-guard, Muro was thrown backwards as several of the rocks hit him. He landed with a thud. Momentarily dazed, it took him a couple of crucial seconds before he started pulling himself up.

Tari, on the other hand, immediately took off again. His flight was slightly off, the result of the damage to his wing and, perhaps, the disorienting effect of being blasted by Muro's sound waves at close range. Still, he'd managed to recover faster. He had the advantage.

"Use Wing Attack!" Jon yelled.

As Muro stumbled back to his feet, nursing the new bruises on his body and trying to fight through the pain, Tari shot towards him in an instant.

"Use Stomp!" James ordered.

Muro made an attempt to jump once again, but Tari anticipated it. Altering his course, he smashed into Muro's stomach with his good wing. The loudred was hurled back to the ground, landing with a loud crash.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Muro started struggling to pull himself back up again.

"Richard!" James nodded at Richard.

"Got it," Richard replied. "Since James is forfeiting, the match goes to Jon!"

"Sorry, Muro," James said, grinning guiltily as he walked over to the loudred. "It was always going to be a tough battle against a rock type. You put up a good fight though."

"I really thought you had us for a couple of seconds," said Jon, patting Tari on the head before walking over. "Your loudred's nothing to scoff at."

"Still, it was a good battle," said James, turning to face him. He offered his hand. "I guess you need to be tough in order to do what you do."

Jon took his hand. "Thanks. We enjoyed the chance the blow off some steam!"

* * *

 _8:43pm, 20_ _th_ _May 2006_

Nicola gingerly knocked on the door of the boys' room.

After James's battle with Jon, they'd all gone back to the pokémon centre and eaten dinner together. The discussion had eventually turned to what James and the others were going to do next, with Jon offering some advice before he'd had to return home. At Richard's suggestion, they'd decided to return to their room to look at the guidebook and come to a final decision.

The door opened.

"You took a while," said Richard.

"Sorry I'm late," Nicola replied.

"No problem," James said. He was currently sat on the floor in the middle of the room, his guidebook and a large map spread out in front of him.

"We started talking about tomorrow, but you haven't missed much," said Richard, walking back towards his bed.

"Which did you say would be the best route, James?" Will asked.

"I suggested _a_ route," James replied.

"Which one?" Nicola asked, looking at the map as she sat down nearby.

"There are basically two routes from here that will take us to the eastern side of Hoenn," said James. He pointed to a smaller line which led north-east from Lonaba City directly towards Fallarbor Town. "This route is more direct, but smaller and wilder."

"So, more dangerous?" Nicola asked.

"Probably," said Richard.

"What about the other one?"

"This." James traced his finger along a thicker line which led south-east towards the coast before looping north. "We have to spend a little longer in the desert, but there aren't many sand dunes and Jon says that sandstorms are less likely there."

"It's a choice between longer and safer or shorter and more dangerous then?" Nicola sighed.

"I think we should go with the longer route," said Will. "The guidebook says that there are some pretty interesting places along that route."

"Well, after what happened over the last few days, I'm all for the safer option," Nicola replied. "To be honest, I'm pretty keen to get out of this desert."

"Same here," said James.

"I think we're all in agreement then," said Richard. "Right?"

The others nodded.

"Alright then," said James. He pointed to a small dot in the desert along their proposed route. "We'll aim to get here – Belri Town – by the end of tomorrow."

With the plan agreed, they spent what was left of the evening chatting before finally heading to bed a little earlier than usual. It had been a tiring day and there was little indication that tomorrow would be any different.

* * *

' **Go-goggles' was always a stupid name anyway.**

 **So, the long-awaited foray into the desert. I liked being able to examine a pokémon journey from a slightly different angle and to think about the kinds of challenges that travelling in a desert would pose to pokémon trainers. As I'm sure you've guessed, we're not quite done with the desert yet though. The group have still got a long way ahead of them.**

 **No evolutions this chapter, I'm sure you were relieved to discover. But we did get Richard capturing the first genderless pokémon of the series in the form of Vortex the baltoy. The centrepiece for this chapter, though, was Lonaba City. Back in the early stages of planning** _ **Hoenn**_ **, an idea came to me of a large city in the desert based loosely on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (as interpreted by someone who doesn't actually know that much about them!). With hindsight, I may have split this chapter into two separate ones so as to give Lonaba City more time in the spotlight, but then, hey – if Jon gets enough votes in the character poll for the extra chapters, then we may well get an opportunity to return to this oasis in the desert again.**

 **(I may also start the next chapter off in Lonaba City, but that'll just be a departure scene, so it doesn't really count)**

 **Oh, and as a heads up, I'll be up in London on Friday afternoon for a job interview, so there may be a delay on the actual upload time of Chapter 46 (I'm hoping not to need to roll it back to next Sunday, but if that is the case, I'll post on the Facebook page).**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Wing Attack.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	46. Treasures of the Desert

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group venture into the Great Central Desert and get lost in a sandstorm. Fortunately, they were saved and taken to Lonaba City, a mountainside city in the middle of the desert.**

 **Upload Date: 12** **th** **January 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 46: Treasures of the Desert**

 _Lonaba City, Hoenn_

 _7:48am, 21_ _st_ _May 2006_

There was a clear blue sky and only a slight breeze as the group passed through the arch that marked the edge of Lonaba City. The sun was still low, but the temperature was already starting to rise. The sight of the occasional trail of sand being blown across the path in front of them was unnerving. They'd need to watch carefully for any change in the weather.

Jon had seen them off from the pokémon centre, since he was busy that day with his duties. Before they'd left, he'd gone over their equipment to make sure that they'd stocked up properly on everything they needed. They felt much better prepared for the desert now.

Still, the empty vastness of the desert in front of them was intimidating. It was like setting off from an island into a large, ill-tempered ocean.

"Your route will take you away from the sand dunes after a while," Jon had said.

That was some comfort – the sand dunes were one of the things that unnerved them most at the moment. At least a flat, more rocky plain would be easier to keep their bearing on.

"No stepping off the path, remember," Nicola said as they left Lonaba City behind. "We need to take this seriously."

"It should be okay once we're through the sand dunes, right?" Will replied. Not that he had any specific intentions – he just wanted to have that option.

"We'll deal with that once we get there," James said. "In the meantime, Nicola's right. Stick to the road and keep an eye on each other."

"Got it." Richard nodded. After the events of the last few days, he was very firmly behind a cautious approach.

"How long do you think it'll take to get to Belri Town from here?" Nicola asked.

"Well…" James began.

Their plan from the previous evening had called for them to get all the way there today, but it had turned out to be slightly further than they'd thought. And since they were planning on setting up a shelter in the late morning to hide from the midday sun, they were going to be delayed further.

That had been another suggestion from Jon. They weren't going to ignore it.

"By the end of tomorrow, then?" said Richard.

"That seems realistic." James nodded. "We'll most likely be doing the same thing tomorrow, so we'll probably get there quite late."

"That's fine by me," said Will. "If it means avoiding the worst of the sun, then I'm all for it."

"Let's get moving then," Nicola said anxiously, picking up her pace. "We should try to cover as much ground as we can while it's still cool."

"Right behind you," said Richard.

James briefly glanced over his shoulder back at Lonaba City. It was even more impressive looking at it from a distance than from within. The plants growing all over it made it seem more like it belonged in a jungle than in a desert. It must make for an impressive and relieving sight for someone approaching it after a trek across the desert. If not for their mistakes, they'd have had that experience as well.

"You coming, James?"

Hearing Richard's voice, he turned back to face forwards. "Sorry!" he called back. "I'll be right there!"

* * *

 _Route 111, Hoenn_

 _2:46pm, 21_ _st_ _May 2006_

The temperature had soared as the group continued trekking along the road through the san dunes. Even the breeze at the start of the day had faded, leaving them with no natural counter to the heat of the desert sun.

Fortunately, they'd found themselves approaching the massive aqueduct that helped supply Lonaba City with water. Beneath the stone structure, they were able to find a spot of shade, with lovely, cool sand for them to sit on.

"We'll stop here for now," James had said.

They'd initially thought that they might have had to move slightly as the sun passed over, but it seemed as though the aqueduct had been constructed to run parallel with the sun's movement in the sky.

A small water tap had also been installed by the base of one of the supports – a welcome opportunity for them to refill their bottles.

After having lunch, however, the group quickly found themselves getting bored.

"How much longer do we wait?" Will had asked.

"Until four?" James suggested. "It should be much cooler by then."

As the hours had passed, they'd each tried to find ways to kill time.

Richard and Will had dug a pit in the sand by a step at the base of the support and Toya, Kipa and Dish had filled it with water. Now the water types were lazing around in one half of the pool, occasionally topping it up when necessary.

Nicola was dipping her feet into the other half while she sat on the step and read a book she'd been carrying for situations like this. Tricky, Zaggy and Mushy all lay around her, enjoying the cool feeling of the stone beneath them.

Other pokémon were generally lazing around as well – it was too hot to do any work, really. Kacha, Chena, Muro and Arro were also laying around by the edge of the shade, the hottest place that wasn't in the sun. Gulpy was sleeping near Naro, the only other pokémon that would tolerate her for long periods of time, while Charka was out in the intense sunshine, practising his fire attacks in the perfect setting.

Richard, meanwhile, was attempting to spend time with his new capture, Vortex. The baltoy tended to keep itself to itself and didn't really play that much with the other pokémon. It didn't seem that interested in interacting with Richard either. Every time he touched it, weird, distorted images appeared in his head. He wondered if it was to do with Vortex's psychic power.

Unlike most of the other pokémon, Turkey and Nulin were full of energy and eager to train. Since James and Will had been bored anyway, they'd jumped at the opportunity.

They didn't step out from under the aqueduct though.

"Hang on!" James said to Will. "Get Turkey to use that Wing Attack again."

"Sure." Will nodded. "Wing Attack!"

Turkey, swinging around and diving down, spread his wings and shot towards Nulin. His attack was faster and more precise than his previous ones. And, no matter what he tried, Nulin couldn't seem to find a way to avoid it.

"Does that remind you of anything?" James called, turning to look at Richard as Turkey successfully struck Nulin.

"Hmm." Richard got to his feet and wandered over. "Could he have learned Aerial Ace? It's kinda similar to Wing Attack in a way…"

"That would make sense," James replied, watching as Turkey repeated the attack. "Nulin can't dodge it at all."

"Well, it's not that much of a stretch," said Richard. "Congrats, Will!"

"It looks like Nulin's starting to copy him," Will said, pointing.

Sure enough, Nulin was honing his own attacks, making them more accurate and increasing his speed.

"That doesn't surprise me," said James. "They've always been competing with each other. Nulin doesn't want Turkey to one-up him!"

The two bird pokémon continued their aerial exchange of attacks for some time before eventually returning, exhausted by their exertion and the heat. Still, they'd managed to perfect their new attacks and killed plenty of time.

As the sun dipped lower, the group gathered their things and ventured back out into the desert.

* * *

 _10:21am, 22_ _nd_ _May 2006_

After a restless night camping by the side of the road, they'd resumed their journey towards Belri Town, starting early once more to avoid the worst of the sun. It hadn't taken them that long to finally reach the edge of the sand dunes. Dusty and rocky terrain lay ahead of them, a heat haze shimmering on the horizon.

"We're in the right place, right?" Nicola asked, looking around cautiously as they passed rocky outcrops and started descending downwards.

"Don't worry. We're in the right place," James replied.

"Looks like we're entering a valley," said Richard.

"According to the guidebook, it's called the 'Valley of the Ancients'," James explained. "But it's actually more like a giant ledge along one side of a deep canyon."

"Why is it called the Valley of the Ancients?" Will asked.

"Apparently, this place was once a lake in ancient times," James said. "There are all kinds of fossils in the ground around here."

"Fossils, you say?" Richard grinned. "Any idea where I can find some?"

"Wait, you mean a fossil that you could revive a pokémon from?" Nicola asked.

"Who knows," James replied, shutting the guidebook. "I think there are a couple of dig sites for fossils here in the valley, but I don't know if you could revive anything from them."

"Then we've got something to look out for, then!" Richard cheerfully took the lead, continuing on along the road ahead with a spring in his step.

"What's up with him?" Will asked.

"Didn't I tell you?" James said as he turned. "Richard's obsessed with fossils."

"Ah." Nicola watched Richard as he continued walking. "I guess that explains it."

"Really?" Will raised an eyebrow. "It's just left me with more questions."

* * *

As well as rocks and the occasional cactus, there were dips and humps in the valley that meant that they were never on completely flat ground. If their view wasn't being blocked by rocky outcrops, the heat haze made it difficult to see in the distance.

The sun was getting higher as well. It would be a good idea to stop some time soon.

That was when they'd come across a worn wooden sign directing them to the left if they wanted to reach a major dig site.

"Well, let's get moving then!" Richard called back to the others as he started walking down it.

"Are we going to just let him drag us wherever he wants?" Nicola asked.

"Better than getting separated again," James replied, shrugging.

"We need to stop soon anyway," said Will. "Might as well let him have his fun."

The path led to the edge of a pit dug into the surface of the valley, maybe about six feet deep and covering an area as large as two or three practice arenas. There were already several other people in various parts of the pit, digging at the ground or walls alongside their pokémon.

"So, mind if we stop here for a little bit?" Richard asked belatedly, turning back to the others.

"I guess so," said James. He'd spotted a ramshackle hut a short distance away with the words 'Rest Stop' hanging above the door.

"This place seems much less barren than the rest of the desert," Will said, glancing around.

That was true, and not just because of the nearby rest stop and the presence of other trainers. Aside from Vortex, they hadn't seen any other wild pokémon while travelling. And this part of the desert was dotted with the occasional cactus.

"A good place for us to stop for now then!" Richard grinned. He seemed to still think that he needed to convince them. "I'm going to head over and start digging."

"Does he even have any tools?" Will asked.

"He's probably got something he can use," James replied. "His pokémon will help out if nothing else."

"Hey, guys! Look at this!" Nicola called.

"You find something?" Will wandered over. James was just behind him.

"Doesn't this pit look odd to you?" Nicola asked.

She was stood by the side of a shallow pit of sand, a perfect circle. Unlike the rest of the sand around the dig site, this seemed less stable. Part of the wall slid slightly from the weight of Nicola's foot on the rim.

"Looks pretty odd," said Will. "Some kind of quicksand, you think?"

"Don't know," Nicola replied, kneeling down and poking at the loose sand at the edge.

"Best not to do that," James told her. "It could be a pokémon's nest."

"Really?" Nicola jumped back, fixing her eyes on the centre of the pit.

"Let's try this." James shrugged off his backpack and pulled out a tin of pokémon food. Taking one pellet, he dropped it onto the side of the pit.

It rolled down, carried by the collapsing sand. As it reached the centre, the sand suddenly shifted violently, and a large jaw appeared.

"Whoa!" Will exclaimed.

The pokémon snapped its jaw shut around the pellet and shuffled back under the sand at the bottom of the pit.

"What a scary pokémon!" Nicola gasped. She pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at the sand it had disappeared beneath.

" _Trapinch, the ant pit pokémon. A trapinch's nest is a sloped, bowl-like pit dug in sand. These pokémon patiently wait for prey to tumble down the pit. Their giant jaws have enough strength to crush even boulders. These pokémon can go a whole week without access to any water._ "

"Best not to put your hand too close to it," said James. He straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We're getting close to midday. How about we head to the rest stop and wait there for Richard to have his fun at the dig site?"

"Sounds good to me!" Will replied.

"Same here!" Nicola added.

* * *

The rest stop had looked pretty rundown from a distance. Sadly, it didn't improve the closer they got.

Still, it was shelter from the sun and, as they'd found upon stepping through the door, it was well-provisioned with the kinds of things they needed. As well as running water, there was also a vending machine containing several small-scale takeaway meals that were designed for desert explorers.

The building itself had two main rooms, one with a cooking station and sink as well as a small table with several chairs, and the other with several worn-out sofas. There was also toilet out back, something which came as a great relief to all three of them.

Upon walking into the room with the sofas after deciding to let Nicola go outside first, James and Will discovered that they weren't the only ones in there at the moment.

"Hello there." A middle-aged man with pale-coloured and durable expedition clothing was sat on one of the sofas, hidden from sight from the other room. He raised a hand in greeting as the two trainers entered.

"H-Hi," James replied awkwardly, not expecting to see someone. "Mind if we sit down?"

"By all means!" the man replied, gesturing to one of the unoccupied sofas. "They're free for anyone to use, after all!"

James and Will sat down, glad to be off their feet. As they did, they spotted two pokémon laying on the sofa next to the man. One of them was sandshrew, the kind that James had seen before in Kanto, a mostly yellow shrew that lived in dry areas. The other was green and covered in thin spines, especially on its thick, unwieldy arms. He'd never seen one of those before.

"This is Spike and Sandy," the man said, noticing their gazes. "Oh, and I'm Samuel by the way."

"I'm James," James replied. "This is my younger brother, Will."

"What kind of pokémon is that?" Will wondered, looking at the green one.

"Spike here is a cacnea," Samuel explained. "They live in this area. They're quite hardy pokémon. They store water in their body, so they can survive out here for a long time without visiting a watering hole."

"I guess they'd need to be that tough to survive out here," James sighed.

"You've had a tough experience, crossing the desert?" Samuel asked.

"You could say that," Will replied. "It's times like this that it's the hardest."

Samuel chuckled. "I quite agree! That's why I'm hiding in here as well. Humans lose water much quicker than the local pokémon do, so we need to take extra precautions."

At that moment, Nicola reappeared and poked her head in cautiously.

"My turn then!" James jumped up immediately.

"This is our friend, Nicola," Will said. "And this is Samuel."

"Pleased to meet you," Nicola said as she slunk over to the sofa and sat down next to Will.

"Same to you," Samuel replied cheerfully.

"Those pokémon…" Nicola noticed Spike and Sandy and pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Cacnea, the cactus pokémon. Cacnea live in arid locations such as deserts. They release a strong aroma from their flower to attract prey. When prey comes near, these pokémon shoot sharp thorns from their body to bring the victim down. They can survive for 30 days on water stored in their body._ "

"It really sounds like a tough pokémon," James said, lingering briefly in the doorway to hear the entry before disappearing.

"It's very mysterious when you come across them for the first time," said Samuel. "I can remember suddenly catching whiff of this pleasant smell coming from somewhere nearby…"

"Is that how you met Spike?" Will asked.

Samuel nodded. "Yes, though I think he was disappointed that I wasn't something he could snack on when I first appeared!"

"That sounds painful." Nicola grimaced, imagining how such a meeting would go. She turned her Pokédex towards Sandy.

" _Sandshrew, the mouse pokémon. Sandshrew have a very dry hide that is extremely tough. These pokémon can roll into a ball that repels most attacks. At night, they burrow into the desert sand to sleep. A sandshrew's body is adapted to absorb water without waste, enabling them to survive in arid deserts._ "

"Both of your pokémon came from out here, right?" Will asked.

"That's right." Samuel nodded, patting Sandy on the head. "Tough, desert work calls for tough, desert pokémon."

"What exactly do you do?" Nicola asked curiously as she put her Pokédex away.

"I'm an archaeologist," Samuel replied. "I travel out to various dig sites in Hoenn to see what kind of artefacts I can unearth. The nature of the desert means that there's a lot more for me to find here."

"So, you dig for fossils?"

"Some of the time, but there are other mysteries out in this desert for me to explore as well."

"What kind of mysteries?" Both Nicola and Will perked up slightly.

"There are all kinds of rumours about the desert," Samuel explained. "Ever heard the stories about Mirage Tower, or the Desert Ruins?"

"No." The two trainers shook their heads.

"I'm back!" James reappeared. "What did I miss?"

"I was just about to tell these two about Mirage Tower," Samuel said.

"Sounds interesting," said James, moving over and sitting down on one of the other sofas.

"So, rumour has it that there's a tall tower made of sandstone that appears in the western part of the desert during sandstorms. Countless stories about seeing it have cropped up from travellers arriving in Lonaba City for decades. But expeditions to the area where it was claimed to have been seen couldn't find any trace of it."

"Was it just a mirage?" Nicola wondered.

"A mirage is the light tricking you into thinking that the sand in the distance is actually water," James replied. "It seems odd that people would see a tower, but there to actually be no trace."

"Maybe they were seeing things," Will said.

"That's what people thought for many years." Samuel nodded sagely. "Several years ago, though, an expedition into the area was caught up in a sandstorm. That's when they saw it."

"The tower?"

"Yes. The top of a tower appeared when the sand around it was swept away. It's now believed that there's an abandoned city beneath the desert, occasionally becoming visible when storms lift the sand away."

"Have you been there?" James asked.

"Me? No, sadly not," Samuel replied sadly. "I once went on a trip to the area where it was found, but there was no sign. Just as the storms uncover the city, they also cover it again."

"That's a shame," Nicola said. "Does the fact that the desert changes shape make it difficult to find?

"That's one of the reasons why expeditions are few and far between," Samuel said. "And it's located in an isolated part of the desert as well."

"You mentioned something called the 'Desert Ruins'…" Will said.

"Oh, yes!" Samuel nodded. "That's somewhere that I _have_ been." He shifted slightly as Spike jumped off the sofa and started pottering around the room. "Have you ever heard of the legendary titans?"

"We're not from Hoenn," said James.

"I see." Samuel leaned forwards. "There's a story from ancient times that tells of a powerful being called Regigigas that pulled the continents into place. Legend has it that it created three beings from an icy mountain, rocks and magma, called Regice, Regirock and Registeel. They were said to be so powerful that they were brought here to Hoenn and sealed away."

"So powerful that they needed to be sealed away?" Nicola gasped.

"Does that mean we're all in big trouble if they break free?" Will asked.

"Well, I guess that depends," Samuel replied with a grin. "It's said that they could be tamed by a powerful trainer." He paused for a second. "Anyway, I've been helping to excavate a ruin complex in the deep desert, several miles west of here. We believe that it might be the place holding Regirock."

"You're looking for a legendary pokémon?" James sounded impressed. "Any sign of it so far?"

"None yet," Samuel replied. "It's a vast place and we believe that we'd have to go far underground to get to the place Regirock is supposed to have been sealed." He smiled. "Still, I have my pokémon around to help with the excavations, so it's not too bad."

"They can help out?" Will asked.

"Yes." Samuel nodded. "Especially Sandy, here!" He patted the sandshrew on the head. "She can smash straight through obstacles with Brick Break!"

"B-But what about the ruins?" Nicola exclaimed. "Wouldn't that damage them?"

"It's normally fallen masonry that she has to deal with," Samuel explained. "And wild pokémon as well. She can be pretty precise though, so she can knock ancient doors loose enough for us to open them."

"I didn't think pokémon like sandshrew could learn moves like Brick Break," said James.

"I taught her myself," Samuel said proudly. "Spent my youth working with fighting types, so I learned how the moves worked."

"In that case…" James sat forwards. "Can I ask you for a favour?"

* * *

 _12:48pm, 22_ _nd_ _May 2006_

"Try hitting there!"

There was a brief snarl as Chena took a run-up before hurling himself at the rocky side of the pit. Part of the rockface shattered into pieces and crumbled away. Sadly, there was nothing hidden in the ground behind it.

"Nice work, Chena," Richard said regardless. "Your Tackle has become so powerful, it's almost like Rock Smash!"

Chena barked back, panting heavily.

"Just one more, Chena!" Richard called. "Then I'll be able to dig out whatever's behind here!"

With a weary nod, Chena took another run and slammed into the rockface with all his might. More rock crumbled away, revealing the edge of an interesting-looking fossil. Chena himself reeled back, wincing in pain from the recoil.

"Try to avoid using heavy attacks like Take Down in this place!" one of the other trainers called over. "You don't want to damage the fossils!"

"Hang on, that was Tackle, right?" Richard called back.

"With that amount of power, that amount of recoil and that stance? No way!"

"Well, that's new." Richard shared a look with Chena. "I guess this is one way to train!"

Chena gave him a weary bark in response. He was panting heavily now, his dark coat absorbing the midday desert heat.

"Alright, return! Thanks for the help!" Richard quickly returned him to his poké ball. He picked up one of the small picks from his toolkit and started chipping away at the partially revealed fossil in the wall. It looked like an impressive one.

Though he'd been out working in the sun for some time now, he could hardly feel it. He was far too focused on the task at hand. He occasionally reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead – it was distracting after all – but that was it.

With each careful strike, he chipped away slightly more of the rock covering it. When he had finally managed to uncover enough, he sat back and looked at it. The shape reminded him of a knife at first, or perhaps a scythe. Whatever it had been must have been fearsome to behold.

Returning to work, he slowly chipped away around the edges until he was eventually able to pull the fossil away as part of a chunk of rock. He breathed a sigh of relief as he cradled it, turning it upwards to look at the markings. It was the best one he'd unearthed so far.

He carefully put it down with the others and turned his attention back to the rockface. He was starting to feel the heat, so he'd better not stay out for too much longer. But he wanted to see if he could dig out one more fossil. It would be tough to beat the one he'd just dug up, but this always made him even keener to keep digging.

* * *

 _1:13pm, 22_ _nd_ _May 2006_

"Remember, you need to be focused and precise," said Samuel. "Brick Break is based on placing all of your power into a single point to maximise damage."

"Hear that, Kacha?" James grinned at the pikachu. "Focus everything into your fist."

Kacha twitched his ears and squeaked in agreement. He didn't look comfortable, perhaps a combination of the hot weather and being the centre of attention.

Sandy was stood next to him, her tightly clenched fist already glowing a dark red colour. In front of them were two large-ish rocks.

A short distance away, Nicola and Will continued exchanging puzzled looks.

"Why is he getting Kacha to learn how to use Brick Break?" Nicola whispered.

"That's a good question," Will replied. "I guess it gives him something to use against rock types. They tend to be ground type as well, so Kacha is weak to them."

"I guess so, but Brick Break doesn't seem like the kind of move a pokémon like pikachu could learn."

"But I'd say the same about Sandy, so that's probably what gave James the idea."

Jumping forwards, Sandy jabbed with her fist, striking the centre of the rock. There was a loud crack as it split and started breaking apart.

"Now it's your turn," Samuel said to Kacha.

Kacha screwed up his eyes in concentration, his clenched fist starting to glow slightly with a dark red colour. The moment he opened them again, though, he lost focus and the glow faded.

"Give it another try, Kacha," said James.

Kacha squeaked and nodded. Refocusing again, his fist started to glow. He struck forwards, smashing his fist into the rock in front of him.

The rock didn't shift at all.

Kacha, on the other hand, cried out in pain and reeled backwards, his paw throbbing.

"You need to keep the energy focused into one point of the target," Samuel said patiently. "Keep your focus, right to the end and beyond."

After a short break to let his paw recover, Kacha gave it another try. Holding his focus as best as he could, he threw another punch at the rock.

It didn't budge.

After some more coaxing and several more attempts, however, Kacha finally managed to make a dent in the rock.

"That's good progress." Samuel nodded approvingly as Kacha leaped back, a delighted smile on his face. "I think that's enough for today. The heat is starting to get to me." He turned to James. "Make sure you keep up on Kacha's training and I'm sure he'll have no trouble mastering it."

"Got it!" James replied. "Thanks for all your help."

Samuel smiled. "It's not a problem at all." He glanced at the tough watch on his wrist. "I had better get back to my journey. Make sure you take care of yourselves, kids!"

They waved to him as he and his two pokémon set off towards the path away from the dig site.

"So, where's Richard?" Will asked, turning to look at the others.

"Is he still not back?" James sighed. "Perhaps we should try and track him down."

"Wait! There he is!" Nicola cried, pointing.

Richard had finally emerged from the dig site, a large pile of fossils carried in a large piece of cloth.

"Hey, guys!" he called enthusiastically as he spotted them. "Look at what I managed to get!"

"You're not bringing all of those with us," James said. "They must weigh a ton!"

"Ugh! I had a feeling you'd say that!" Richard groaned. He reluctantly discarded most of the fossils, leaving them in a box by the rest stop. He only kept the big one he'd found earlier.

"It's starting to get late," Nicola said, looking up at the sky. "Should we get moving again?"

"I'd say so," James replied. "Unless anyone has anything else they want to do?"

"A rest?" Richard said hopefully.

"…You can have five minutes," James said sternly. "Then we're heading off."

"Got it!" Richard nodded. "Thanks!"

* * *

 _Belri Town, Hoenn_

 _4:32pm, 22_ _nd_ _May 2006_

The sun was low in the sky as the group walked down the steep slope of the canyon in which Belri Town sat. The town itself was sat on an area of flat ground between two rivers and the side of the canyon.

After reaching the end of the Valley of the Ancients, the group had crossed several bridges over canyons before reaching their goal. It hadn't taken quite as long as they'd thought though, so there was a general sense of relief as they identified the pokémon centre and made their way to it.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to the normal routes," Nicola sighed, pausing at the entrance to pull off her shoes one by one and empty the sand out of them.

"I know what you mean," said James. "I think the weather supposed to be good tomorrow, so we might manage to get all the way out by the end."

"It'll be tough terrain after this though," said Will. "I don't really feel like we've got much to celebrate yet."

"Well, yeah." Richard nodded. He opened his bag and pulled out his fossil so that he could look at it. He'd been doing that several times since they'd left the dig site.

"What exactly are you going to do with it?" James asked. "Try and get it revived?"

"That's what I was hoping!" Richard grinned. "But I guess I'll have to wait until we're back in Kanto for that."

"Why?" Nicola asked.

"There's a lab that has a machine that can resurrect pokémon from fossils in Kanto," Richard replied. "It'll be a long wait, but I guess it'll be worth it when I eventually get there."

"How disappointing," Nicola sighed. "I was hoping to see whatever it gets revived into…"

"I'll send you pictures!" Richard said, putting the fossil back again. "Or you could come back to Kanto with us!"

"Hang on a second!" Will interrupted them. "Didn't Jon have an aerodactyl?"

"Oh yeah," James said thoughtfully. "But then it's not that strange when you think about it. The fossils that aerodactyl are revived from are hard to find in Hoenn – that's why they're not in the Hoenn Pokédex."

"But would he really go all the way to Kanto for it?" Will asked. "Besides, this kind of technology was around last year. I refuse to believe that it hasn't spread over to here as well."

"Let's keep our eyes out then!" Nicola said enthusiastically. "It would be great if we could revive the fossil!"

"We can think about that later," said James, leading the way as they finally walked into the pokémon centre. "We've still got to discuss where we're going to go from here."

* * *

 **Loads of new moves this chapter, which always makes it that little bit more difficult to write. Especially Take Down – a more powerful body tackle is hard to distinguish with a weaker body tackle in writing!**

 **Anyway, the group made it safely to Belri Town after their detour by the dig site. Richard's usual fossil shenanigans aside, I decided to delve into the mysteries of the desert somewhat more this chapter. I thought that Mirage Tower being part of an ancient city that's constantly being uncovered and reburied by the sand sounded kind of cool, while I largely drew on the established lore for the Desert Ruins and Regirock.**

 **Nothing much more I've got to mention this time, other than how exhausting it was putting this chapter together over just two days. Thankfully, I should have more time available next week.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break (In Progress) and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	47. Nicola and the Numel Trail

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group set out from Lonaba City and passed through the Valley of the Ancients on their way to Belri Town, where Richard dug up another fossil and the others learned about some of the mysteries of the desert from a passing archaeologist.**

 **Upload Date: 19** **th** **January 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 47: Nicola and the Numel Trail**

 _Route 111, Hoenn_

 _1:12pm, 24_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Ahhhh! It's such a relief to see all this grass!"

"Don't get too relaxed just yet – we've got a long way to go before we reach the next pokémon centre."

"I know, but it's still good to know that we've finally left the desert behind us!"

Though Richard certainly seemed to be in a good mood about their progress, it didn't really feel as though they'd come very far. They were following a road along the bank of a river which flowed along a steep canyon. And, though there was indeed plenty of grass around, it was still the pale brown, tough desert grass that they had occasionally seen in Belri Town and elsewhere in the arid basin.

Still, the dusty ground was undoubtedly soil rather than sand, even if that wasn't the case some fifty centimetres behind them. And the river sparkling in the sunshine was a welcome reminder that they were through the worst of it.

"Alright, Tricky – fetch!"

Ahead of them, Nicola had found a dried-out stick by the side of the road and threw it through the air. Tricky, who had been trotting alongside them, immediately sprinted forwards, electricity sparking from his legs as he went.

"Are you sure you want to use all your energy now?" Richard called with a grin.

"Don't worry!" Nicola called back. "It's just Tricky who's doing all the exercise!"

The electrike had already grabbed the stick and was now galloping around the path in excitement. For a pokémon that had joined Nicola because he was concerned about her, he seemed awfully capable of behaving oddly himself.

"Come on!" Nicola called enthusiastically, holding out her hand. "Give it back!"

Tricky growled playfully and pulled back, daring her to give chase.

"Alright, just for a little while!" She ran after him, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she did.

"What did I tell her?" Richard sighed.

"Her loss," Will said. "Anyway, the route from here isn't that tough, right?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "It should just be a nice, easy route for us to follow."

"Oh! Look!" Richard started pointing enthusiastically towards a rather sickly-looking tree up ahead. "We really are leaving the desert."

"Yes, yes. Keep calm," said James. Privately, he was relieved as well. Though the mountain roads across Hoenn were still tough, there was far less to worry about than there was in the desert.

"Gotcha!" Nicola grinned as she grabbed the stick in Tricky's mouth and started pulling on it.

The electrike wasn't about to give in though. He pulled back hard and started running again.

"W-Wait, Tricky!" Nicola yelped in alarm as she tumbled forwards and was briefly dragged along after him.

"Wow! Tricky's a lot stronger than I thought he'd be!" Richard said, watching as the electrike put some distance between himself and Nicola again.

"At least try and sound like you care about me!" Nicola said. She pulled herself back to her feet, her entire front covered in dust. Beneath the greyish powder, a couple of grazes had opened up on her bare arms.

"Well, what were you expecting?" Richard grinned. Still, he pulled out a handkerchief for her to wipe herself with.

"Ugh! It's all in my hair as well," Nicola said, trying to flick the dust out.

A short distance away, Tricky seemed to have lost interest in the stick and discarded it. He was now poking his nose around a rough-looking path leading off the main one and up the side of the canyon.

"What's he found now?" James said as he took off his backpack to get the first aid kit out.

"There's a sign," said Will, wandering over to have a look at it. "It says it's called Numel Trail. Apparently, it's a shortcut that cuts off part of the canyon. Quite a lot, actually."

"A shortcut?" Richard said. "That sounds like a good move to me!"

"Ah! But it also says that it's a particularly tough route to follow. Apparently, you should only travel on it if you're in good shape and travelling light."

"Oh well," said James. "The guidebook says that the regular route isn't difficult, so we can just stick to that, even if it's longer."

"Really?" Nicola winced as James dabbed at the grazes on her forearms. "I actually think it'd be quite fun."

"Haven't you had enough challenge with the desert?" James asked cynically.

"Well, you've got a point," Nicola said. "But it sounds really interesting. And if you guys were to take my backpack…" She threw them a winning look.

"What do you think?" James asked Richard.

"Fine by me," Richard replied. "Nicola's bag is the lightest of all of them."

"Wait! We're splitting up!" Will exclaimed, quickly coming over to join them. "What about meeting up again?"

"Hmm." James pulled out the guidebook and studied the map. "There's a ranger lodge close to where this 'Numel Trail' re-joins the main road. That can be our meeting point. It's a long way away though…"

"Are you sure about this, Nicola?" Richard asked. "It'll be tough and you won't have any support."

"Don't worry," Nicola replied. "I've got Tricky and Kipa with me, so I'll have support."

"Send Tricky to fetch help if you get into difficulty," said James, taking her backpack. He frowned. "I can understand wanting to take on something challenging, but…" He shook his head. "Well, it's your choice."

"I'll see you guys at the meeting point," Nicola said as she stepped back from them. "See you later!"

She waved at the three boys as they resumed their walk along the riverside road. Turning back to look at the entrance to the Numel Trail, she walked over and looked at the sign herself.

"So, it's named because lots of numel travel through here?" she murmured to herself. "I wonder what a numel is? I guess it must be a pretty tough pokémon…"

Tricky barked at her. He was already stood partway up the path and looking back at her eagerly.

"Got it! I'm coming!" Nicola started walking over to join him.

* * *

 _1:39pm, 24_ _th_ _May 2006_

Nicola wasn't entirely sure why she'd been filled with a sudden enthusiasm for the idea of trekking along the Numel Trail. Perhaps she'd just been following Tricky's lead, or maybe the sudden burst of energy she'd gotten as they'd stepped away from the sand of the desert had made her feel more adventurous?

Either way, she was regretting it now.

The Numel Trail was wider than she'd been expecting, but was often steep and uneven. She'd already lost count of the number of times her feet had slipped on the rocks, though she'd managed to regain her balance each time so far. What was really getting to her, though, was the atmosphere.

The trail felt much hotter than the surrounding area, for a start, but it was more than that. The air felt thick and difficult to breathe at times. She'd briefly wondered if the area was volcanic, but had quickly dismissed it. More likely, it was down to the exposure of the area.

A part of her really wanted to turn back and re-join the main path, but every time she thought of it, Richard's smug face appeared in her head, mocking her for talking big and not following through.

Gritting her teeth, she struggled on. It would be worth it when she got to the meeting point before they did. Plus, she'd have the satisfaction of having completed a challenge they were unwilling to attempt.

Tricky seemed to be flagging as well. Though he'd been bounding ahead earlier, Nicola had slowly found herself catching up to him as he struggled with the tough environment. If needs be, then she could return him to his poké ball, but it left a pressing concern in her mind. Quite frankly, none of her pokémon would be very suited to handling the tough conditions here.

Kipa and Mushy wouldn't be able to cope with the heat, while Tricky was clearly struggling already. Zaggy was more resourceful than his appearance would suggest, but there was no way that she could rely on him to carry a message to the others asking for help.

"Guess I'll just have to stick it out," she mumbled. If there was a ranger lodge, then they probably patrolled in the area every now and again. If not, then James and the others could raise the alarm when they got there.

She shook her head vigorously. That was enough defeatist talk! She could do this – she'd survived trekking in the desert, after all.

As she strode forwards over the rocky ground, she suddenly spotted a figure in the murky distance. There was someone else willing to take on this difficult route?

Thinking that she might as well make contact and offer to travel together, Nicola started approaching.

Hearing her, the figure turned to look at her.

"Huh?"

"You?"

Ugh! Not the person she'd wanted to meet at a time like this.

Wiping sweat from his forehead as he tried to hide his discomfort behind a smug grin, Corey stepped towards her.

"Wow! Didn't expect to run into a small fry like you in a place like this!" He snorted. "Your friends finally get tired of you and decide to ditch you?"

"Right back at you!" Nicola snapped. "…Though I guess you thought you could come this way with no problems since you're 'so amazing'?"

"Heh! You're just jealous of my skill!" Corey scoffed. "Anyway, I don't want to waste time talking to you today. Why don't you scurry back to the main road where you belong?"

"No way!" Nicola stomped alongside him as he resumed walking. "If anyone's going to give up, then it's going to be you!"

"No, no, no!" Corey shook his head. "If I gave up, then you'd head straight back as well rather than continue along here by yourself!"

"You think I can't handle this?" Nicola demanded. "I managed to trek across the desert – why is this any different?"

"The desert is the desert, the Numel Trail is the Numel Trail," Corey replied. He probably couldn't think of a good comeback. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to challenge me to a battle yet! Seems like the sort of thing a small fry like you would do!"

"Bring it on!" Nicola said. "I've got three badges now!"

"Oh? Only three?" Corey raised an eyebrow. "I guess that's something to be proud of… y'know, if you're easily impressed."

"Oh yeah? How many badges do you have then?"

"Heh! More than you, that's for sure!"

"So, four then?" Nicola shook her head, feigning disappointment. "And here I thought you were going to be the next champion of the Hoenn League."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that challenge after all!" Corey's expression soured as he reached for a poké ball.

"Music to my ears!" Nicola replied, reaching for one of her own.

As they stood facing each other, however, Nicola was suddenly struck by how much hotter she suddenly felt. It was as if the heat of the argument had translated into actual heat. Now that she thought about it, wasn't it a really bad idea to have a pokémon battle in an area as challenging as this?

Across from her, Corey seemed to have reached the same conclusion. There was sweat dripping down his forehead and he was panting slightly.

"Y-You know," he said. "As much as I could wipe the floor with you, I'd rather save energy for getting through the Numel Trail."

"Well, I'd rather not waste my energy either," Nicola replied. "We can settle this once we get to the other side."

Not quite a satisfactory conclusion, but at least they could focus on getting on their way again.

They each shot each other dirty looks as they both started walking in the same direction, but there was no argument this time. What was the point in wasting even more of their precious energy?

* * *

 _3:31pm, 24_ _th_ _May 2006_

The river canyon occasionally meandered along its course, creating areas where the cliffs jutted out and were surrounded on three sides by the canyon, like a peninsula. The Numel Trail cut across the base of one such area, which in theory made it much shorter and quicker than taking the long way around.

However, as Nicola and Corey discovered when they'd finally finished scaling the side of the canyon and reached what they'd assumed would be a largely flat path leading across to the other side, it wasn't as simple as that.

The Numel Trail itself formed a shallow canyon that seemed as rocky and uneven as the steep path up the side of the canyon. Perhaps more unexpectedly, the desert extended far enough to cover much of the top of the canyon and a light sandstorm was partially obscuring their sight now that they were no longer under cover.

Still, the two trainers hadn't come this far to turn back now. They'd continued pressing along the path, taking care to avoid stepping badly on the rough ground below. An accidental trip and an injury could be very dangerous in a place like this. Neither of them had anything to wear over their eyes either, so they constantly had to shield them with their arms. It meant that progress was slow.

Since he'd exhausted himself on the climb up the canyon, Nicola had recalled Tricky to his poké ball. She kind of wished that she could do the same thing to herself.

She and Corey hadn't spoken at all for over an hour, but that didn't bother her. In fact, it made it much easier to tolerate being around him. It was clear that he had underestimated the Numel Trail as well, even if he was trying hard to put on a brave face.

"Ah!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"Wh-What?" Nicola jumped at his sudden outburst.

"Up ahead!" Corey pointed through the swirling sand to further down the path.

There seemed to be a fairly large shape by the side of the path. Nicola initially thought that it was a large rock, but quickly realised that it was a pokémon. A mostly yellow one with a rounded body.

"What is it?" She pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Numel, the numb pokémon. Numel are extremely dull witted - they don't notice being hit. However, they can't stand hunger for even a second. A numel's body is a seething cauldron of boiling magma. If they get wet, the magma cools and hardens, making their body grow heavy and their movements to become sluggish._ "

"Something's wrong with it," said Corey.

Nicola noticed it as well. The numel was hunched down close to the ground as if to shield itself from the sandstorm, but that didn't seem to be all. It was breathing heavily and its limited movements seemed sluggish.

"Didn't the sign say that numel travel through here in groups?" Nicola asked, cautiously checking the numel from a distance for injuries. "Why is there only one?"

"Maybe it got left behind," said Corey, kneeling down to look at the numel. "If it couldn't handle the tough conditions, then…"

"That's horrible," Nicola murmured.

The numel, apparently becoming aware of their presence, let out a dull moan and tried to pull itself to its feet. Wincing, it dropped back down again. It looked at Nicola and blinked twice.

"I can't see any physical injuries," said Corey. "I guess it just got too worn out from the exertion." He stood up. "Well, it's sad, but that's life sometimes…" He started walking along the trail again.

"H-Hold on!" Nicola reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "What do you mean? You're not going to just leave it here, are you?"

The sandstorm continued whipping around as the numel watched the two of them wearily.

Corey heaved his shoulders and let out a sigh. "You know, Nicola, you really need to start looking at the bigger picture more."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that this is a tough and potentially dangerous route." Corey turned around. His normal, self-important tone had vanished. He was being completely serious. "We're finding it tough enough as it is – if we try and bring a worn-out numel with us as well, then it'll only get worse."

"B-But…" Nicola frowned, glancing back at the numel, who was making another attempt to get to its feet.

"Think about it," said Corey. "The rest of its herd left it behind – they knew that they needed to move on quickly and couldn't care for it. It's cruel, but it's the way nature works." There was a sad look on his face. It wasn't something he wanted either.

"Wait!" Nicola cried as he turned away again.

"If you want to stay here and try and make it out of here before that numel dies, then that's your choice," Corey said. "I can't force you."

"Isn't there any way we could save it?"

"The only way I can think of would be catching it in a poké ball," Corey replied, turning back again. "But I left all of mine in my backpack."

"S-So did I…" Nicola mumbled.

"There's your answer," said Corey. "Unless the numel can move by itself, there's nothing we can do."

"Food!" Nicola exclaimed. "If we can give it some food, then it might be able to make it!"

"Food?" Corey asked. "Nicola, neither of us have our backpacks! We don't have any food!"

"Wait!" Nicola stuffed her hands into her pockets and started rummaging around. Her search turned up several pokéblocks and a single food pellet. She quickly offered all of them to the numel.

Sniffing at the assortment for a brief second, the numel grabbed all of them and swallowed them almost instantly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, it wasn't anywhere near enough to restore its energy.

"How about this then?" Nicola knelt down in front of it and tried to coax it into getting on her back.

"Are you insane?" Corey demanded. "How are you going to carry such a bulky pokémon on your back all the way to the other side?"

"I've…got to try!" Nicola gritted her teeth as she tried to lift it. It was lighter than she'd been expecting, but still heavy and its bulky size made it very difficult to hold in place.

She staggered to her feet and took a step forwards. Almost immediately, she lost her balance and started falling.

She stopped at the last moment as Corey moved to grab her and the numel.

"This is exactly what I was warning you about!"

"Wait!" Nicola cried in alarm as she felt him pulling her hands off of the numel's hind legs. To her surprise, though, she didn't feel it sliding off of her and back to the ground.

"Grab its front legs!" Corey called, starting to move backwards slightly.

"Huh?" Nicola gave him a stunned look, though she quickly fumbled around and got a solid grip of the numel's front legs. "What are you doing?"

"Don't get the wrong idea!" Corey frowned. "If you end up getting yourself killed out here, then I won't be able to rub it in your face when I'm crowned Hoenn champion!"

"I wasn't going to get myself killed," Nicola replied stiffly, turning back to face forwards. "But thanks…"

"So, a truce," said Corey. "We work together to get this numel safely down into the canyon and then we're back to normal, okay?"

"Deal!"

* * *

 _5:21pm, 24_ _th_ _May 2006_

If the Numel Trail had seemed bad when they'd first got onto it, having to stumble along the uneven road in low visibility while also carrying a fairly heavy pokémon along the way made it tortuous. That Nicola and Corey had to coordinate with each other as they walked made it even worse.

Still, after they'd decided to help the numel, there was no real question of giving up again. The occasional skeletons that they'd spotted partially hidden in the sand had been more than enough to keep them going.

The numel had been mostly silent during the ordeal, perhaps recognising that the two trainers were its best shot at getting off the trail alive. It shifted as little as it could and had taken to laying its head gently on Nicola's shoulder.

It had been a relief when they'd finally spotted the trail opening up as they approached the far side, but the biggest challenge was still to come. It was already starting to get dark and they had to try and find a way down the difficult path into the canyon. With their feet in poor condition and the difficulties of carrying a pokémon, it was going to be a serious issue.

"I don't think we're going to carry it down here," said Corey. "We're just going to slip."

"Do you think it could make it down on foot?" Nicola asked.

"I mean, I guess," Corey replied uncertainly. "But if so, you're going first – I don't want to accidentally get taken out if it slips!"

"Grrr!" Nicola glared at him but resisted the urge to retort. They had bigger priorities. "Don't you have any pokémon who could help us out?"

"Well, my team _is_ pretty tough, after all!" Corey grinned at her. "Hmm. I guess Tsua might be able to help."

"Your ralts?"

"He's evolved now, but yeah." Corey nodded. "He can use his psychic power to lift him down here, but he can only use it a couple of times." He pulled out two poké balls and threw them.

There were a couple of pops and bursts of sparks as Corey's grovyle, Koret, and another pokémon that looked similar to his ralts appeared.

"Koret, go and scout the road ahead," said Corey. "Figure out which are the toughest sections and report back."

As Koret nodded and bounded off down the steep path, Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at the other pokémon.

" _Kirlia, the emotion pokémon and the evolved form of ralts. Kirlia use the horns on their head to amplify their psychokinetic power. When these pokémon use their power, the air around them becomes distorted, creating mirages of nonexistent scenery. They spin and dance when happy, and they gain energy the more cheerful their trainer is feeling._ "

"Ah!" Nicola exclaimed. "Corey, if you act more cheerful, then Tsua might get enough energy to carry Mule all the way down the path!"

"You think I hadn't already thought of that?" Corey shook his head. "Wait – Mule?"

"It's easier than just saying 'the numel' all the time," Nicola replied. "And numel are apparently really good at carrying heavy loads as well."

"Ugh!" Corey groaned. "It sounds so laughable that _we're_ the ones having to carry it down the canyon!"

"Anyway, start acting cheerful!" Nicola insisted. "Tsua's going to need more power!"

"Like I was saying…" Corey turned back to her. "Tsua's energy comes from genuine cheerfulness. I can't just think 'oh, I'm cheerful now' and expect him to get more power."

"Think of something that'll make you cheerful then!"

"Hey, why don't you try feeling cheerful in this position!"

Tsua let out a knowing sigh as he glanced between the two trainers. Glancing around, he noticed that Koret was already on his way back, jumping easily across the rocky landscape.

The grovyle quickly delivered his report in the form a series of growls and gestures back down the slope. He held up two of his fingers and pointed at Tsua.

"Can you manage that?" Corey asked.

Tsua nodded. He had more than enough power for two lifts.

"Let's get moving then," said Corey.

"R-Right!" Nicola nodded. She reached over and stroked the numel's head. "Come on, Mule, we need to get moving."

* * *

"Steady!" Corey called.

Tsua, his eyes glowing blue, nodded as he gently lifted Mule into the air.

"Just a bit further!" Nicola called up to them.

"Got it!" Corey nodded at Tsua, whose eyes twitched in pain as he felt the onset of a headache. He hoped they appreciated this.

Mule was too tired to be bewildered by what was going on anymore. In fact, Nicola could shake away the fear that, having gotten it all the way over here, it was going to die of exhaustion anyway.

The sections of the path that Koret had identified were the steepest that Nicola had seen along the entire trail, including at the start. There were pine trees packed densely along the sides of the trail as well, making it difficult for Tsua to lift Mule too much. Keeping it off the ground, but below the branches looked like a daunting task. Nicola was impressed that he was able to do it.

Once Mule was back on the ground, they just needed to walk to the ranger lodge nearby. Nicola had spotted it when they'd reached the edge of the canyon, sitting on the far side of the road on a cliff above the river. She was sure that someone there would know how to take care of Mule.

"Phew!" Corey let out a sigh of relief as Mule touched down on the ground again. "Great work, Tsua! I owe you one!"

"Come on, Mule!" Nicola called encouragingly, patting the numel on the nose. "Just a little bit further!"

The path continued, not as difficult as the previous section, but still tough to walk on. Both the trainers and Mule were exhausted and their feet hurt. And it was easy to accidentally trip on the uneven ground in the gathering darkness. Fortunately, though there were several stumbles, there were no falls.

"I'll go and find someone," Corey said as they reached the lodge. "You stay out here and watch Mule."

"Got it," Nicola replied wearily. She sat down on a nearby bench and looked over at Mule anxiously. The numel had immediately laid down at the foot of the stairs leading up to the door and tucked itself up. In many ways, it had worked as hard as she and Corey had.

It didn't take long for Corey to return with one of the rangers. Nicola got up and walked over to help them guide Mule inside.

"We've got a nurse on station, so don't worry," the ranger explained to them. "This numel will be in good hands."

Despite her reassurances, the two trainers remained on edge. Nicola fidgeted as she sat on a sofa in the lodge's lounge, while Corey was continually pacing around, unable to sit still. They scarcely noticed their own condition – their clothes and faces were covered in the fine dust from the sandstorm up on the Numel Trail. And, though their concern was keeping it from their minds at the moment, their feet were going to be killing them the following day.

The reappearance of the ranger caused them both to head over as quickly as they could.

"How's Mule?" Nicola asked.

"She'll be fine," the ranger replied. "With some rest and something to eat, she should be able to head on her way in an hour or two."

"That's a quick recovery time," said Corey.

"Well, numel are hardy pokémon by nature," said the ranger. "They wouldn't be able to survive in such tough conditions otherwise."

"Still, what a relief," Nicola sighed. "I was worried…" The tension was draining out of her and she suddenly felt very tired.

"I guess we just have to wait for our friends to get here," said Corey, looking back over at the door.

* * *

 _7:21pm, 24_ _th_ _May 2006_

Corey and Nicola had decided to sit down on one of the benches outside the lodge to avoid getting dust everywhere. Without their backpacks and a spare set of clothes, they couldn't have showers yet.

Time had passed with them mostly sat in an awkward silence, not really knowing what to say to each other. The sun had long since set by the time that they finally spotted people approaching from further along the road.

"Dan! Suzy!" Corey shouted, recognising them. He waved to them.

"Wow! You look awful!" Suzy exclaimed as they walked over. "I'm glad I wasn't stupid enough to follow you!"

"You say that, but you sure took your time getting here!" Corey said, getting to his feet.

"There was a landslide partway along the road," Dan replied tiredly. "But some guy with a loudred and a pikachu helped us break through it."

"Whatever. Let's just get moving – it's already dark and I want to get to the campsite!"

"You aren't going to shower?" Nicola asked as he took his backpack from Dan.

"I can do that when I get there," Corey replied. "Anyway, I guess this ends our little truce, Small Fry. I'm looking forward to wiping the floor with you the next time we meet!"

"Ha! I'll be even stronger the next time we meet!" Nicola snapped back. "And stop calling me that!"

"N-Nicola?" Dan exclaimed. Evidently, he hadn't recognised her at first. Perhaps that was understandable, given the darkness as well as how dirty her face was. "It's good to see you again! How have you been?"

"Huh?" Nicola was taken aback by the sudden change in the tone of the conversation. "Fine, I guess. You?"

"Yeah, things have been okay," Dan replied.

"Dan! Stop wasting time!" Corey grabbed his shoulder. "I want to get to the campsite, so I can take a shower!"

"Alright, alright! I get it!" Dan sighed.

"See you again sometime, Nicola," said Suzy. "I hope we'll get the opportunity to speak properly then!"

"Sure." Nicola nodded. Corey was rude and Dan seemed a little odd, but Suzy at least seemed like a good person.

She watched as the three of them walked along the road and disappeared into the gloom. In the background, she could hear the water in the river splashing as it flowed past. She wondered when James and the others were going to get here? If there'd been a delay getting along the main road, then maybe she'd be waiting for a while…

Then again, Dan had mentioned being helped by a trainer with a loudred and a pikachu. It seemed odd to think that it was a common combination – if James had helped them out, then they can't have been far behind them.

Hearing the sound of a door opening, she glanced back at the lodge.

The ranger had appeared and was ushering Mule out of the building.

"She's fighting fit again!" she called, noticing that Nicola was watching. "I'm not sure what she'll do now that her herd has moved on, but I'm sure she'll find somewhere eventually – numel are tough like that."

"That's great to hear!" Nicola called back.

"Thanks for bringing her here." The ranger smiled. "I know the Numel Trail isn't easy, even at the best of times. You saved her life."

That made Nicola feel slightly warmer inside.

"Thanks…" she murmured as the ranger closed the door again. She suddenly felt herself becoming all emotional. It wasn't that she hadn't realised how serious the situation had been when they'd first found Mule, but somehow being told that she'd had an impact made it feel more real.

Mule had trotted awkwardly down the wooden steps, which creaked loudly as she walked, and wandered over towards Nicola.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Nicola asked. "Do you know which direction your herd was heading in?"

The numel didn't respond. She seemed to be staring into space instead.

"H-Hello?" Nicola held out her hand and waved it in front of her.

Mule let out a surprised grunt, as if suddenly snapping back to reality. She blinked at Nicola a couple of times before pressing her nose against Nicola's outstretched hand.

"What?" Nicola smiled at her. "You're feeling better, right? If you hurry, you might be able to find your herd again."

Mule didn't seem in a rush though. She laid down by Nicola's feet, warmth emanating from the hump on her back.

"Well, suit yourself." Nicola reached down and stroked her head. She kept her eye on the road and waited, until eventually…

"Hey!"

Out of them gloom, James, Richard and Will finally emerged.

"Have you been here lon- whoa! What's that?" Richard exclaimed as he spotted Mule.

"This is Mule," Nicola said. "I met her on the trail."

"Numel, huh?" James said as he pointed his Pokédex at her. "I guess that makes sense, given the name."

"You look pretty beaten up," said Will. "Was it tough?"

"Really tough," Nicola sighed. "Anyway, I heard there was a landslide…?"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "We ran into some other people who were held up by it and James had Kacha and Muro help clear it."

"Then we realised that Will had wandered off somewhere, so we had to go back and look for him," James sighed.

"I saw a pokémon that I wanted to catch," Will replied. "But it got away."

"Well, you're here now," Nicola said. She got to her feet. "What now?"

"Just a thought," said James. "But do you fancy getting clean and changing clothes?"

"That would be lovely, yes." Nicola nodded. "I think the lodge has a shower I can use."

"What about stopping?" Will asked. "We can't keep walking through the night."

"There's a campsite, right?" Nicola looked at James. Beside her, Mule had also gotten to her feet.

"There is, but it's a little far," James replied. "I think there's a patch of ground down by the river next to the lodge that we could set up on though."

"Let's do that then," said Richard. "I'm exhausted!"

"Oh yeah!" James pulled Nicola's backpack off his own back and handed it to her. "I imagine you regretted not having a poké ball with you!"

"I guess," said Nicola, taking the bag and starting to walk towards the lodge. Mule trotted alongside her. "It would have been helpful for getting Mule down the trail."

"Is that all?" Will raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Nicola replied. "Oh!" Her brain clicked. "You mean catch her?"

"Isn't that what you were planning?" asked Richard. "I mean, that numel has been following you around this whole time."

"Well, if you're happy with that." Nicola glanced at Mule as she rummaged through her bag. She pulled out a poké ball and gently pressed it against the numel's forehead.

There was a flash of red light as Mule was converted to energy and sucked into the ball. It twitched in Nicola's hands as the release button flashed. After a couple of seconds, it came to a stop with a decisive click.

"Well, congratulations, Nicola," said James.

"Yeah, great work," Richard said. He grinned. "That's makes three pokémon that you've caught without battling them, right?"

"Hey!" Nicola grumbled. "Don't say that like it's a bad thing!"

"Did Mule decide to tag along for the same reason as Tricky?" Will grinned.

"I think it might be the opposite, actually," Nicola replied, glancing down at the now-occupied poké ball in her hand. She smiled. "Sometimes pokémon help humans, sometimes humans help pokémon."

"Very philosophical," said Richard. "But aren't you supposed to be having a shower?"

"I'm going! I'm going!" Nicola retorted. She started climbing the steps. "You guys had better have the tent set up by the time I get back!"

"Will do," Will replied.

Nicola couldn't help but smile to herself as she climbed the steps. It had been a challenging day, but she'd come out on top. And she'd managed to make a new friend as well. Giving the poké ball a comforting squeeze, she pushed open the door to the lodge and went inside.

* * *

 **So, as of this chapter,** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **has now officially become my second largest story in terms of chapters (still working on the word count, so you'll get another self-congratulatory message from me once I've passed that milestone).**

 **Anyway, a Nicola-focused chapter this time, as I'm sure was obvious from the title. While the core developments were most likely expected based on both the title and summary, I hope that the exact course of events remained interesting. Though it's only been for a brief period, it's finally time to say goodbye to the desert. I guess we'll have Route 113 and Fallarbor Town to look forward to next chapter!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break (In Progress) and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	48. A Confusing Confrontation!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola travel along the Numel Trail separate from the others on the way to Route 113. On the way, she ran into Corey and ended up working together with him to save a wild numel who was stranded on the trail. She later nicknamed her 'Mule' and she joined her team after recovering.**

 **Just as a warning, I'm too tired to properly proofread this chapter right now, so if you find any typos or other mistakes, please let me know so I can fix them.**

 **Upload Date: 28** **th** **January 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 48: A Confusing Confrontation!**

 _Route 113, Hoenn_

 _1:57pm, 27_ _th_ _May 2006_

"…Well, I was thinking that focusing on Gulpy's support attacks might be a better way to go."

"You mean Poison Gas and Yawn? Status attacks?"

"Yeah. I mean, you've already got Toya and Turkey, who are pretty solid when it comes to attacking moves. If you have Gulpy in support, then you can hit your opponent with poison or put them to sleep and then swap out to your heavy hitters."

"I hadn't thought about it like that." Will frowned as he thought over what he'd just discussed with Richard. "But hang on, don't you tend to go for attack-focused pokémon yourself?"

"You've got me there! But I think that's something I need to work on. Do as I say, rather than do as I do."

"That sounds fair enough."

There was a loud sigh from nearby. Richard immediately turned to the source.

"Are you two going to mope around forever?"

James and Nicola were sat side by side on a small ledge by the side of the road. Neither looked happy. James turned and looked at Richard with a tired look on his face.

"We're not moping – we're just reflecting."

"Could have fooled me."

After making their way up the canyon from Belri Town to the main road on the eastern side of the region, they'd found their way to a small settlement called Syentra Town. As James had organised their route, that meant that they'd turned up just in time for a contest taking place in the town, but…

"You weren't like this after losing the contest in Anamarc Town. I know that it's tough to lose, but there's no point in just sitting around and being miserable."

Richard wasn't happy with the current situation, mostly because he was worried that having both James and Nicola demoralised at the same time would affect the mood in their training sessions.

They'd set off from Syentra Town that morning with their sights set on the next major town, Fallarbor, as their destination. Progress had been slower than they'd liked, and Richard thought that had as much to do with a listlessness on the part of James and Nicola as it had the weather and terrain.

Route 113 was covered in volcanic ash as a result of being located east of a major volcano. The ash that it was constantly spewing into the air was falling from the air constantly and settling on the ground. Though it was a dull brownish colour, it looked a lot like snow.

As pretty as it was to look at, it was also sticking to their clothes very firmly, so the decision to stop for a quick lunchbreak had been hotly contested. The pokémon, at least, seemed to be enjoying themselves – most of them were galloping through the deep ash, sending clouds of it flying into the air around them. It was going to be a real pain cleaning them off later.

Both Vortex and Mule seemed to be adapting to their new companions quite well, though the baltoy was still somewhat distant from the others. Some of the smaller pokémon, like Kacha and Arro, were hitching a ride on Mule's back, the numel carrying them across the dense ash without any problems at all. In fact, Richard was starting to think that it might be worth having her permanently helping out carrying some of their heavier gear.

James let out another sigh and pulled himself to his feet.

"Well, I guess we'd better get moving again."

"Come on, lighten up a little!"

"Easy for you to say, Richard – when was the last time you lost a major battle?"

Now Nicola had gotten involved.

"Guys! Let's not argue. We still need to get to Fallarbor Town anyway, so let's focus on that!"

The others looked over at Will as he spoke. He had a point. It would be a waste of time to argue when they could be covering more ground. They were already getting slowed down enough by the ash.

"Alright, let's get moving then."

James pulled his backpack onto his back and started walking back to the main path. The others quickly gathered their stuff and set off after him.

Noticing that the humans were moving, the pokémon started galloping through the thick blanket of ash to catch up with them. As fun as the ash was, there was no way that they were going to let themselves be left behind!

* * *

 _Fallarbor Town, Hoenn_

 _5:31pm, 27_ _th_ _May 2006_

The ash continued falling from the sky as the group finally rounded a final turn in the riverside road between mountains and saw a large town emerge in front of them.

"So, that's Fallarbor, right?"

Will was the first to speak, directing a question at James.

"That's right."

Richard glanced over James' shoulder and looked at the map in the guidebook.

"Any reason why you wanted us to come out here? It doesn't look like there's very much in this place."

"It's still the largest town in the area though. Besides, this was one of the locations I found that was hosting contests, so…"

"Ah, that's the spirit!" Richard grinned as he patted James on the shoulder. "If at first you don't succeed, try again!"

"I guess so…"

Walking into Fallarbor Town was a dream compared to travelling along the roads out in the valleys. The streets were being meticulously kept clear of ash, though it also seemed that there was far less falling here than further south. Their clothes were still covered in all the ash they'd encountered on Route 113, so, after recalling their pokémon to their poké balls, they decided to head to the pokémon centre to get rooms and change.

Afterwards, James wanted to go straight out to find the contest hall, with a slightly less enthusiastic Nicola in tow. Given the large size of Fallarbor Town, that was easier said than done, and it took asking several people for directions and getting completely lost once before they eventually found their way to the main entrance.

"The next contest? That's in the afternoon of the day after tomorrow. There's still plenty of space if you wanted me to register you."

"That'd be great. Thanks!"

As the receptionist took their trainer cards, James and Nicola waited patiently. Nicola wasn't entirely sure what was going through James' head, but she was finding it increasingly painful to approach the reception desks in these places. Her defeat in Syentra Town had been particularly damaging for her confidence.

"There we are! Make sure that you report here at least fifteen minutes before the contest starts at three o'clock."

"We will. Thanks!"

James took both trainer cards and handed Nicola's back to her.

"I guess we need to start thinking about doing some training."

"Yeah."

Nicola's heart sank to hear his downbeat tone as they stepped away from the desk. Of course, it was affecting him as well. Even though he'd managed to win the Leevay contest, he was still just a rookie himself. Still, Nicola couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of resentment towards him. He'd already won a ribbon, after all. Imagine how she felt with none at all.

"At least we've got all of tomorrow and most of the day after. We need to come up with some new combinations as soon as possible."

"I guess we're going to be planning before we start training then?"

* * *

 _9:10am, 28_ _th_ _May 2006_

Like most plans, putting together contest combinations had two main stages: theoretical and practical. James and Nicola both had different ideas when it came to actually putting them together. While Nicola preferred trying to keep both stages integrated so that she could adapt as she went along, James opted for doing the theoretical planning first in order to test them all at once.

While there wasn't really a right or wrong way to do it, James was usually in charge during training sessions, meaning that his method was the one they tended to use. That meant a lengthy stay in the trainers' lounge with several sheets of paper, working together to think of different ways to combine moves and create appeals and make a detailed plan that they could follow when testing them.

"I think that more or less finishes the plan for Nulin. Do you want to have a break, or shall we move straight on to doing one for Mushy?"

James had put down his pencil and sat back in the sofa. Perched on his shoulder, Nulin seemed to be studying the newly-completed plan and attempting to make sense of it. Across from them, Nicola also sat back.

"Well, I don't mind. Whatever you think is best."

"Let's move straight on then. The sooner we get everything done, the sooner we can move on to testing them out."

Really, Nicola wanted to test out Nulin's before that, but she kept quiet and leaned forwards again to join James. Though having to use his system was a pain at times, it still worked out well for her. Having someone to discuss ideas with made it much easier to come up with effective combinations. She'd once attempted to get Richard to help her, but it turned out that he couldn't exactly offer the most helpful of advice for contests.

"You could try taking advantage of Mushy's spores."

"Huh?"

Nicola snapped back to reality as she heard James speak.

"Her spores. You tried relying too much on Mega Drain in Syentra Town, didn't you?"

"A little bit, I guess."

"I think that you can do more using Stun Spore, especially if you combine it with Mega Drain at times."

"Hang on! Wouldn't that just end up distracting the audience from both? I mean, the moment Mushy uses Mega Drain, they'll stop looking at the spores, and then they'll fall down and distract them from Mega Drain as well."

"Ah, I hadn't thought of that."

The two of them fell silent for a couple of seconds as they thought.

"Oh! Could I use Leech Seed for something?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Leech Seed is a pretty dull-looking move after all…"

"How about if we launched them into the air and used them as targets for Mega Drain?"

"Oh, that sounds pretty good. How high do you think Mushy would need to get them?"

"It would have to be quick. And we can't aim too high or we'll just hit the ceiling…maybe about six feet or so?"

"Would that be high enough for Mushy to use Mega Drain before they fall too low?"

"Maybe? The best way would be to test it out."

"Alright, we'll make a general note of it for when we go out and practise. Anything else?"

The conversation continued that way. As difficult as it could be sometimes to come up with combinations with some of the more mundane moves at their pokémon's disposal, it often only took a single spark to set the two of them on the way to a concrete idea.

Still, there was a part of Nicola that remained concerned about their current setup. Though they worked together almost ceaselessly, the fact remained that they were competitors the moment they stepped into the holding room in the contest hall. James may not have noticed it, but the reality that one of her competitors knew exactly how her combinations were going to play out had started to really get to Nicola. Not that it really affected the appeals round, but she worried that James' knowledge of her combinations would work against her if they had to fight in the battle round.

The same applied the other way though, she supposed. But James seemed to have adapted better to the challenges of competing in contests and his extensive battle experience meant that he was usually quick to improvise on the fly. The only drawback was that he instinctively went for moves that emphasised power, rather than ones which aimed at appeal.

As Nicola and James continued exchanging their thoughts and put together their appeal plans, Richard hovered by the entrance to the trainers' lounge, watching them. There was a part of him that felt excluded from the process, but he also knew that he wouldn't have been much use anyway.

"What are you doing?"

Looking around, he realised that Will had appeared – ever the last person down in the morning.

"Glad to see you're here. Want to head out to the practice arena and do some training?"

"Sounds good to me. I guess they'll be busy for quite a while anyway."

Though there was nothing they could really do to help with theoretical combinations, Richard and Will knew that they could represent the views of a potential audience later on. Once the two coordinators had finalised their plans, they'd no doubt come and find them and enlist them to help judge the success or failure of their performances.

In the meantime, they might as well focus on improving their own skills.

* * *

 _2:42pm, 29_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Aw! Why'd the weather have to turn out like this?" Richard grumbled as the four of them raced through the glass doors at the front of the contest hall.

After so long spent in the desert and the ash-strewn valleys, it felt like an eternity since they'd seen any rain. They'd awoken in the morning to find that dark clouds had formed over Fallarbor during the night and it had been raining on and off since then. This had resulted in a very packed indoor arena in the pokémon centre as everyone trying to practise for the contest had converged there.

Though they'd finished planning and testing their new combinations the previous day, James and Nicola both felt more uneasy than usual with the lack of last minute preparation. It had some advantages though – they'd gotten the opportunity to watch some of their would-be competitors while they practised and had otherwise kept their own close to their chests.

"Right! We'll say goodbye and good luck here then."

Richard turned to them as they reached the centre of the entrance hall. Will quickly turned to look at them as well.

"Yeah, good luck, guys."

"Thanks! Make sure you clear loudly from the stands!"

"I'll be looking out for you to make sure!"

Both James and Nicola tried to sound as confident as they could. They waved to Richard and Will as they departed and set off for the reception desk, joining the queue of coordinators already waiting to finalise their registration.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good. I got to the final in my last contest, so I'm feeling confident that I can perform well here as well."

"Must be nice – I got knocked out in the appeals round last time."

"I haven't won a ribbon since the Verdanturf contest a fortnight ago…I need to up my game if I'm going to make it to the Grand Festival."

"Did you hear about Dana? Apparently, she's already earned enough ribbons to participate…"

They half-listened to the conversations of those around them, picking up the occasional line. It often seemed like many of the other coordinators knew each other. Was there some kind of association that they hadn't heard of? The thought only briefly distracted them from their nerves as the queue moved forwards and they gradually drew closer to the desk.

* * *

 _3:01pm, 29_ _th_ _May 2006_

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Welcome to this afternoon's contest here in Fallarbor Town! I'm sure the wonderful performances you're about to see will help distract you from the miserable weather we've had today!"

The MC loudly made her introductory speech as the last of the audience filed into the main hall and took their seats. Will had thought that the rain would have put some people off, but he supposed that they weren't about to waste their tickets. Fallarbor was a lot bigger than either Syentra or Leevay, so there was a far larger potential audience. The hall was bigger than those of the previous two towns as well, but it still seemed pretty full. Though there were unoccupied seats, they tended to be spread around and harder to spot. Maybe they deliberately spaced out seat allocations to make it seem like their audiences were bigger than they actually were?

The thought disappeared from Will's head as the MC stepped aside to allow the first contestant to take the stage. Apparently, this guy was called Victor, and he came from somewhere Will had never heard of. His appearance, however, was much more memorable than his introduction.

There didn't seem to be dress code for contests, but it generally seemed as though more experienced coordinators dressed more smartly than rookies and casuals. This guy's clothes looked very different: an old-fashioned dress shirt and black jacket, but with brown trousers that clashed horribly with the rest. Despite the loosely 'sophisticated' look that his clothes seemed to be attempting to give off, the guy's fringe was modelled using gel to stick up. It was a bizarre mix that grabbed attention, even if not necessarily in a good way.

Though there was a lot of murmuring among the crowd as Victor took his position at the centre of the stage, there were only a handful of stifled giggles or exchanged jokes about his appearance.

"Really looks odd, doesn't he?"

Will's thoughts were interrupted by Richard speaking quietly.

"Yeah…" He didn't bother with a long response. He was too preoccupied with the pokémon Victor had just sent out. At first, he thought it was just a blue and white ball, but he quickly realised that it also had a pair of fins that extended from the side of its round body. The closer he looked, the more it reminded him of the wailord they'd seen off Dewford Island, though obviously not as large. He pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Wailmer the ball whale pokémon. Wailmer can store water inside their body to transform themselves into a ball for bouncing on the ground. By filling themselves up with more water, these pokémon can elevate the height of their bounces. A wailmer's nostrils are located above its eyes. These playful pokémon love to startle people by forcefully snorting out seawater they store inside their body out of their nostrils._ "

"Alright, Mermer! Let's go!"

At Victor's shout, Mermer started bouncing around, clearly having stored up plenty of water before the contest. As he bounced, he occasionally rolled or flipped in the air. Each bounce seemed to take him slightly higher, closer and closer to the ceiling.

Finally, as he seemed to almost brush the ceiling, he suddenly fired a jet of water down towards the ground. The water vortex started twirling as he descended through it – it looked like a tornado made of water. Inside, Mermer started firing off short bursts of water and sonic energy that sent ripples through the air and caused the water tornado to collapse downwards. As it crashed to the ground, it splashed outwards from around Mermer.

The rest of the performance continued along similar lines, with Mermer continually using his stored-up water to perform to the crowd, who seemed to be getting increasingly excited by the show. It occurred to Will that Victor's odd appearance may have been intended to draw the crowd's attention immediately so that it could then be swiftly transferred to his pokémon's performance.

Once he was finished and stepped off the stage, the MC returned to introduce the next contestant. The contest continued as more and more coordinators emerged from backstage to let their pokémon take their turn in the spotlight. It seemed as though there were a lot more than there'd been in the last couple of contests they'd watched. Another result of it being a larger town, Will supposed.

Still, that wasn't a good sign for James and Nicola. Even if there were fifty coordinators registered, there were still only eight spaces in the battle round. It was far tougher to make an impression when there were so many other competitors.

Perhaps fortunately, they were well into the second half of the performances when they finally heard the MC introduce James.

He looked around as he stepped out onto the stage, a determined smile on his face that belied the tension he felt. As ever, the stage lights meant that the audience existed as one mass in the gloom beyond. There was no point looking for familiar faces.

He gently threw the poké ball clutched in his hand. There was a pop as it burst open and Kacha materialised on the stage. Pulling his fist in, he focused his power into it. As it turned a dark red colour, he thrust it into the air above with a flourish. It looked pretty good.

Internally, James let out a sigh of relief as Kacha started the next stage of his performance. Their failures with Brick Break had cost them a place in the battle round in Syentra Town, so they'd been practising it hard over the last couple of days. It looked like their persistence had finally paid off.

Shooting a weak pulse of electricity into the air, Kacha quickly followed it with a powerful blast of electricity. The weaker pulse immediately dissipated, the remaining ionised particles occasionally emitting electrical jolts as they drifted back down. Kacha continued darting around, shooting off electricity to affect the stage lights and alter the lighting to suit himself. A series of short sprints aided by his Agility technique, with electricity from Thunderbolt sparking from his body, brought a brief round of applause from the audience.

As the pikachu continued his performance, James was already assessing in his head. Some of the moves hadn't had as much impact as he'd expected, but a couple of 'filler' ones that he'd thrown in to fill time were getting a better reaction. Kacha manipulating the stage lights seemed to have impressed more people in itself than the combinations it was supposed to be supporting. Perhaps that was because it was unexpected? Still, worth noting down for the future.

Kacha moved on to the final stage of his performance. Focusing his energy into his fist again, he drew upon Agility as he threw punches, causing an impressive, dark red blur to appear with each strike. Using Agility, he increased the speed of the punches and spun and stepped around so that the red blur came from different directions. There was a momentary blip towards the end as Kacha lost his concentration and the red glow disappeared. Delivering a normal punch, he was about to refocus when he caught sight of a discreet signal from James – that was enough; it was time to finish up. He quickly charged up his electricity and fired at the stage lights again, manipulating them back to the way they'd been before the start of his performance.

As he finished, there was applause from the shadows beyond the stage. It had been a tense performance and there had been a lot that could have gone wrong, but he seemed to have pulled through without any major issues. Depending on how the judges interpreted the combinations, they might yet snag a place in the battle round.

After James and Kacha left the stage, the remaining coordinators followed in sequence, before finally arriving at Nicola, who was to be the very last contestant to perform. Though it meant that she'd had the tensest wait of all the participants, she recognised that the last position was one that could potentially be crucial for her. After all, she and Mushy would be fresh in the minds of the judges and the audience.

As she stepped out onto the stage, she tried to banish her concerns to the back of her mind as much as she could. If she was visibly uncomfortable, then it would unnerve Mushy, making her more likely to make mistakes. It would also reflect on the score she got from the judges as well.

"Go, Mushy!"

Her voice sounded louder than normal in the silence of the stage. As did the pop of the poké ball opening. Mushy burst out, materialising on the stage in front of her. Though she couldn't see her audience, she could definitely hear them. She hadn't taken part in Nicola's previous contests and wasn't used to the atmosphere yet.

Despite that, she started well. She expelled a large cloud of spores high into the air above her. As they scattered and drifted back down, they mixed with the light to create an interesting atmosphere around Mushy. However, she wasn't planning to just stay still though. Jumping forwards, she lowered her head and leaped into the air, ploughing through the descending cloud. Spinning in the air and landing on her feet, she launched herself off again, back through the cloud and back to the ground again. She could hear the audience reacting, but, like her trainer, she tried her best to ignore it.

Panting slightly from the sudden exertion, Mushy now fired a cluster of seeds into the air. As they reached the peak of their arc, she fired a green beam of energy up at them. Through careful manipulation, she was able to split the beam into several smaller ones as the seeds separated from each other. She struck most of them, with a couple managing to escape, and drained them. They crumbled in the air and dropped down as she lifted the attack.

As she moved on to the next stage, Nicola kept a careful watch on her. She did her best to try and keep her unease off her face and her body as relaxed as possible. Mushy was doing fine at the moment, with her only mistakes being largely irrelevant. However, they had some slightly tougher combinations still to come and, though she'd managed to handle them in practice, there was still every chance that she could misstep under the pressure of the stage.

Mushy finished another combination and fired out another cluster of spores to prepare for the next. Focusing the green, energy-draining beam so that it surrounded her in a green glow, she fired herself into the air and through the spores, scattering them about. However, she was so focused on maintaining her energy beam that she failed to prepare for landing.

There was a thud as she landed on her side, but she managed to turn it into a roll and used the momentum to get herself back on her feet. She looked a little shaken but kept herself calm. Nicola, allowing a worried look to creep briefly onto her face, quickly settled back in relief.

The rest of the performance passed without any other mishaps. As Mushy leaped into the air and spun, scattering spores as she descended, she focused her efforts on perfectly her landing. She managed to land softly on her feet and hold her position as the remaining spores settled around her.

There was a round of applause from the audience. The judges joined them briefly before returning to scribbling their notes as fast as they could. As the MC came back on stage to take over, Mushy hurried over to Nicola, relieved that she'd made it through.

* * *

 _6:15pm, 29_ _th_ _May 2006_

The end of the appeals round had led to ten minutes of tense waiting as the judges came to their decisions and the coordinators moving on to the next round were decided. With some thirty competitors, the vast majority were going to be knocked out right here.

For James and Nicola, however, it had perhaps been even more of an emotional rollercoaster than it was for most. Nicola had managed to make it through the battle round for the first time, something which had thrilled both of them. However, their excitement was dulled a moment later as James was drawn as her opponent in the next round. A cruel twist, it seemed. The first time that they'd both made it to the battle round and it was already impossible for them to both advance further.

For his part, James regretted the way the matchups had been drawn as well. He was desperate to get over his defeat in Syentra Town but recognised that doing so would hurt Nicola far more. The emotional turmoil was hard enough to handle in contests already without this happening.

In the end, the two of them had concluded that the only real approach they could take was to give it their all to secure victory for themselves and not hold any resentment over the outcome. After all, they'd known that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later and it ultimately wasn't the end of the road for either of them should they fail.

As they stepped out onto the stage once again and took their positions, they flashed uneasy smiles at each other. Reaching for their chosen poké ball, they both listened to the MC making her announcements and prepared for the start of the battle.

"Begin!"

Both threw out their poké balls. Mule and Muro materialised on the field, both looking across the stage at each other. Muro looked pretty determined, if nervous in his own first appearance. Mule, on the other hand, had a blank look on her face as she glanced around, as if only half-interested in what was going on around her.

"Use Ember!"

Nicola gave the first order.

"Use Stomp!"

Mule was slow to react, giving James and Muro the chance to prepare. As the stream of fiery embers started pouring towards him, the loudred raised one of his stumpy legs as high as he could. He slammed it down on the leading edge of the attack, small plumes of black smoke drifting from under his foot.

He flinched momentarily. It was still very hot after all. However, a split second later, the rest of the embers hit Muro directly, singeing his fur. His points dropped but, James hoped, the appeal of his attempted block might have reduced the drop somewhat.

"Use Howl!"

James had known from the start that Muro's moves weren't exactly the most visually inspiring. He had been torn between two different approaches: either trying to make his strength into an appeal itself, or to eschew a contest approach and effectively turn it into a straight-up battle. Given how determinedly Nicola was trying to adapt herself to directing a contest battle, she'd be caught completely off-guard if he had Muro aim for damage instead of visual appeal.

But he'd ultimately rejected that approach. It was one thing to go all out when they were fighting on equal terms, but to deliberately subvert her expectations seemed underhanded to him. Though he had no intention of holding back, he still wanted them to be friends when the dust settled. Winning the 'wrong' way could have severe implications.

Muro was howling loudly. He seemed to be psyching himself up in the same way as he would in a normal battle, perhaps to overcome his nervousness and forget that he was technically supposed to be performing. That suited James as long as he stayed in control.

"Amnesia!"

Mule was still for a second before turning back to look at her and tilting her head to one side. She blinked a couple of times and grunted in confusion.

Still, James and Muro's points were ticking down again. Even if the move had no impact, the way the pokémon used it could still prove effective. The advantage still lay with Nicola and Mule for the moment, though both sides had lost points.

"Uproar! And use Stomp as you do it!"

A combination idea had come to James and he quickly issued new orders. Muro was quick to emit loud bursts of sound from his large ears, shouting and yelling at the same time. With each loud burst of sound, he stamped one foot down as he took a step forward. Mule didn't react to the sound waves hitting her, but her points were still dropping thanks to the appeal of Muro's coordination.

"Ember!"

Nicola wanted to counter attack. Mule blinked a couple of times before opening her mouth and firing another stream of embers towards Muro. He winced and tensed up as they hit him. With a nod from James, however, he quickly sprang forwards, surprising Nicola and Mule with his sudden burst of speed. Mule attempted to fire another stream of embers towards him, but he spun to the right to avoid them. With a second spin, he swung his heavy leg into Mule's flank, knocking her to the side. The numel didn't seem all that bothered by the successful hit, however, and pulled herself back up with only a perplexed grunt.

"Use Take Down!"

At Nicola's words, Mule started building up speed as she charged towards Muro. A quick glance at the screen above told them that time was rapidly running out and that their points had practically evened out.

"Screech!"

As Mule approached, James quickly gave Muro his next order. The loudred immediately shouted loudly at the approaching numel. As she momentarily slowed in reaction, Muro stormed forwards and slammed into her with his powerful leg again. Mule was hurled backwards and crashed to the stage on her back, though she rolled with the momentum and ended up laying on her front.

There was a loud buzz as the timer above ticked down to zero. Both coordinators immediately whipped their heads around to look at the screen. The final attacks had been decisive and lowered both scores significantly, but there was just a handful more points in James and Muro's bar than in Nicola and Mule's. A narrow victory.

"The winner of this battle is James Burton from Pallet Town!"

As the MC announced the result, James and Nicola, weary from the emotional pressure of the battle, walked slowly across the stage towards each other, joining their pokémon.

"…I'm sorry."

James spoke first, clearly unsettled at the result even though it had ended in his victory.

"Y-You don't have to be. We both said that we'd give it our all and not worry about who won, right? You just make sure that you don't waste this!"

Even as she spoke though, James could tell that she was fighting hard to keep back her tears. As hard as he tried to think of something to say to reassure her, he couldn't find anything. What kind of comfort could he offer when he was the cause of the problem?

"I'll make sure I win that ribbon."

Not the kind words he'd been hoping for, but he had to say something. Nicola, at least, seemed somewhat satisfied with his answer as she offered her hand. An uncomfortable sensation ran through James' mind as he took it. After all, both she and Richard would be fellow competitors at the Hoenn League and it would feel far worse to have knocked a friend out of a crucial competition like that. Somehow, he felt that this was a feeling that he'd have to get used to at some point.

* * *

 _7:00pm, 29_ _th_ _May 2006_

After James' victory over Nicola, he and Muro went on to win their next battle as well, thankfully more decisively this time. Now he was finally stood on the stage for the last battle, the ribbon-deciding showdown between himself and the eccentric coordinator who'd performed first in the appeals round, Victor.

"Go, Muro!"

"Go, Spinspin!"

The poké balls popped open as the battle commenced. As he materialised, Muro immediately started sizing up his opponent, sharing a brief glance back at James. Spinspin was a furry creature with red spots on his otherwise cream-coloured head. He staggered to-and-fro as if unable to maintain his balance.

Up in the stands, Richard and Will immediately took interest in James' new opponent and Will quickly pulled out his Pokédex to find out more.

" _Spinda, the spot panda pokémon. Research suggests that no two spinda have identical spot patterns on their hides. These pokémon move in a curious manner as if they are stumbling in dizziness. Their lurching movements can cause an opponent to become confused._ "

Down in the arena, the clock had started ticking. There was no time to waste.

"Use Uproar!"

James and Muro moved first, with Muro immediately letting out an echoing shout that blasted at Spinspin. He lost his balance and tumbled backwards. Doing a back roll, he stumbled back to his feet using the momentum. Though he'd lost some points from Muro's move, his own recovery caused Muro's to drop.

"Teeter Dance!"

At Victor's shout, Spinspin started weaving from side to side, tottering about on the stage. It was a pretty surreal thing to witness. However, Muro seemed to be losing focus as he finally stopped tottering. With a second shout from his trainer, he stumbled forwards and slugged Muro with a pair of uncoordinated punches.

As Muro stumbled backwards and tried to clear his head, both he and James noticed that their points were trickling down. They'd already lost about a minute – just four left to secure victory. Muro looked back at James, his eyes cloudy from the confusion, as he waited for another order.

"Use Stomp!"

If Spinspin and Victor were playing it evasive, then perhaps a strong approach would work? That was what James had thought anyway, but Muro accidentally tripped over his own feet as he attempted to charge his opponent. That cost them a fair chunk of points.

Meanwhile, Spinspin was weaving about again, as if trying to hypnotise the audience and the judges with his bizarre movements. Having managed to confuse Muro, Victor seemed content to leave him to reduce his own points by himself.

This was going to be a problem.

James gritted his teeth as he watched Muro make another attempt to charge, only for Spinspin to meander out of his way effortlessly. Clearly, straight-up brute force wasn't going to work here. But that left open the question of how he could overcome it. Muro didn't have any 'pretty' moves that had a high visual appeal. Showing off just strength didn't really work in a contest either…

As Spinspin continued weaving and tottering about to the delight of the crowd, an idea suddenly came to James. He'd been focused on having Muro aim for moves that directly affected Spinspin, but he didn't need to do that in a contest. He could use his moves to appeal directly to the audience in the same way that Spinspin was doing.

But which to use? Stomp was pretty 'brute force' and Howl and Screech weren't all that appealing either, especially the latter. Uproar? That might have been very effective back when Muro was a whismur, but it could come over oddly depending on how he used it as a loudred.

An idea came to him.

"Muro, use Stomp, hard as you can! Then jump!"

The loudred immediately slammed his foot onto the stage below. Using the momentum, he propelled himself into the air.

"Uproar, softly!"

As he reached the peak of his jump, Muro took a deep breath and expelled a blast of sonic energy from his large ears. The sound echoed around the stage, momentarily drawing the audience's attention away from Spinspin. Neither points bar was moving, but James and Muro were just getting started.

"Teeter Dance!"

Victor gave Spinspin another order to try and regain the audience's attention. However, James and Muro had their own plan. Tempting as it had been to simply hammer Spinspin with a stomp at the end of Muro's descent, he instead landed on the ground nearby. As he was caught up in the odd rhythm of Spinspin's dance, he started swaying from side to side as well.

The crowd quickly picked up on what was happening. Rather than trying to fight the confusion Spinspin was trying to induce and humiliating himself, Muro was instead going along with it. In a way, he was making it his own. Though his bulky form made him look odd as he meandered from side to side, it seemed to be really grabbing the audience's attention. There were a couple of laughs and several cheers as Muro settled into a rhythm of his own. It was as if the contest battle had turned into the world's most bizarre dance-off.

"D-Dizzy Punch!"

Victor quickly issued another order. They needed to regain the audience's attention and knock Muro off his stride. Spinspin was quick to obey, staggering forwards and preparing to throw a pair of wild punches towards Muro.

As Spinspin's arm approached, Muro suddenly swayed out of the way. Almost losing his balance, Spinspin stumbled forwards. Smoothly moving around behind him, Muro simply gave him a firm push on the back. It was enough to send him tumbling to the ground.

There was a loud cheer from the audience, as well as laughter as the hapless Spinspin tried to pull himself back up again. He quickly charged back to swing another punch at Muro, only for the same thing to happen. Another gentle shove and he crashed back to the ground. Though he pulled himself back up again, he didn't make another attempt, instead focusing on his odd dance.

But the clock was still ticking and was getting dangerously low. Risking a brief glance at it, James realised that he and Muro were slightly in the lead. It was Victor and Spinspin's move to make.

"Use Psybeam!"

Victor had realised too. Spinspin staggered to a halt and fired a multi-coloured beam of psychic energy towards Muro.

"Uproar!"

Muro immediately fired a powerful blast of sonic energy back towards Spinspin. The force of it knocked the spinda flat and caused his attack to fire into the air instead. He struggled to pull himself back to his feet, desperately fumbling to get a grip with his hands.

There was a buzz as the timer reached zero.

"And the winner is James Burton from Pallet Town!"

The MC reappeared from the shadows at the side of the stage as the end of the battle sank in. Spinspin slumped down, clearly disappointed at the result. Muro finally stopped dancing and sat back. He was exhausted.

"Well, nice work adapting to Spinspin's dances mid-battle, I guess."

Victor sounded disappointed as he walked over. That didn't come as a surprise to James – he looked like the kind of person who took a lot of pride in his performances. Still, he stuck out his hand for James to shake.

"Thanks. If it makes you feel any better, you really had me on the ropes for quite a while. You're very hard to battle against."

"It doesn't, but I appreciate the thought. Things will be different next time."

Victor responded acidly as they shook hands. After they separated, he recalled Spinspin and immediately started walking backstage. As he left, the head judge stood up to deliver his final verdict.

"That was an excellent performance. Both coordinators put a real effort into appealing to the audience and adapted well to the changing situation. It looked like James was struggling for a period towards the start of the battle, but your victory shows that you were able to adapt to a confusing and well-planned opposing performance and use it against its coordinator. Muro's capacity to overcome the difficulties of this battle can't be overstated – a very impressive performance."

As he finished speaking, an aide appeared from elsewhere and passed a box containing the ribbon to the MC.

"Please accept the Fallarbor Ribbon, and thanks to you and your wonderful pokémon for the amazing performances they've given this evening."

James shared a grin with Muro as he reached out to take the ribbon.

"Thank you very much!"

* * *

 _7:09pm, 29_ _th_ _May 2006_

"I guess we need to start thinking about where we're going to head next. We haven't had any gym battles in a while and I'm starting to worry I'll get rusty in the meantime!"

"Don't worry. You'll have me there to help you train and keep your team in shape."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Richard and Will descended the main staircase in the lobby and walked over towards the main entrance to wait for James and Nicola to return. It was going to be more difficult than usual to congratulate James on his victory while reassuring Nicola after her defeat.

As it turned out, Nicola was already waiting for them by the entrance. James had apparently been with her when she'd left the holding room, but he'd been mobbed by a handful of crowd members who'd wanted to personally congratulate him. It must have rubbed even more salt into the wound. Richard decided to try and approach it cautiously.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty lousy."

"…I don't think you need to worry too much. I mean, you managed to get to battle round this time – that's a new record for you!"

"I know, but…"

Nicola let out a sigh. It wasn't just losing that bothered her; it was the fact that she and James had started at the exact same time and there was such a difference in how they were doing. He'd just won his second ribbon – one more and he'd be over halfway there. And her? She was supposed to be celebrating making it to the battle round for the first time.

"James is lucky. Things tend to go his way when he tries them, even if he doesn't put in much effort. Don't think that you're bad at this just because you aren't as lucky as he is."

Richard and Nicola looked around at Will.

"I guess that's true – he told me that he originally wasn't planning on becoming a serious trainer when he first started out. Our friend prodded him into taking the gym challenge back in Kanto and he went on to get as far as the third round in the Kanto League last year. Meanwhile, I challenged one gym leader twice and lost both times."

"Hang on! James does work hard though!"

Nicola found herself intervening on his behalf. It actually made a lot of sense if that was the case, but she refused to believe that James was just sleepwalking through this, especially after his reaction to losing in Syentra Town.

"Pfft!"

Both Richard and Will laughed.

"What?"

"Don't worry about how other people do. James will do his own thing and you'll do yours. As long as you give it your all, you'll be able to win a contest."

Richard and Will both smiled at her and she found herself smiling back in spite of herself. There was a lot of work to be done, but she knew that she'd be able to handle it.

"Sorry, guys! Shall we head back to the pokémon centre?"

James had finally managed to re-join them.

"Sure, sounds like a plan. We need to discuss what we're going to do next."

Richard started walking through the door. He paused as he stepped outside and turned back.

"Oh, and congrats for winning the contest. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen."

"You're telling me!"

Laughing, the four of them started walking back towards the pokémon centre.

* * *

 **So, sorry for the delay on this chapter. There were a combination of factors working against me this week: medical appointments and sorting out some work experience, the release of the** _ **Stellaris: Apocalyse**_ **release date/story trailer on Thursday which kept me from focusing on Pokémon (and is also probably worth watching even if you don't play** _ **Stellaris**_ **). It was also a contest chapter, which I find more difficult to write than regular chapters.**

 **Finally, I was reading a light novel at the start of the week and decided to try imitating the way dialogue was handed in it – namely that there were very few speech tags used at all, instead relying on context and narration. I'm not sure how my little experiment has turned out, but I'm sure I can count on you guys to let me know.**

 **Anyway, you may have noticed that I decided to go straight for Fallarbor instead of dallying in another contest along the way. Given that one of our protagonists has to lose in order for the other to win, I figured that we could cut down on contests where both of them lose (unless something else important is happening, of course!). I also opted to focus a little on the process of planning combinations for a contest. I'm hoping to use future contest chapters to expand on specific areas of contests and coordinators in the future.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	49. Chena, Hero of the Hour!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of _Pokémon Journey: Hoenn_!**

 **Last chapter saw James manage to win the contest in Fallarbor Town and earn his second contest ribbon, in the process defeating Nicola and denying her the chance to earn her first ribbon.**

 **Upload Date: 4th February 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 49: Chena, Hero of the Hour!**

"Wait for me, guys!"

"Honestly, Erin! You're always so slow!"

"I say we leave her behind!"

"No! That's mean, Toby!"

"Nah, you're just too soft on her, Alice!"

"I'm…here!"

Two young children waited by a pedestrian crossing, turning back to look at their companion as she caught up. As she hunched over to catch her breath, the lone boy spoke again.

"Right! Let's get moving!"

"H-Hold on!"

Erin gasped as she straightened up. They were on the move again? She'd only just managed to catch up to them. Thankfully, Alice quickly came to her rescue.

"Give her a second, Toby!"

"Tch! I guess we can wait a little longer."

Toby put his hands behind his head and started pacing about, occasionally kicking stones on the pavement.

"Where are we going anyway? You guys just told me to come and meet you by the library…"

"Didn't Toby tell you?"

Alice was surprised. She was sure that she'd told Toby to make sure that Erin knew – the two of them lived next door to each other after all. She looked across at the boy in question, who had stopped pacing now that the girls' attention was focused on him.

"I thought you were going to tell her where we were going. I just told her where we were meeting."

"Urgh."

Alice let out a sound that was half a sigh and half a groan. She should've expected something like this to happen. Not that it really mattered, but this wasn't the first time that Toby had 'forgot' something she'd asked him to do.

"So, where are we going?"

Erin was looking curiously between the two of them, her eyes sparkling in anticipation.

"You know that old park down by the sea?"

"Oh! I remember – we went and played there back in the winter!"

"Well, we thought we'd go and play there today. Since school just ended, the playground near your house is going to be full."

"That makes sense." Erin nodded. She took a couple of steps forwards. "I'm ready to get moving again!"

"Finally!"

Toby kicked a small stone into the gutter and marched across the pedestrian crossing. Alice and Erin checked for cars before following.

"My mum said that you shouldn't cross the road without looking! And your mum agrees with her!"

"Heh! My mum's not here right now!"

"Oh! There she is, just over there!"

"Where?!"

Toby span around, his head darting from side to side as he tried to spot her.

"My mistake!"

Erin grinned at him. Toby didn't usually pay much attention to what she said, but he was scared of angering his mum – to the point where he would assume the worst if he thought she might be around. It was one of the only ways Erin could get one up on him.

"Don't scare me like that!" Toby let out a sigh of relief before a grin appeared on his face again. "Hey, let's race to the park – last one there has to do whatever the others ask!"

"W-Wait!"

Ignoring Erin's protests, Toby started running down the street. She and Alice quickly followed, trying their best to gain on him. As they closed in on the entrance to the park, Alice managed to draw level with Toby. With a final burst, she pulled ahead and, just in front of the entrance, spun around and grabbed his shoulders.

"Go on, Erin!" she shouted.

"Argh! No fair!"

As Toby struggled violently to try and free himself from her grasp, Erin staggered along the final stretch, huffing and wheezing. As she stumbled through the entrance, Alice gave Toby a light shove and jumped backwards over the finishing line.

"Looks like you're the loser this time, Toby! Now, Erin, what should we get him to do?"

"I didn't say that the entrance was the finishing line! It's actually the climbing frame!"

Erin and Alice both shouted in protest as Toby stuck his tongue out at them and ran past. As they made to follow though, they suddenly noticed something approaching them from the bushes by the side of the park…

* * *

 _Route 114, Hoenn_

 _4:04pm, 30th May 2006_

"Come on, guys! Don't fight!"

"They've been like that ever since lunchtime, huh?"

James and Richard both let out sighs as they held Muro and Arro apart. Enthusiastic eaters, the two of them had started squabbling over which one received their food first at lunch and had been occasionally starting to fight all afternoon. Privately, Richard thought that Muro was the one who had started it, but the last thing they needed was him and James fighting as well, so he kept quiet.

While they were trying to reach another resolution, Nicola and Will had wisely put some distance between them. Though the weather was horrible and had ensured that both Charka and Mule were confined to their poké balls, the route north-west from Fallarbor Town was pretty awe-inspiring. The main road ran directly alongside the sea, the waves lapping against the shore only a short distance from them. The other side of the road was hemmed in by mountains covered in green trees that kept the area clear of the volcanic ash that tended to settle in Fallarbor.

The almost entirely flat road had been good for their progress and they were almost at the next major settlement, Sanctos Town. It had been a long day, especially with the drama between Muro and Arro, and they were all looking forward to crashing once they reached the pokémon centre.

"I hope they can get them both to calm down soon. I'm worried they're going to end up hurting each other."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

Nicola and Will exchanged their worries as they wandered over to the iron railing at the side of the road. The waves lapped against the wall below them. Nicola couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"I still can't really believe we're seeing the sea again. You kind of forget about it when you're in the desert or the volcanic valleys."

"You got that right. Even the rain almost feels good after all that."

Will made to lean on the railing, but then decided against it – it was soaking wet. Beside him, Toya looked out longingly at the sea. He'd had a swim at lunchtime, but it still didn't feel like enough.

"You can go for another swim if you want," Will told him. "I don't think the others are going to be finished for a while!"

Toya gratefully leaped up onto the railing and dived into the greyish water below. He was quickly joined by Nulin, calling off his race with Turkey to float just above the surface and look out for any fish to eat. However, both pokémon shied away as they spotted what looked like a small, blue shape appear at the surface, two pink spheres atop it.

"What is that?"

Nicola instinctively pulled out her Pokédex.

"Don't you recognise it? It's a tentacool. They're pretty common in the seas around Hoenn."

"Now that you mention it, I guess it does look like a tentacool. Still, no harm in finding out some more about it."

Nicola pointed her Pokédex at the small pokémon.

" _Tentacool, the jellyfish pokémon. A tentacool's body is almost entirely composed of water. They ensnare their foes with their two long tentacles, then stab with the poison stingers at their tips. If they are removed from the sea, they dry up like parchment. If these pokémon happen to become dehydrated, put them back into the sea._ "

As Nulin flew back over land to join Turkey and Toya leaped out of the water and grabbed hold of the railing, they suddenly heard a nearby bark. Chena, who had wandered over towards the water's edge with them, was suddenly making a fuss. He growled, hunching down and raising his hackles.

"What's up, Chena?"

Richard quickly joined them, noticing that something was bothering the poochyena. However, he suddenly let out another bark and started charging off down the road. Richard exclaimed in surprise as he started running after him.

"H-Hey! Don't run off by yourself!"

As the others started running after them as well, they suddenly heard a child's scream in the distance…

* * *

"S-Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

Alice called out defiantly as she stood her ground in front of the climbing frame. Erin and Toby hid behind her, watching fearfully at the things that were approaching them. The small, purple, hovering ball that grinned maliciously at them as it spouted puffs of smog was bad enough, but behind it was an even larger pokémon that looked as though it were made entirely of purple sludge. This was the one that scared them the most.

There was only one entrance to the park and the two pokémon had quickly moved to block it. The best Alice could hope for was to find a way to distract the pokémon and create an opening for them to get away. But she couldn't see anything she could use to create a distraction – her options were quickly running out.

At that moment, she suddenly heard a growl. Looking over at the entrance, the dark grey form of a poochyena tore into view. Pausing at the entrance with his fangs bared, he raised his head and let out a loud howl. As the wild pokémon turned to look at him, he suddenly sprang forwards and charged at the larger of the two.

As he slammed hard into it, he dropped back to the ground and propelled himself into the air, sinking his teeth into the floating pokémon. Both let out shouts of surprise and pain and attempted to fire back with sludge and smog. However, the poochyena darted to the side and charged them again. Spooked, the two wild pokémon decided to break off and flee the park.

The poochyena pursued them as far as the entrance and, seeing that they weren't coming back, turned back and trotted over towards the children. He wagged his tail and let his tongue hang out as he panted to regain his breath, halting a short distance from them.

"Th-Thank you!" Erin exclaimed, stumbling out from behind Alice towards him.

Alice quickly grabbed her hand.

"W-Wait! It might not be friendly!"

Perhaps sensing her unease, the poochyena laid down on the ground and put his ears low as he rested his muzzle on his paws. Alice still held her position; pokémon could be unpredictable and she didn't want to risk getting bitten.

Fortunately, a few seconds later, a number of people appeared – apparently alerted by Toby and Erin's screams. She recognised several of them – adults who lived in this neighbourhood, some of whom were the parents of her school friends. The four that she didn't recognise were younger, but the way they reacted to the poochyena suggested that they knew him.

"Chena! Stop scaring them! I'm so sorry about this!"

One of the strangers started approaching the poochyena, alternating between chastising him and apologising to the adults. As he got to him, he reached out and grabbed hold of him firmly before looking up at the three kids.

"I'm sorry if he scared you. He's not normally like this."

"I'm not scared!" Erin cried. She pulled herself free of Alice's grip and ran over to them. "He saved us!"

"Saved you?"

The boy seemed confused, looking between the three of them.

Watching as Erin reached out and stroked the poochyena's head and seeing that he was perfectly content to let her do so, Alice finally let her guard down.

"That's right! He's a hero!"

* * *

 _Sanctos Town, Hoenn_

 _4:38pm, 30th May 2006_

A hero, huh?

After hearing the children's story, Richard guessed that it didn't seem that strange to see Chena that way. After all, it sounded like the wild pokémon that had attacked them were bearing down on them when he'd arrived. He had to admit to feeling a sense of pride in his pokémon for what he'd done and the recognition he was getting.

But at the same time…

"It's Chena the Hero!"

"Wow! It's really him!"

The story had apparently travelled very quickly through the town and the group had arrived on one of the main streets to find a crowd of excited children and enthusiastic adults waiting for them. They could scarcely move forwards for all the kids gathering around them, eager to meet Chena and pat him on the head. Was it normal for this kind of thing to happen if a pokémon saved a child?

Aside from all the kids trying to touch Chena, something which he was tolerating with a remarkable level of patience, there were also gifts being flung their way. A lot of the kids and adults had pokémon treats with them that they were enthusiastically offering to him. And that was just the simple ones.

As they continued slowly making their way along the main street, Richard suddenly found that young children were pushing pieces of paper containing poorly-drawn but admiration-filled pictures of Chena into his hands, asking him to ask them on the poochyena's behalf. And that was before an adult had appeared holding a red cape that had been hastily fashioned for him!

Following behind the increasingly-exhausted Richard, the other three trainers exchanged bemused looks. Though there was a little bit of resentment at the attention he and Chena were receiving, James, Nicola and Will were mostly relieved that they didn't have to deal with the excessive excitement and cheers as they passed the crowds. The townspeople didn't pay them the slightest bit of attention, being too busy enthusiastically talking about Chena.

"I really got to see him!"

"Ha! I got to touch his nose!"

"What? No fair!"

"Calm down, you two!"

Still, James couldn't help but find the level of attention that Chena had picked up and that Richard now had to deal with amusing. Being slightly further back and not being mobbed by the crowds, he could see the funny side of it.

At the same time, he could tell that Will at least was getting increasingly irritated by everything that was going on. Even if the crowd was largely ignoring them, they were still making it difficult to move around and holding them up on their way to the pokémon centre. And they were quite keen to get to the pokémon centre so that they could change out of their wet clothes.

"I can kind of understand wanting to see Chena and all that, I guess, but doesn't it seem like everyone in town has shown up?"

Will turned to look at Nicola as he spoke. She pondered for a second before replying.

"I guess they're really serious about repaying a debt?"

"You can say that again!"

Will frowned as he watched a group of kids enthusiastically tying the homemade cape around Chena.

"Hey, it's better than being chased out of town! Besides, this might work out well for us too."

James grinned at them as they continued their slow journey along the streets of Sanctos Town.

* * *

 _4:59pm, 30th May 2006_

The fuss didn't seem to be dying down, even as the group approached the town centre. In fact, Richard was alarmed to learn upon arriving in the square that the mayor had been summoned and would probably be there soon.

Things seemed to be getting quickly out of hand.

Meanwhile, they finally started to get some answers from the people surrounding them – some of the adults sheepishly admitted that they were getting involved because the children had gotten so excited. The idea of a pokémon hero who would protect them seemed to have captured their imagination, especially since aggressive, urban-dwelling pokémon had been making increasing appearances lately.

It was still baffling though. After all, Sanctos Town sat on one of the main routes in north-east Hoenn – there was no way that this place didn't get any visiting trainers at all! So why had Chena appealed to them while the pokémon of other trainers apparently didn't?

Fortunately, the crowd seemed to have gotten much smaller by this point. Now that the kids had seen Chena, their parents had started beckoning them home. Still, the four trainers didn't like to move off and search for the pokémon centre when the mayor was supposed to be on his way. Given that the town hall was directly opposite them, it seemed a little odd that it was taking him so long to show up.

Just as Will and James were preparing to leave Richard to his fate and head on to the pokémon centre themselves, there was a sudden shout from the road they'd just come along.

"Chena! We need help!"

Richard and Chena immediately looked over. The voice had come from one of the kids he'd saved earlier, panting to regain her breath.

"What happened?"

"The bad pokémon came back! They're really angry and keep trying to attack people!"

"The same ones as before?"

"Yes! But Chena can beat them up again, right?"

Richard and Chena shared a glance. Well, if he'd managed to do it once…

"Alright, Chena's on it!"

Behind them, James, Will and Nicola walked up to join him.

"I guess we'll come along and watch!" James grinned at him.

"We wouldn't want you to accidentally embarrass yourselves, right?"

"It's always better to be safe, right?"

Will and Nicola quickly added their thoughts. Richard grinned at the three of them but shook his head.

"You guys can just watch. I know that Chena can handle this!"

Giving himself a shake to make his cape flap outwards, Chena gave a bark in agreement.

* * *

As they ran back the way they'd come, it struck Richard how much quieter the streets were now that the crowd had disappeared. That worked out better for him and Chena though – they didn't want too many bystanders around while they were fighting, especially if they were up against wild pokémon.

It seemed like these wild pokémon had been searching for them as well since it didn't take all that long to finally track them down.

"What are they?"

Nicola wrinkled her nose against the smell as she spotted the sludge-like pokémon and the hovering ball emitting puffs of smog. She pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Koffing, the poison gas pokémon. Koffing embody toxic substances. They mix their toxins with raw garbage to set off a chemical reaction that results in a terribly powerful poison gas. The higher the temperature, the more gas is concocted by these pokémon. If koffing become agitated, they raise the toxicity of their internal gases and then jet them out from all over their body. These pokémon may overinflate their round body, then explode._ "

That startled Nicola somewhat.

"They might explode?!"

"Don't worry – their explosions don't tend to be that big."

James was quick to reassure her.

"That's a relief," Nicola sighed as she pointed her Pokédex at the other pokémon.

" _Muk, the sludge pokémon and the evolved form of grimer. A foul fluid that gives off a nose-bendingly horrible stench seeps from a muk's body. Just one drop of these pokémon's body fluid can turn a pool stagnant and rancid. A muk's favourite food is anything that is repugnantly filthy. In dirty towns where people think nothing of throwing away litter on the streets, muk are certain to gather._ "

Both pokémon spotted Chena and immediately started charging towards him. The muk fired a blast of sludge towards him, while the koffing emitted a cloud of poisonous gas.

"Use Take Down!" Richard called.

Chena jumped back to avoid the enemy attacks and darted to the side before assailing their flanks. He targeted the smaller koffing first, slamming hard into it and hurling it to the side. Landing softly, he leaped out of the way as the muk attempted to hit him with another clump of sludge. The attack hit the koffing instead.

"Great work, keep it up!"

At Richard's encouragement, Chena raced forwards again, this time slamming into the muk, who wobbled backwards from the impact. The koffing suddenly surged in from the left, hitting Chena's flank before he could react and sending him tumbling to the side.

"Oh no!"

The girl gasped as the koffing dived down towards Chena again. However, this time he was prepared and jumped clear at the last second. As both pokémon pulled themselves forward again, he shot them a confident, provocative grin. Both his opponents let out menacing growls, clearly incensed by his actions. They stormed forward towards him, but he easily dodged their attacks and, in their anger, they overbalanced and crashed to the ground.

"What's going on?"

Will tapped James on the arm as he watched the muk and koffing start pulling themselves back to their feet.

"That looks like Swagger to me."

"Swagger?"

"It's a move that enrages the enemy in the hope that it'll get them to make mistakes. It also means that the enemy will hit harder though, so it's kind of a gamble. I'm surprised that Chena was able to pick it up by himself."

"He's gotten stronger with all that training."

The koffing expelled a cloud of smog at Chena as he leaped up to bite it. Getting it directly in his mouth, he dropped to the ground and started coughing heavily. The muk fired a blast of sludge at him, scoring a direct hit and sending him flying.

"Hang in there, Chena!"

"Yeah! You can do it, Chena!"

"We believe in you!"

As Richard shouted his encouragement, the townspeople started cheering him on as well. Chena pulled himself back to his feet. He let out a loud howl and started charging back towards the wild pokémon. As he made to lunge towards the muk, the koffing dived in from the side and smashed into him. The muk moved forwards as well but overbalanced and ended up hurting itself.

Still, as Chena pulled himself back up he was looking worse for wear. His cape had become increasingly dishevelled.

"Do you want a hand?"

James stepped up and whispered in Richard's ear. He already had a hand on Muro's poké ball.

"No. He can handle it."

Richard brushed him off. Chena might have been struggling, but there was now an image that they had to maintain. The people of this town had decided that Chena was a hero, there to defend them. Despite how bizarre it was, they'd formed an attachment to him and Richard didn't want their perception of him to be shattered.

Chena seemed to be thinking the same thing, letting out another howl and snarling at the wild pokémon. Though he was limping slightly from his injuries, he tensed up his muscles and prepared to charge forwards again. With a burst of speed, he flung himself towards them, this time targeting the koffing.

The poison gas pokémon attempted to charge towards him as well, but Chena made a sudden leap to the side at the last minute. As the koffing slammed into the ground, the poochyena redirected his attack towards the muk. However, it suddenly shrank to a fraction of its original size and darted from side to side to avoid his attack.

"Ignore it! Focus on the koffing!"

Chena quickly jumped back and charged at the koffing as it attempted to get back into the air. It gave him a sinister grin as he approached. Its body seemed to be swelling to an even greater size as fumes started spewing out. James suddenly cried out as he recognised what was happening.

"It's getting ready to explode!"

There was panic as the trainers and bystanders attempted to get back to a safe distance. Chena stayed true though, continuing to charge directly at the danger.

"He's trying to stop it!"

The girl from earlier exclaimed loudly as an adult ushered her back. And it was certainly a bold attempt by Chena, but just tackling it wouldn't be enough to stop it. As he got close, the koffing smirked again. There was a loud clicking sound.

There was a small puff of smog from its body, but nothing else happened.

This seemed to have stunned the koffing as much as the humans. Chena ploughed straight into it and sent it flying back with a crash. Spinning around, he looked frantically around, trying to locate the now-tiny muk. He jumped back just in time to avoid a sudden blast of sludge and charged towards the source. Finally spotting the small, purple blob, he stamped down hard on it with his front paw before flicking it away.

Though the muk returned to its normal size, it seemed that it had had enough. Both it and the koffing beat a hasty retreat. Chena continued chasing them until they had disappeared completely, growling menacingly. As he finally turned back to look at the others, his body was suddenly enveloped in a bright light and started changing.

"Wow!"

Some of the bystanders expressed their surprise and wonder at the sight of him evolving. As the light faded, Richard pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at his newly-evolved pokémon.

" _Mightyena, the bite pokémon and the evolved form of poochyena. In the wild, mightyena live in packs. They never defy their leader's orders and defeat foes with perfectly coordinated teamwork. Mightyena give obvious signals when they are preparing to attack. They start to growl deeply and then flatten their bodies. These pokémon will bite savagely with their sharply pointed fangs._ "

Chena certainly looked much more intimidating than before, but the nearby children didn't seem scared in the least. In fact, they seemed almost more excited.

"Chena the Hero has gotten even stronger!"

"Wow! I want to stroke his head again!"

Meanwhile, Richard felt James put his hand on his shoulder.

"Well, congratulations. I guess all that training has been paying off."

"I guess so…"

Chena wandered back over towards them, looking worse for wear after the combined strain of fighting the koffing and muk and evolving. He looked as ready for a rest as Richard felt! Perhaps it was time to finally head for the pokémon centre?

* * *

 _5:46pm, 30th May 2006_

It hadn't come as a surprise to Richard and the others that the crowds had gathered once again on their way back to the town centre, this time all gawking at Chena's new form. Richard got the feeling that Chena was starting to feel self-conscious, especially given his wobbly steps and the fact that the cape still tied around his neck was now much too small.

Still, the adoring public demanded to see their hero and Richard suspected that there would be protests if he were to return to his poké ball. The cheers from all the children were starting to get a little bit grating but things started to get worse when they arrived in the main square and heard whispers suggesting that Chena should be invited to stay in the town as its local hero.

"This is starting to get a little out of hand, don't you think? I mean, any pokémon belonging to any trainer could have done what Chena did."

"You're telling me. I'm kind of glad that I don't have to deal with it…"

As Nicola and Will muttered amongst themselves, Richard let out a sigh. He really wasn't entirely sure how to handle the way the situation had escalated. If they actually asked directly for Chena to stay behind in Sanctos Town, what should he do? His instinct was to tell them that there was no way he'd agree to that, but that wouldn't be considering Chena's feelings at all. Though he seemed tired now, maybe he'd enjoy living life as the hero and defender of this town, surrounded by adoring fans.

Unfortunately, things quickly moved in that direction. Several adults had started approaching him, asking if he'd agree to let Chena stay here in Sanctos Town. He responded awkwardly, trying to show how difficult a decision it would be.

"Well, you see, it's not really up to me. I mean, if Chena wants to stick around, then I can't exactly say 'no', but he is still a member of my team and all that…"

As he tried to explain, however, he felt Chena press his snout against his hand and pass in front of him. He didn't seem like he wanted to pay any attention to what the adults were saying at all – he just wanted to get to the pokémon centre and have a rest.

"I think that's your answer." James intervened as they watched Chena go. "I don't think that Chena's used to this kind of attention and he's probably already tired of it."

"O-Oh, I see."

"Sorry about that! I guess we got too ahead of ourselves!"

Richard let out a sigh of relief, but he knew that they'd be repeating that same conversation all the way to the pokémon centre.

"Thanks," he said to James. "I couldn't think of what to say."

As they were speaking, they suddenly heard someone call out.

"Alright, alright! Everyone, you can go back home now!"

A very well-dressed man emerged from the crowd and addressed the gathered townspeople.

"I understand that everyone's very excited about the appearance of a hero, but we must give our guests space and privacy!"

As the crowd started to reluctantly disperse, the man turned to speak to Richard.

"My name's Thomas Aimson, I'm the mayor of Sanctos Town. I'm sorry to have taken so long to get here – I was on urgent business out of town and I only just got back."

"Ah, no worries!"

Richard frowned though. Was the mayor going to ask for Chena to become a permanent resident of Sanctos Town as well?

"I apologise on behalf of the town for all the fuss. Our town used to have a poochyena living here who helped see off pests in the streets, so the people are quite attached to the species. I hope that they haven't caused you too much trouble."

"It's fine…" Richard bit his lip. "But they were saying something about Chena staying here to become their local hero…"

"Ah, they were, were they?"

The mayor let out a sigh and pinched his forehead. He looked troubled.

"Were they being serious about it?"

Nicola moved over to join the conversation. Richard was glad to have her support.

"I believe so, yes. Our old local hero was very popular, so I imagine that a lot of people like the idea of having a poochyena…mightyena, in this case, back on the streets. It's become a little bit of an obsession. In fact, there's been discussion on the council about the prospect of finding a poochyena to be a new hero…"

He paused to let out a sigh.

"But don't you worry. They tend to get a little like this whenever a trainer with a poochyena passes through. Since yours saved the children at the park, it seems that he became more popular than usual, but they'll quickly move on. We're not going to force the two of you to part if it's against your wishes – if we find a poochyena to be the new hero, it won't be one we've forcibly taken from a trainer!"

"That's a relief! I was worried for a while there."

Richard reached out and ruffled the fur on the back of Chena's neck. The mightyena leant back slightly, pressing his head further against his hand.

"Well, I think that answers that question. If it's alright with you, Sir, I think we'd all like to get to the pokémon centre for some rest."

James had stepped forwards, keen to get them moving again. Now that the crowd had dissipated, they wouldn't have any trouble reaching the pokémon centre.

"Yes, of course." The mayor nodded. "I shan't hold you up any longer. If you need anything else during your stay in Sanctos Town, then feel free to contact the town hall."

The four trainers watched him as he turned and started walking back towards the town hall. A strong feeling of tiredness suddenly came over them, as if all the excitement of the day had suddenly caught up to them.

"Right, let's get going."

James turned and started leading the way towards the pokémon centre. The others quickly followed behind, Chena ambling along beside Richard.

"Looks like everything turned out okay in the end."

Nicola smiled at him as she dropped back to walk on Chena's other side.

"Yeah. I have to admit, it kind of felt good being the centre of attention, even if it was because of Chena. But I was a little worried for a bit that he'd prefer to stay here instead of carrying on with me. And, you know, he just evolved into a mightyena!"

Chena barked, as if protesting that there had ever been a serious risk of him leaving.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm completely tired out after today! I say that we get dinner and head straight up to crash on our beds!"

Will grinned at them as he walked ahead.

"Sounds like a plan to me," James added. "We need to talk about where we want to head next."

Worn out from the day's events, but relieved that they could finally rest, the group walked off in the direction of the pokémon centre.

* * *

 **Sorry about the delay on this chapter.**

 **Probably not the subtlest of developments this time. Yes, Chena has evolved into a mightyena and, on a related note, I've actually remembered to update his ability in the team listings! I had some fun coming up with ideas for this chapter and I thought it was a good opportunity to give Chena some attention after all the focus I've had on the newer pokémon.**

 **Because of the way the end of the battle with the koffing and muk was written, I felt it wouldn't fit to have an explanation on why Self-Destruct failed within the dialogue – everyone was rather distracted with Chena's evolution after all! Since it was raining in Sanctos Town during the battle (as stated earlier in the chapter), I assumed it would replicate the conditions of the Damp ability, which prevents explosions from occurring.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	50. Pressure for Victory

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Chena was proclaimed a hero and almost adopted by the good people of Sanctos Town, who were perhaps slightly too overenthusiastic about him saving some kids from a pair of wild pokémon. He also evolved into a mightyena.**

 **Upload Date: 9** **th** **February 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 50: Pressure for Victory**

 _Kellen City, Hoenn_

 _1:45pm, 31_ _st_ _May 2006_

Further along the coast of the bay, the main road on Route 114 lead to Kellen City. Apparently, it was possible to see Fallarbor Town across the bay from this city on a clear day, but with all the clouds in the sky, it was impossible to see very much out there at all. It wasn't very far from Sanctos Town, maybe only about three or so hours on foot, so the usual early start had turned into an early end for that day's travelling.

The guidebook hadn't offered that much insight into what kind of place it was, but the group had come to know what to expect in most of the lesser known places in Hoenn. As long as there was a pokémon centre for them to stay at for the night, then there wasn't much to worry about. They'd already swiftly concluded that there wasn't a pokémon gym in the city, which meant that it was going to be a stopover and little more.

That, however, was before they discovered that there was an upcoming contest the following day. It seemed like an excellent opportunity to make another attempt to collect contest ribbons for both James and Nicola.

"Are you guys sure that you're ready for another contest? I mean, the last one was only a couple of days ago."

Richard frowned as he looked between the two of them. They'd all gathered in the trainers' lounge so that they could talk about their plans. While he wasn't that worried about James, he could tell that Nicola still felt down over what had happened in Fallarbor Town.

Nulin and Tricky, both out of their balls, looked pretty enthusiastic though, so perhaps there was something to the idea.

"I get what you're saying but I still think that we really need to take part in every contest we can. The more we compete, the better our chances of managing to win all the ribbons we need to get to the Grand Festival."

"Well, I mean, you're not wrong there. Wouldn't it be a waste if you knew that you weren't going to be able to perform your best though?"

James fell silent, Richard's tone and choice of words making it clear that his concerns were directed more at Nicola than at him. Honestly, she was the only one who could make that decision for herself.

Nicola seemed to have picked up Richard's meaning as well, her face becoming slightly more downcast. Maybe it would be better if she did hold off on taking part again until she felt better? Before she could speak, however, Will intervened.

"How about we think about something else for a bit? Do we need to stock up on supplies at all?"

"Just non-essentials," James replied. "We're good for food at the moment and it's best to leave that until just before leaving anyway."

"Nicola and I will sort that out then. Can you make us a list, James?"

"Sure. No problem."

James agreed to Richard's request. He quickly pulled some paper and a pen from his bag.

* * *

 _2:27pm, 31_ _st_ _May 2006_

Richard and Nicola walked around Poké Mart largely in silence, moving from aisle to aisle to find what they were looking for. It wasn't a very long list, but it felt as though it was taking them a while.

"Batteries," Nicola said as she pulled a pack off of the rack and dropped it into the basket Richard was carrying.

"Thanks."

Richard wanted to try and talk to her about what was bothering her, but he wasn't sure exactly how to start. He knew what it was like to feel demotivated after a string of defeats – he'd been there himself before too. But he also knew that handling things the wrong way would only make her feel worse. Quite frankly, he didn't want her to compete if she was like this, but he also knew that running away would be bad as well.

Was it best to intervene and risk making things worse, or to leave her alone to suffer by herself? That was his dilemma.

As they finished their tour of the shop and started walking towards the checkout, he finally reached a decision and began to tentatively speak.

"How are you feeling? You know, about the contest?"

He waited nervously as Nicola listened and thought about how to respond.

"I'm…nervous."

"Nervous?"

Well, that was understandable. Perfectly understandable.

"Whenever I think about the judges and the audience, my chest tightens and my heart starts beating faster. I get restless and I can't stop worrying about what might go wrong."

"Do you think you could go up there again? On the stage, I mean."

"Well, I guess so. It's not really me who's performing, is it?"

Nicola smiled painfully. She was right, but the coordinator had a lot of responsibility as well. Aside from coming up with combinations that would fit together to make the performance, the pokémon would look to her for direction. They were relying on her.

He said as much to her, which caused a frown to cross her face.

"I hadn't thought about it like that. Maybe I'm just not doing enough to create interesting combinations."

"Don't forget that you made it through the appeals round last time!"

"Well, I guess…"

There was a break in the conversation as they reached the checkout. It gave Richard a chance to think through what he was trying to say to her. Just like the gym challenge, it was tough on the contest circuit. There were chances for victory and elation, but also for defeat and despair. It wasn't something that everyone could cope with. Did she want to go for it anyway?

"Do you…enjoy contests?"

He spoke again as they stepped out of Poké Mart. Nicola looked over at him, taken aback momentarily by the sudden question. After a couple of seconds though, she smiled at him.

"Yeah. I do."

"Even though it's hard? Even though…"

He stopped himself before he could say 'you keep losing'.

"Yes." Nicola nodded. "Planning appeals and working with my pokémon to make sure their performances go okay – it's really fun and I love it. That's why I really want to go to the Grand Festival. And it would be really nice to be able to get something to recognise all the effort I put in…"

Richard smiled and stretched his arms behind his head.

"Well, I guess that answers my question."

"I wouldn't _not_ answer you if you asked a question. That would be rude."

"Nah, I mean…I was trying to figure out if you should compete in the contest or not."

"That's my choice, isn't it?"

"Then what have you decided?"

Nicola looked ahead and fell silent for a couple of seconds before turning back.

"I'm going to compete, and I'm going to try my hardest as always!"

* * *

 _2:52pm, 31_ _st_ _May 2006_

After arriving back at the pokémon centre, Nicola and Richard met up with James and Will, and Nicola told them about her decision to participate in the contest. This didn't seem to come as a big surprise to them.

"I thought you'd probably do that in the end," said Will.

James nodded in agreement. He seemed a little on edge himself as he started to speak.

"Look, Nicola. I was thinking about it a lot while you were gone and I decided that it would be best if I didn't take part in this contest. That way you don't have to worry about having as a potential rival."

"Huh?" Nicola seemed pretty surprised by this. Her expression quickly turned into a frown though. "That doesn't solve anything!"

"What do you mean? Don't you want the best chance of winning?"

"Don't make it sound like I'll never be able to win if we're both competing in the same contest! If I only win because 'you're not there', then that's not the same as truly winning."

"It wouldn't be because I'm not there – it just means that you have fewer rivals to beat."

"But I want to beat you! I want to take you on at your best and be able to win. It's not just about the ribbons – it's about feeling like I'm actually getting better at this."

The discussion seemed to have quickly become heated. Richard and Will decided to keep out of it for now, watching the other two carefully as James considered his response.

"Would you refuse to participate if I didn't?"

"Yes!"

James let out a sigh, though it was more of relief than exasperation. A small smile appeared on his face.

"I guess I messed up there – sorry, Nicola! Looks like we'll be competing against each other again after all."

"Good! I'll force you to respect me as a coordinator, no matter the cost!"

* * *

A competitive atmosphere had settled over them after that. Both James and Nicola vowed that they would go all out again and hold nothing back against each other. By that point, both had silently agreed that they would be doing their planning and training separately.

Really, it was something that needed to have happened sooner or later anyway. Going into the competition knowing exactly how the other had prepared undermined their vows. The fact that James tended to take the lead in joint-planning had also increasingly irked Nicola over the last month.

Instead, she'd made a loose set of plans herself and dragged Richard out to one of the practice arenas to help her test them. He wasn't able to help much with the technicalities in the same way James could, but he could at least give her his opinion on how they appeared. His team made for good opponents for training for the battle round as well.

"That looked pretty good to me."

"Hmm. I feel like there's something not quite right about it though…"

The theory behind Mule's new combination had been sound. Shooting a stream of embers directly into the air before hitting them as they descended with another stream had created a pretty lightshow at least. Nicola had named it 'Ember Shower'. However, she'd been hoping that the collision of embers would have created more impact. It looked half-baked at the moment.

At least the other half of training seemed to be proceeding alright. Tricky and Chena were charging at each other, snapping at each other's heels as they scrambled. Despite the rough and tumble, Tricky had learned to take care to attack carefully and use his opponent's momentum against him. He'd started using bites to attack partway through the exercise, though they were mainly little nips designed to harass rather than injure. It could probably be used in battles in a stronger form if they wanted.

"Maybe you need to change the angles of the attack?"

Richard was addressing the problems with Ember Shower. Though he was trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about, it was a next to useless suggestion. The problem was with the visual impact of the combination, and in any case the nature of it meant that it only worked from one angle.

"I think it needs more power. Something that will make the embers burn more brightly when they hit each other…"

"I remember that some fire type pokémon get their power directly from flames inside their body – is that the same for a numel?"

"I mean, I guess so. Mule's body is full of magma after all…"

"Then we should look for some way for her to tap directly into the magma in her body. Perhaps if they're even hotter, then they'll be more explosive when they hit?"

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. I mean, I don't _need_ to use Mule in the appeals round. I could have Tricky go first and then follow with Mule in the battle round."

"You used Tricky back in Syentra and Leevay, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

Nicola let out a sigh. She'd seen how well James had done using Charka's flames in previous contests and there was no reason why Mule couldn't create similar appeals. In many ways, Ember had more appeal value than Flamethrower, given its lower power and capacity for greater interaction with other moves.

On the other hand, Tricky had seemed keen to learn from his experiences in Syentra and Leevay, in both of which he'd failed to progress to the next round. Despite being more well-suited to the battle round, there was a charm to the way he dashed about with his electricity. Another possible option was Mushy, who was the one who had gotten her team through to the battle round in Fallarbor, of course…

As she thought over her options, her eyes fell on Zaggy, who was lying on his back by the side of the arena and pretending to be training by using Rest. It must be nice to not have to worry about anything like that.

"When he stays quiet and doesn't cause trouble like that, I guess he's kinda cute."

"Huh? Oh, you mean Zaggy?"

Richard followed her gaze.

"Yeah. He actually looks quite cute when he's asleep, even if it really annoys me when he does this. It's a shame about what he's normally like."

"You think? I actually quite enjoy his normal mischief."

"That's because you're just watching and don't have to actually deal with him."

"Well, I guess that's right."

The two of them were silent for a couple of seconds.

"Anyway, let's get back to work on Mule's combination!"

"Ah, sure!"

* * *

 _3:43pm, 1_ _st_ _June 2006_

Though the lobby of the contest hall was pretty full when the group stepped through the door, James and Nicola had been fairly relieved to realise that the number of fellow competitors was relatively small. Still, things were far from perfect, especially for Nicola.

Mule had come down sick the previous evening and still hadn't recovered. Tricky was taking her place in the appeals round, but that still left a space open in the battle round she needed to fill. But she'd worry about that if she actually made it through the appeals round. James seemed confident and the other coordinators and their pokémon looked pretty good as well.

Spotting a small, blue pokémon with green leaves sprouting from its head, Nicola instinctively pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Oddish, the weed pokémon. During the daytime, oddish bury themselves in soil to absorb nutrients from the ground using their entire body. The more fertile the soil, the glossier their leaves become. At night, they are said to walk nearly 1,000 feet on their two roots._ "

It didn't seem like much, but Nicola had long since learned that it was unwise to underestimate opponents based on appearance.

After joining the queue at the registration desk, it didn't take long for the two of them to get through the process. Richard and Will had already said their goodbyes and set off for the spectator entrance, so they quickly filed into the holding room with the rest of the coordinators. Neither James nor Nicola spoke – there was little they could really say to each other in this situation.

* * *

 _4:06pm, 1_ _st_ _June 2006_

Despite the comparatively low number of coordinators competing, the MC had wasted no time in kicking off the contest, his enthusiastic tone and cheerful manner quickly getting the crowd psyched up for the coming performances. That there were only a mere thirteen coordinators competing had come as a surprise to Richard and Will though – that meant that over half of them would get through to the next round. It boded well for both James and Nicola, even if it would ultimately be no easier than previous contests once they were in the battle round.

Of course, there were still five people who needed to be eliminated from the competition, so neither of them would be able to relax. They'd need to give their best impressions to guarantee them a spot in the battle rounds.

Fortunately, the lead performance seemed decidedly uninspiring. The coordinator and his wurmple didn't leave much of an impression as he left the stage. Richard was left wondering if he was a rookie coordinator.

"Our next performance is from Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

That was quick!

Richard and Will leaned forwards in their seats as they watched Nicola emerge from the back of the stage. Tricky trotted out by her feet, seeming perfectly at ease with the situation – a big improvement on the last time he'd taken part in the appeals round. As they reached the centre of the stage, the crowd, briefly whispering amongst themselves, fell silent and waited for the performance to begin.

With a nod from Nicola, Tricky began his appeal. Starting off with a howl, he suddenly started sparking electricity across his body as he threw his head back. With a burst of speed, he suddenly tore from side to side. There were several bright flashes as the electricity was scattered in several directions.

This was the core of the performance, emphasising the impressiveness of the electricity and creating an impressive spectacle using Quick Attack. The 'Electrifying Howl' combination Nicola had come up with for the start also gave the performance a starting push, but she hadn't had the time to devise a fully detailed performance for Tricky. There was going to be a lot of reliance on basic moves and combinations from previous contests.

Moving into his second phase, he began the riskier part of his performance. Though he didn't have any ranged electrical attacks, he was still able to manipulate electricity a short distance away from himself thanks to his natural ability to draw electrical power towards him. He took advantage of this, affecting the level of electricity reaching the stage lights overhead and causing them to fade and brighten to help create an atmosphere.

It was a risky move – if he forced too much current to flow through the bulbs, then there was a chance that they could shatter. It would be the end of the performance if that happened. Fortunately, the brief manipulation passed without incident and Nicola was silently thankful that she and Tricky hadn't been attempting the trick the same way that James and Kacha had done in Fallarbor. Directly attacking the lights as Kacha had done made it even harder to control the electrical current.

Just as in Fallarbor, the crowd were impressed by the skilful manipulation of the lighting. There were several claps and cheers from the gloom beyond the stage. Though the rest of the performance consisted of a return to Tricky's usual quick dashes and sparking electricity, he and Nicola were able to end on a high by combining a bite with the dissipation of the electricity surrounding him.

It hadn't gone too badly, considering.

"Thanks to Nicola for that lovely performance! That was certainly one way to steal the spotlight!"

The crowd laughed at the MC's joke as he returned to the stage and Nicola and Tricky left it. She felt relieved that she was through it and privately felt rather confident that she might be able to make it through to the battle round again at least.

* * *

" _Azurill, the polka dot pokémon. An azurill's tail is large and bouncy. It is packed full of the nutrients these pokémon need to grow. Azurill can be seen bouncing and playing on their big, rubbery tails. They can also spin their tails as if they were lassos, then hurl them far. The momentum of the throw sends their body flying, too. Using this unique action, one of these pokémon managed to hurl itself a record 33 feet._ "

Will put his Pokédex away as the latest coordinator and her azurill left the stage. Ten coordinators had now competed and only three were left. As the MC stepped back onto the stage, he announced the name of the next one.

"Next up in contestant number eleven, James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"Looks like he's finally up."

"I was starting to get tired of waiting."

Richard and Will watched as James and Muro came out onto the stage. Both looked calm, though there was no telling exactly what they were thinking. Unlike Tricky, Muro hadn't taken part in the appeal round before.

"Let's go!"

With a short shout from James, Muro stamped his foot. After a second, he repeated, getting faster this time. He started stamping with both feet before finally emitting a loud shout and swinging his arms around violently. Though the loudred's shouts were normally pretty painful to listen to for an extended period of time, he was carefully controlling his volume this time.

He charged around the stage, swaying and spinning around as he reached each edge and then ran the other way. His large ears continued emitting loud bursts of noise, controlled to the level where it impressed the audience without deafening them. It wasn't a performance that had much visual impact in the same way as James and Kacha's appeal back in Fallarbor, but it had its own charm and seemed to be getting through to the audience.

As he brought the performance to an end, Muro made a massive leap into the air using the momentum from his stamping. He managed to perform a front flip and landed by slamming his foot into the stage. It was an abrupt shift that left the audience momentarily stunned before they started to applaud.

James and Muro waved to the audience as they left the stage.

* * *

 _4:49pm, 1_ _st_ _June 2006_

There was tension in the air in the holding room as the coordinators all returned from their post-appeals round break and gathered to watch for the results of the first performances. James and Nicola were sat next to each other, their eyes glued to the screen as the first coordinators who'd made it to the battle round started appearing.

"Yes!"

James reacted instinctively as he spotted his picture appear. A few seconds later, he and Nicola both cried out in excitement as her picture appeared too. This time, they'd been drawn against different coordinators and, being on separate halves of the tournament tree, they wouldn't have to worry about facing each other until they reached the finals.

They both let out sighs of relief and grinned at each other.

"Great work. You deserved it after that performance."

"Thanks! I was surprised with how well it went – Tricky wasn't supposed to be my appeal pokémon. I'm not surprised that you and Muro made it through though."

"I am a little. It was much plainer than anything we've done before – we were really gambling on the finer details!"

Around them, the rest of the coordinators were either celebrating moving up or lamenting being knocked out at the first stage. Nicola couldn't help but feel sorry for the five who'd been eliminated – she knew how painful it was after all the effort that went into performances. Still, of the eight remaining contestants, only one would emerge victorious. As ever, she was painfully aware that it was impossible for both her and James to come away from this victorious.

"Well, make sure you give it your all in the battle round," James said as someone appeared to summon the first two coordinators for their battle.

"I will. I'm not going to give up until I've got that ribbon!"

"Same here!"

The two of them grinned at each other again.

* * *

 _5:49pm, 1_ _st_ _June 2006_

As it turned out, the remaining coordinators in the contest were made of tough stuff – they didn't want to give up either! The first battle had been drawn out, with the victor only winning by slicing off a few extra points just as time ran out.

James had fought next, but he and Nulin had been decisively crushed by a coordinator named Irene, who had polled second overall in the appeals round. Despite his disappointment at having been eliminated so decisively, James gave his full support to Nicola and passed along what he'd picked up on Irene's style during their bout.

Fortunately, Nicola's opponent lacked the same skills and she and Kipa were able to win. The battle had tired him out though and she'd rotated over to Mushy for the semi-final battle. This one had been a far tougher fight and at one point Nicola's points had dropped to more than half of her opponent's. Defeat had seemed almost certain, but Mushy was able to stage a fierce comeback. At the last minute, she'd hit the opposing plusle with a head-on attack and knocked it out, which wiped out all of her opponent's remaining points with only seconds to spare.

She'd managed to advance far further than she had previously, but Nicola was still worried. The second battle had worn Mushy out too much and she didn't think that Kipa was in much better of a condition either. She was starting to suspect that they might be coming down with the same illness that had put Mule out of action.

The rules of the contest stated that the pokémon used in the appeals round couldn't be used in the battle round except under exceptional circumstances, which left her with only one pokémon as she went into the final. Really, it was hardly surprising that she was feeling rather defeated already – her opponent would be Irene, the same coordinator who'd crushed James and her semi-final opponent. And she had to do it with Zaggy, the one member of her team who had very little contest training.

It was going to be a disaster, wasn't it?

Still, James had chastised her for thinking that way and packed her off back to the stage when the time came. Clutching Zaggy's poké ball tightly in her hand, she walked cautiously after Irene on the way to the stage.

Somehow, the stage lights seemed even more oppressive as they took their positions facing each other across the stage. Irene seemed calm and confident. If there was any kind of doubt or nervousness in her heart, then she was very good at hiding it.

"Begin!"

The clock started ticking down as both coordinators threw their poké balls and the pokémon burst out onto the stage. Zaggy meandered forwards, seeming largely indifferent to the bug pokémon that had appeared opposite him. With its confident demeanour and the bright light shining on its tail, it looked like it would be a tough opponent.

Up in the stands, Richard pulled out his Pokédex as the battle began.

" _Volbeat, the firefly pokémon. With the arrival of night, volbeat emit light from their tails. They communicate with others by adjusting the intensity and flashing of their lights. These pokémon is attracted by the sweet aroma of illumise._ "

"It sounds like Nicola's going to have a tough time with that pokémon."

"Depends on how Zaggy behaves."

Richard put his Pokédex away as he spoke to Will and turned his attention back to the battle below.

After dodging a poorly-aimed attack from Zaggy, Irene's volbeat summoned a group of doubles which appeared around him. They all flashed the light on their tails before firing pink beams of energy towards Zaggy. He attempted to dodge but was struck by the single real beam and was thrown back. His and Nicola's points were starting to drop significantly.

"Use Quick Attack, Kei!" Irene called.

With a nod, Kei sprang forwards with a burst of light, his doubles following in his wake. Zaggy had already pulled himself up though and, with a quick smirk, fired himself directly towards his opponent just as he drew close. Zaggy's momentum carried him forwards and sent Kei flying backwards, his doubles vanishing.

"Tackle!"

Nicola decided that they needed to press this sudden advantage as much as possible. However, Zaggy seemed to have other ideas. Having dropped back to the ground, he flopped down on his belly and started snoring.

"Zaggy!"

As Zaggy snoozed, Kei recovered and hauled himself back into the air. He looked pretty angry – probably a wounded pride after Zaggy's sudden counter. He summoned his doubles again and, repeating his earlier performance, fired a pink beam towards his sleeping opponent.

Nicola screwed her eyes shut as the beam approached, only to hear a surprised gasp followed by laughter from the audience. Opening her eyes again, she realised that Zaggy had rolled over in his sleep, putting him just out of where Kei's attack had been aimed.

"Again!"

Irene didn't seem impressed by Zaggy's lucky escape. She quickly ordered Kei back into another attack.

Kei was happy to oblige. With a shout, he fired another beam towards Zaggy. There was no lucky escape this time. Zaggy was struck by the beam and thrown back, landing with a crash near Nicola. However, the shock of it shook him awake again. He stumbled forwards blearily, staggering slightly from side to side.

Kei now dived forwards again, intending to strike Zaggy while he was still vulnerable. He drew close, this time watching carefully for any sign of a counter attack.

Instead, Zaggy suddenly leaped forwards, just under the attack. Kei just managed to pull up in time, avoiding a potentially humiliating collision with the stage. Zaggy, meanwhile, was completely alert again. Having turned back to face Kei, he was hunched with his forequarters down close to the ground, wagging his tail excitedly.

"Use Quick Attack again!"

At Irene's words, Kei charged forwards again, this time managing to strike Zaggy before he could react.

"Are you alright?" Nicola cried out in alarm as Zaggy landed with a thud on the stage.

However, the zigzagoon quickly jumped back up and started bouncing from side to side, tail wagging enthusiastically. Kei fired another pink beam at him, only for him to dart playfully out of the way. He grinned cheerfully up at the volbeat as he prepared for another attack.

For a short while, Nicola could only stand and stare at Zaggy. He bounced around the stage as Kei tried to attack him, sometimes being clipped by attacks and sometimes evading them completely. She strained her brain to think of possible counters they could use to strike Kei but found herself smiling at Zaggy's enthusiasm. He was treating the whole thing like it was just a game!

Suddenly, it was as if a weight lifted off of her.

Of course! The whole idea of participating in a contest was to have fun and that was exactly what Zaggy was doing.

"Keep it up, Zaggy!"

She cheered him on, deciding to embrace it as well. If they were going to lose anyway, then she might as well enjoy the battle while it lasted.

Zaggy rolled to the side, back towards Nicola, as Kei fired another pink beam towards him. The volbeat dived after him, only for Zaggy to react to Nicola's quick order and headbutt him as hard as he could. As they separated, Kei hunched over and clutching his stomach as he tried to recover, Zaggy dropped backwards and started scratching at the stage.

Nicola realised that he was attempting to dig a hole, but there was no way he was getting through that tough floor. Still, his passionate attempts to dig made her laugh out loud. Hearing her, he stopped and shot her a disapproving look that only made her laugh more. Beyond the stage lights, she could hear laughter in the crowd as well.

"Signal Beam!"

Irene sounded increasingly angry, frustrated that Zaggy was seemingly just playing around. Kei seemed just as incensed as she did, pulling himself into the air and firing another beam of energy at him.

Zaggy sprang forwards with a quick leap, avoiding the attack. A follow-up caught him on the side and sent him flying back towards Nicola. As soon as he landed, however, he was back to wagging his tail.

Kei fired another beam of energy at him, only for Zaggy to bound to the right. Then he lay down and started sleeping again. As his satisfied snoring filled the air, it seemed that Irene and Kei had exhausted what remained of their patience.

"Quick Attack! Finish him off!"

Kei charged with a flash of light. He drew closer to Zaggy, aiming straight for him. When he was just a matter of inches away, the zigzagoon suddenly rolled over again. Kei brushed past Zaggy's stomach and slammed into the ground with a crash.

"Time's up!"

Time?

Nicola had become so caught up in what Zaggy was doing that she'd completely forgotten about the timer! She spun around to look at the results.

She felt her heart catch in her throat.

The points bars were closer than she could have possibly imagined. It took her a couple of seconds to recognise the different amounts in each one and even then, she still couldn't register them, continuing looking from one to the other to make sure that she hadn't made a mistake.

"Time's up!" the MC called as he stepped back onto the stage. "What a fantastic final!"

"A fine battle indeed!"

The head judge got to her feet.

"The winner is Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"We did it," Nicola murmured as the screen changed to display pictures of her and Zaggy. Relief flooded through her and a smile broke out on her face. She reached down and scooped the still-dozing Zaggy into her arms before walking over towards the MC and head judge. She suddenly became aware of the cheering of the crowd as she approached.

She offered her hand to Irene, who took it reluctantly. As they shook hands, she pulled Nicola closer to her.

"Don't think that an amateurish performance like that will get you anywhere at the Grand Festival."

"Huh…?"

Before Nicola could say anything else, Irene separated from her and started walking off towards the stage exit. Her volbeat buzzed along behind her, occasionally throwing dirty looks at Zaggy, who was still asleep in Nicola's arms.

"That was certainly an entertaining performance, Miss Hewitt."

The head judge was addressing her, so she quickly forgot about Irene and turned back to look at her.

"It was pretty much all Zaggy. He was the one who chose to fight that way."

"Yet you decided to trust him instead of trying to bring him to heel. That's one of the things that I enjoy most when watching contests – seeing coordinators who trust their pokémon's judgement and truly show the bond they share."

"…Thanks."

Nicola suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She felt like she spent half her time chasing around after Zaggy whenever he started causing trouble. Given how unruly he was, the idea that she'd created a bond with him hadn't crossed her mind. The fact that he was fast sleep in her arms hit her – perhaps he trusted her as well, even if he didn't realise it.

"Please accept the Kellen ribbon on behalf of your wonderful team. I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to seeing your future performances!"

"Thank you very much!"

Nicola took the ribbon the head judge was presenting to her, carefully adjusting her grip on Zaggy to prevent him accidentally getting dropped. As she felt the smooth fabric against her palm, her victory started to truly sink in. She suddenly found herself smiling widely.

She'd actually won!

* * *

 _7:28pm, 1_ _st_ _June 2006_

"L-Like I said, you didn't have to do this!"

"What are you talking about? You won your first ribbon – if that's not a reason to celebrate, then I don't know what is!"

"Just accept it, Nicola. We're doing this because we want to celebrate too."

"But what about…"

Nicola glanced cautiously at James.

The four of them were sat around a table in a restaurant near the centre of Kellen City. The menu was one of the most expensive that Nicola had seen in the city, but Richard had insisted that they go there. And they were covering her meal as well – it was only fitting for the victor of the Kellen contest, after all!

Nicola still felt bad though, and particularly for James, who had come along as well despite his own loss in the contest.

"Don't worry about me. These things happen, and I think that eating good food helps with defeat as well!"

"See? James is fine with it! He's used to losing anyway, so don't worry about a thing! Have you decided what you're going to order?"

Richard nodded in the direction of the menu Nicola was holding.

"What should I have? Since you guys are treating me, I don't want to have anything too expensive…"

"No need to hold back! Tonight's your night after all!"

"In that case, maybe I'll have the fillet steak…"

Richard winced. That was the most expensive thing on the menu. Spotting him, Will gently kicked his shin to remind him that he wasn't going to be wriggling out of his promise.

"I guess I'll go for the seafood salad then."

That would balance the cost a little bit.

At that moment, the waiter returned with their drinks and asked to take their food order. Once he'd left, the other three all raised their glasses.

"Congratulations on winning the Kellen contest, Nicola!"

"Thanks!"

Nicola happily took a sip of her drink. She made a mental note to remember to buy a reward for her team before they left the city tomorrow. On that subject…

"Where are we heading after this?"

Richard and Will immediately looked at James, so Nicola looked over at him as well.

"There's an interesting mountain near here called Meteor Falls. I thought we could pass through there on our way down towards Rustboro City."

"Meteor Falls, huh? I wonder what kind of place it is?"

"I bet we could find lots of rare pokémon there!"

"I'm starting to get excited now!"

"We'll set off for Kasena Town tomorrow. It's at the foot of Meteor Falls, so it'll make a nice final stop before we attempt to cross it. I don't think it's too far from here, so we can have a nice, relaxed morning tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me!"

Nicola smiled happily as they continued discussing their plans for the following day. She was sure that there were more challenges ahead for her, but for now she wanted to savour this feeling. After all, she was fairly confident that this was the last time that the other three would promise to buy her anything on the menu at an expensive restaurant!

* * *

 **Since a lot of my chapter titles and synopses seem to give you a pretty clear idea of what's going to happen, the only way I can reliably keep you guessing is over the exact way things are going to play out. On that subject, I hope that the unexpected return of the Poké Mart came as a pleasant surprise to you all!**

 **I had quite a lot of fun with the battle between Kei and Zaggy at the end of the contest. It felt fitting that Nicola's salvation should come from the one pokémon that's given her the most headaches! I like to think that Zaggy really wanted to win in his own way as well.**

 **Also, if someone ever offers to treat you, then don't hold back – it's their own silly fault! :P**

 **Oh yeah, in all the chaos of Chapter 49's upload, I completely forgot to make a bigger-than-necessary deal out of surpassing the word count for** _ **Pokémon Journey: Sevii Islands**_ **.** _ **Hoenn**_ **is now my second largest story in both chapters and words now.**

 **Since this is Chapter 50, that would normally mean that I get a week off next week before working on Chapter 51, but since I'll be away on holiday at the end of March, I'll take my week off from uploads then instead. You're welcome!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	51. An Unexpected Duel

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Nicola successfully won her first contest ribbon in the contest in Kellen City. The group now turn their attention towards the nearby Meteor Falls.**

 **Upload Date: 16** **th** **February 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 51: An Unexpected Duel**

 _Kellen City, Hoenn_

 _11:01am, 2_ _nd_ _June 2006_

"Is it just you down here?"

Nicola raised a hand in greeting as she approached Richard, who was waiting by the exit to the lobby of the pokémon centre. She'd been expecting James and Will to both be down by now as well.

"Will went back to sleep for a bit, so it's taking a little longer to get everything packed up. James said I should head down ahead of them and wait for you here." Richard gestured to her bag. "I'd put that down if I were you – we're probably going to be waiting for a little while."

"Is this alright? Shouldn't we already be on the road now?"

"Don't worry about it. It's only a couple of hours on foot to Kasena Town and we don't want to go further than that until we know we've got everything that we need to get across Meteor Falls."

"I get that, but won't it get busier later on in the day?"

"You mean the shops? Maybe, but James seems to think it'll be okay. They should be down relatively soon anyway…"

After finalising their plans over breakfast, the four of them had decided that they didn't need to rush today and could head for Kasena Town at a more relaxed pace than normal, but after two months of travelling, it was hard to shake off the habits they'd built up. Leaving the pokémon centre and setting off after eleven o'clock made Nicola feel instinctively antsy. It normally meant that they wouldn't be able to cover as much ground as they'd been intending that day.

There was a part of her that wanted to spend more time relaxing once they reached that day's destination though. It would be better than having the imminent walk up there still hanging over them. She silently cursed Will for the delay – he could sleep again once they got to Kasena Town!

Fortunately, they weren't waiting as long as she feared they might.

James and Will both appeared, backpacks on their backs and looking at least slightly ready for what lay ahead.

"Sorry for the holdup. I just wanted to do a final sweep of the room before we left."

James grinned at them apologetically.

"No worries," Richard replied. "Shall we get going?"

"Sure. You remember which way we need to go?"

"Pretty much. Keep the guidebook out just in case though."

"The one day I could have had a lie-in…"

As Will sighed, they stepped towards the doors, which whirred open for them. The sunlight was bright enough today that they needed to shield their eyes for a couple of seconds while they adjusted. It certainly felt like summer had arrived.

* * *

 _Route 114, Hoenn_

 _12:28pm, 2_ _nd_ _June 2006_

"Don't run so far ahead!"

Nicola called out as Zaggy raced away along the road ahead of the group. He looked back at her with a mischievous grin before continuing on.

James laughed as Nicola wearily started chasing after him.

"You can give him some freedom for now, can't you?"

"You're only saying that because your pokémon are so well-behaved!"

That was true, James had to concede. Though Kacha was scampering around slightly ahead of the group, sniffing at flowers by the side of the road, Charka and Muro were both walking calmly, looking around at their surroundings and otherwise enjoying being out in the fresh air. Nulin was soaring through the air above them with Turkey.

"Don't you join him as well!" Nicola exclaimed as Kipa started running ahead of the group as well, Mushy and Tricky following him. Only the placid Mule seemed content to plod along behind.

"You need to learn to control them more. At the rate you're going, you'll end up giving someone trouble."

Richard called after her as she ran to catch up with Kipa and Mushy. Though he said that, Chena had run after the others as well. He knew that the mightyena would return when called though, whereas Zaggy almost certainly wouldn't. Naro, Arro and Dish walked alongside him, while Vortex was spinning its way forwards just in front of him. He thought that he'd been able to bond with it slightly over the last few days, but it was difficult to tell with something that didn't really express emotions that much.

"Yeah, you need to put in more effort, Nicola!" Will called.

"I don't want to hear that from you!"

The only pokémon that Will really had to control was Toya, who was plodding along just in front of him. Turkey was still flying with Nulin – in fact, the two of them might have been racing for all he could tell – and Gulpy tended not to be allowed out that often on account of the smell.

Suddenly, Kipa fired a brief jet of water ahead. It landed close to Zaggy, who jumped to one side in surprise. The marshtomp shouted firmly at him, not looking all that impressed. Tricky also raced forwards to cut Zaggy off and leave an opening for Nicola to grab him.

Nicola's eyes lit up in delight. "Kipa! Tricky! You were helping out after all!"

"I guess Kipa's learning to act more like a team leader," said James.

Nicola made a failed attempt to grab Zaggy, who darted just out of reach at the last minute. As he scampered forwards, he suddenly spotted a majestic pokémon covered in cream-coloured fur with a golden hue sitting on a small hill by the side of the road further ahead. It had a number of tails which were all swaying and twisting around – it looked a little like the billowing of flames.

"Wow! What kind of pokémon is that?"

Nicola finally grabbed hold of Zaggy, but also spotted the pokémon.

"Oh! That's a ninetales. They're quite rare in Kanto, but I guess you can find them here in Hoenn as well," said James.

"They're rare? Then why would one appear this close to civilisation?"

Will frowned as they started to draw closer.

"Who knows? Just make sure that you don't make any sudden movements – we'll scare it off if we're not careful."

"It's probably a trained pokémon. Look – it's already noticed us."

As James pointed out, the ninetales had looked in their direction, watching them as they got closer. It didn't seem the least bit afraid of them, even with all the other pokémon out with them.

Nicola tucked Zaggy firmly under one arm and fished out her Pokédex.

" _Ninetales, the fox pokémon and the evolved form of vulpix. According to folklore, ninetales can live for over a thousand years. The older a ninetales gets, the more golden its fur becomes. They are highly intelligent and can even understand human speech. Legend has it that grabbing one of its nine tails will lay a curse on you_."

"A curse?"

"That's probably just a rumour. Plenty of people train ninetales and I've never heard of anything like that happening."

"I swear, sometimes the Pokédex sounds more like a joke than an encyclopaedia!"

As they got closer to the ninetales, they quickly realised that it was indeed a trained pokémon when a girl appeared and spotted them.

"Huh?"

"Oh! It's Mia!"

Nicola shouted out in realisation and waved to her with her free hand.

"Y-You guys?"

"Long time, no see!" James called to her. "How did Slateport go?"

"Oh, it went well, thanks," Mia replied bashfully. "I guess you guys were in the Kellen contest?"

"That's right. Were you hoping to compete as well?"

"Yeah. I arrived too late to register though…"

"That's a shame. It would have been nice to compete against each other again."

"Y-Yeah."

"Is this your ninetales?"

Richard pointed at the ninetales, who had remained in place as Mia stood next to it.

"Oh, yes. This is Vixa, one of my other team members. She's been with me for a while now."

"Wow! She's such an amazing pokémon," said Will. "Even though she's so beautiful, she gives off this sense of being really strong."

"Hey, Mia!" Nicola rummaged through her bag and pulled out her ribbon case. She took out her newly-won Kellen ribbon and held it up proudly. "I won my first ribbon yesterday!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Mia finally turned to Nicola and responded icily. She pulled out her own ribbon case and opened it. There were three ribbons carefully arranged inside.

"Wow, three ribbons! You've been doing well!" said James. "I've only got two myself."

"Thanks," Mia replied bashfully. "Getting two is really impressive as well – you must be getting much better!"

"Umm…?" Nicola looked between the two of them for a second. "Why the difference in treatment?"

Mia ignored her.

"Are you heading to Kasena Town?"

"Yeah. Are you heading in the same direction?" James asked. "If you want, we could travel together."

"Oh! Yeah, come with us, Mia!" Nicola cried enthusiastically. "I was hoping you could give me some advice on my combinations…"

"Ouch! Are you saying that my help isn't enough?"

"Ah, well, I already rely on you to help me plan for contests and gym battles, so I thought I could give you a break…"

"You don't need to worry about that – I'm always happy to help. Although…"

Mia gritted her teeth.

"Thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid that I still have training I want to get done," she replied stiffly, turning away from them. "Come on, Vixa!"

The ninetales gave a brief yap before turning to follow Mia away.

The four trainers watched her go.

"Aw, that's a shame," Nicola sighed.

"I was hoping to get some advice from her too. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be other opportunities to talk to her."

James tugged on the straps of his backpack as he started moving forwards again.

"Anyway, let's get moving. The sooner we get to Kasena Town, the sooner we finish for the day."

"Right behind you!"

Richard quickly followed him.

"No sense in hanging around."

Will and Nicola turned back to the road and continued walking as well. The pokémon were quick to follow them.

* * *

 _Kasena Town, Hoenn_

 _1:51pm, 2_ _nd_ _June 2006_

Arriving in Kasena Town, the group had quickly found that it was an old, quaint town that clearly had a lot of history. As they had crossed the bridge across the mouth of the river that flowed into the sea there, they'd spotted an old castle standing out from beyond some trees on a hill on the far bank. The pokémon centre wasn't that far from there.

Route 114 and the north-east of Hoenn wasn't considered a great trainer destination, as they'd found from the fleeting details in the guidebook, but this also meant that there was far less of a worry that there'd be no space at the pokémon centres along the way.

They'd duly booked two rooms and gathered in the one the boys had taken to look through their supplies and talk over their proposed crossing of Meteor Falls.

"It looks like there are several paths through the mountains, but the guidebook doesn't go into much detail. It just highlights the main route through and a couple of the minor ones."

James let out a sigh and scratched his head as he gazed at the page in the guidebook.

"Does it matter?" Nicola asked. "We're just passing through, after all. And you already said that not as many trainers come up to this part of the region."

"That's true, I guess."

"Where's your sense of adventure, Nicola?"

Richard grinned at her as he finished emptying everything from his backpack.

"How's it going with all of that?"

James abandoned the guidebook and glanced around at Richard, Nicola and Will. The three of them had been diligently pulling out the supplies that were divided up between their backpacks and arranging them on the carpet so that they could easily count what they had.

"I think this is everything."

Will frowned as he replied. Richard and Nicola had picked up some supplies when they were in Kellen City, but whether what they had would still be enough to last them through Meteor Falls with potentially no chance of restocking was another question.

James quickly scribbled a list of the things they were short on and pulled himself to his feet, grabbing his backpack as he did.

"I guess we need to make another trip to Poké Mart. I'll head down and get what we're missing. The rest of you can put everything away again."

"Will everything be done after that?"

"Yeah, should be."

"Good! I'm looking forward to having a proper rest!"

As Will stretched his arms and started gathering things to put back in the bags, Nicola scrambled to her feet and walked after James.

"I'll come with you! It'll be useful having an extra pair of hands, right?"

"If you want to come, then I appreciate the help!"

James grinned back at her.

* * *

 _2:08pm, 2_ _nd_ _June 2006_

The Poké Mart in Kasena Town wasn't that far from the pokémon centre. After arriving, James and Nicola had grabbed a basket and started winding their way around to find all of the things on the list.

"Which kind of beef are we getting again?"

Nicola stood in front of the beef section in the meat aisle. The list had just said 'beef', but there seemed to be multiple different brands to choose from.

"I usually go with this kind. It's buy one, get one half price."

James arrived and picked up a pair of packets and put them in the basket. They moved away and started walking towards the end of the aisle in search of the next thing on their list.

"You know, I never realised that Poké Mart offered so much. When I was younger, I always thought that it was just pokémon stuff."

"I mean, it's _mostly_ pokémon stuff. You've seen the size of the sections for pokémon food and other tools for pokémon care."

"No, I meant the fact that you could actually get stuff like food and camping supplies here – things that aren't for pokémon."

"I guess that's an easy assumption to make before becoming a trainer. I've kind of gotten used to it after travelling last year. It's useful though – it means that virtually everything a trainer could need is gathered under one roof."

"Yeah, I can see how that ended up happening now, especially since our trainer cards get us a discount here."

As they turned the next corner, they almost collided with someone coming the other way.

"Ah! Sorry!"

Nicola instinctively called out as she jerked herself backwards at the last moment. It took her a couple of seconds to regain her balance and register the situation.

"Huh? Mia?"

Also reorienting herself after a moment of panic, Mia was stood in front of them. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"S-Sorry!" she immediately said to James. "I wasn't looking where I was going!"

"No, it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry. You're not hurt, are you?"

"Not at all!"

Mia shook her head vigorously. She finally shifted her gaze briefly to Nicola. She momentarily looked a little shocked before a frown appeared on her face. She quickly looked away again.

"Huh?" Nicola murmured in confusion.

"I didn't realise you were going to be so quick behind us. You probably could have come along with us after all."

"I only just got here and came straight here, so…"

"Oh, so you weren't as close as I thought. That's a shame."

"M-Maybe next time…"

"Sure. Anyway, I guess we've all got shopping we need to be doing." James turned back to look at Nicola. "Come on, Nicola. Let's get the rest of the shopping done!"

"Sure, got it!"

"Sh-Shopping…together…?" Mia mumbled weakly. "It's like…" She pulled her head up and fixed Nicola with a fierce expression. "I want to fight you in a battle, Nicola Hewitt!"

"What?" Nicola blinked in surprise. Her own expression hardened. She didn't know why Mia kept acting this way towards her, but she was quickly getting tired of it. If she wanted a fight, then she could have one! "Sure, I'll take that challenge!"

There was a second-long standoff as the two girls glared at each other, only for it to be interrupted by James' firm tone.

"If you want to battle, then that's fine. But shouldn't we get our shopping done first?"

"…Sorry."

Both Mia and Nicola apologised as they broke off eye contact. Nicola started following after James as he walked down the aisle, only to find that Mia had changed direction and was keeping pace with her.

"Why are you following us?" she hissed.

"I'm just doing my shopping!" Mia replied icily. "Sorry if you feel threatened by that!"

"Why would I feel threatened? You think you're going to win that easily?"

"Ah, so you're lashing out – classic insecure behaviour."

Ahead of the two of them, James sighed. Somehow, he felt as though it was going to be a more tiring shopping trip than it should be…

* * *

 _2:31pm, 2_ _nd_ _June 2006_

After finishing the shopping and leaving Poké Mart, Mia led James and Nicola to an open space next to the path up to the castle they'd seen on their way across the river. With the upper levels of the castle visible above the trees surrounding the space, it made for an impressive backdrop.

"How are we doing this then?"

James looked between the two girls, taking it upon himself to act as referee.

"Just one on one," said Mia, looking over at Nicola.

"That's fine by me!"

"Alright, let's get this started then. One on one, first side to knock out a pokémon is the winner. Begin as soon as you're ready."

"Go, Vixa!"

The beautiful fox pokémon burst out of Mia's poké ball and materialised on the dusty surface of the makeshift arena. She silently sat down, striking a dignified figure as she watched Nicola closely.

It occurred to Nicola that she must make for a daunting opponent in a contest. She pulled out her own poké ball and threw it.

"Go, Mule!"

Mule materialised on the field, blinking slowly at Vixa with a blank look on her face. The difference between the two of them couldn't have been starker.

Mia couldn't help but burst out giggling.

"I think you're going to need more pokéblocks to improve that sheen!"

"Hey! I think she looks great!"

"Sorry!" Straightening up, Mia seemed genuine in her apology. "I know that any pokémon can shine on the stage, but it just looked so funny when she's standing opposite Vixa!"

"Use Ember!" Nicola called.

Mule immediately fired a blast of hot embers towards Vixa. The ninetales made no attempt to dodge, but the embers immediately burned up and vanished as soon as they came into contact with her.

"That was silly! Attacking Vixa with fire-type attacks is pointless!"

"What happened?"

As Nicola tried to process what had happened, she heard James call out to her.

"Ninetales have fire-resistant fur that absorbs the heat of enemy fire attacks and uses it to strengthen their own!"

"So, that's it."

"Confuse Ray!"

Vixa jumped to her feet and fired a series of yellow orbs towards Mule. They swirled around her head as she glanced from side to side, trying to follow them.

"No! Ignore it, Mule!"

But there was no distracting her from them. As they faded, Mule finally looked back at the battlefield with a dazed look on her face. Just in time to be struck by jet of flame that whipped around her into a fiery vortex. Nicola flinched and turned her face away slightly as the heat from it hit her. Mule seemed pretty indifferent to it though.

At that moment, Vixa suddenly sprang forwards with a flash of light. She dived in and struck Mule with a smooth movement. She kept her appearance refined throughout even though the hit had enough power to send Mule flying backwards.

"Use Amnesia!"

An even blanker look than normal came over Mule's face as she staggered forwards again. Vixa fired another jet of flame at her to trap her in place, but Mule was prepared this time. With a sudden burst of speed, she charged forwards, cutting through the flames and slamming into the ninetales with a heavy tackle. She immediately followed it up with a second tackle, smashing into Vixa again and sending her flying back. As the ninetales staggered back to her feet, Mule began charging in for a third attack.

"Why are you so precise? You should be tripping over yourself!" Mia exclaimed. A look of realisation came over her face. "Amnesia – you didn't…!"

"I thought that if Mule could forget the damage she's taken from a hit, then she'd be able to forget being confused!"

"In that case – Vixa, use Quick Attack!"

Vixa sprang forwards at the last moment, darting around Mule's side and barging into her.

"Now's your chance – Magnitude!"

"Watch out, Vixa!"

Mule slammed one of her feet into the ground, sending out a shockwave. Vixa attempted to jump clear but was a second too late. She lost her footing as a powerful quake shook the battlefield and sent her stumbling around. She was finally flung back by the power of the quake and crashed to the ground in front of Mia.

"Looks like Vixa can't go on, so Nicola and Mule are the winners! Good battle, all of you!"

Mia dropped her knees in shock as she stared at the prone Vixa, her beautiful fur covered in dirt and dust. A short distance away, Mule stood watching her, occasionally blinking blankly.

"I can't believe I lost…"

"I think your mistake was challenging Nicola to a regular battle," said James, walking over to her. "Nicola trains hard to fight in gym battles as well as contests, so her pokémon learn to fight this way."

Nicola patted Mule on the head as she walked past her.

"I kind of feel like you underestimated Mule because of her appearance. She's actually really tough, even if she isn't fussed about fighting."

Mia sighed as she pulled herself back up and recalled Vixa to her poké ball.

"I guess so. And I underestimated you as well, Nicola. I guess you are kind of strong. I need to make sure I get stronger as well."

"If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have been able to compete if it had been a contest battle. I've still got a very long way to go myself."

"I already knew that, so it doesn't help."

The two girls continued to stare at each other frostily before reluctantly extending their hands for a handshake. A gesture of begrudging respect, if nothing else. James nodded with approval.

"You can learn a lot from fighting each other and this way you'll both get stronger. By the way, Mia, are you staying at the pokémon centre as well?"

"Huh? Yes, that's what I was planning."

"In that case, do you want to have dinner together this evening?"

"D-Dinner? Together?" Mia clutched her cheeks as they started turning pink. "I-I'd love to!"

* * *

 _7:36pm, 2_ _nd_ _June 2006_

"Well, I'm pretty sure that it would have ended that way anyway, even if they'd used a better move."

"That's true. You've got to admit that the muk was pretty tough – the growlithe was never going to have enough power to turn it around. Are you sure you're not just biased because your first pokémon was a fire type?"

"You're agreeing with him as well, Will?"

James let out a sigh. Discussing a battle they'd seen broadcast on TV earlier in the evening had become exhausting. He cut a small slice off of the meat on his plate and popped it into his mouth.

"By the way, is it just me, or has Mia looked pretty upset ever since we sat down?"

Will leaned over and whispered to him.

"Maybe she thought that James was inviting her to eat with just him?"

Nicola moved closer and quietly added her opinion.

"Well, these things happen!"

Richard grinned as he glanced over in Mia's direction. She was gazing down at her plate, idly pushing food around.

"So, Mia!" he called loudly. "You said you won the contest in Slateport, right?"

"Huh?" Mia looked over at him. "That's right. It was really tough, but my team and I managed to pull through at the last minute."

"And you won in Anamarc as well, back when we first met…when did you get your third ribbon?"

"Oh? This one?"

Mia pulled out her ribbon case and opened it, pointing to a green-coloured ribbon on the right.

"It looks pretty impressive," said James.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

"I earned this one in Verdanturf Town about a week ago. But I lost in the contest immediately after that, so it feels a little bit hollow…"

"Are there any other contests happening up in this corner of Hoenn any time soon? I've been trying to keep up with the news, but it's hard to remember sometimes."

"Off the top of my head, I can't remember any exactly. I came up here for the Kellen contest, but I ended up getting there too late. I think that there might be one in Tiane Town – that's on the far side of Meteor Falls though."

"Perhaps that's something we can aim for then," said Nicola. "We're going to be crossing Meteor Falls tomorrow anyway."

"Oh! If you're interested in one of the big competitions, then you should compete in the Gharnot contest – they only host it once in the season, so it really draws in a lot of coordinators."

"That sounds like fun. When is the Gharnot contest?"

"On 19th June. That's…just over a fortnight from now."

"We should be able to get there in time. If we cross Meteor Falls and then go via Rustboro, then…"

"You guys are challenging gyms as well, aren't you?"

Mia looked between James, Richard, Nicola and Will.

"Just those three," said Will. "I want to learn what I can from watching them so that I can smash through the gyms myself without any problems!"

"I see. What about the rest of you? How are you doing for gym badges?"

"We all won against the gym leader in Mauville City. We haven't actually been able to visit any gyms since – it's been pretty much all contests!"

"That reminds me: did you fight any tough coordinators recently?"

"There was that Victor guy I managed to beat in Fallarbor Town. His spinda was a real handful!"

"No way! You beat Victor? He's the same guy who beat me in my first contest of the season! Tell me how you did it…"

The meal had started awkwardly, but it seemed that Mia was finally opening up to them. After that, they ended up sitting around and chatting for so long that they lost track of time.

It was a very late night for all of them!

* * *

 **So, there's quite a lot to discuss this chapter, but I'll start with the most important part: the Poké Mart!**

… **Don't worry – I'm joking this time!**

 **I'm sorry I couldn't get this chapter out earlier in the day – I've been ill all week and I was meeting up with a friend yesterday, both of which has impacted on the speed of my work.**

 **I decided to use some artistic license for Amnesia in this chapter – it seemed like a given that a pokémon could use it to forget that it was confused. Though, with hindsight, perhaps you could argue that it would merely forget exactly what made it confused and not the fact that it's confused…**

 **As ever, Mia continues to be a really fun character to write. I'm already looking forward to her next scheduled appearance! Also, I actually managed to give this chapter a solid proofread this time, though I am also ill so I might still have managed to miss something.**

 **On a final note, I hope that everyone has remembered what tomorrow is…**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	52. A Sinister Shadow

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group met up with Mia again and she and Nicola fought a battle together in Kasena Town. Nicola and Mule emerged victorious in the end, thanks to their battle training.**

 **Upload Date: 23** **rd** **February 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 52: A Sinister Shadow**

 _Meteor Falls, Hoenn_

 _3:14pm, 3_ _rd_ _June 2006_

"Use Flamethrower!"

"Hang in there, Gulpy!"

"Now have Gulpy focus on forgetting what just happened!"

"Oh! I think it's working!"

There was great excitement on one of the paths leading up through Meteor Falls as Gulpy apparently forgot the attack she'd just taken. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a move named 'Amnesia', it was difficult to teach. It had only been with Nicola and Mule's coaching that Will and Gulpy had finally managed to get to grips with it. Still, at least the extended training session had been worth it.

After saying goodbye and parting ways with Mia earlier that morning, the group had set out from Kasena Town and finally embarked on their crossing of Meteor Falls. As the name suggested, this was a place that suffered from occasional meteor strikes. There had apparently once been many villages dotting the valleys and clinging to the slopes of the mountains, but the meteorites that kept hitting the area meant that it had gradually been abandoned. There was an eerie vibe to it, even though the mountains were open for trainers to explore. Perhaps that was helped by rumours that pokémon originating from space had been seen here?

Regardless, the group had been trying not to think too much about it. It was going to take a couple of days to cross and they wanted to make sure that they got through in good time. Though the scenery was impressive, this wasn't somewhere where they felt like taking a leisurely pace.

This attitude was part of why Will was relieved that he and Gulpy had actually managed to master Amnesia. The others were getting anxious about continuing forwards while they still had light.

"Right! Let's get moving again!"

Richard had been busy packing all of the stuff they'd gotten out for lunch away again while the others had been training. He held up James' backpack as he came over.

"Thanks."

As they quickly gathered the bags and got ready to move, James pulled out his guidebook once again. It was always worth double-checking the route ahead before setting off. There were so many little roads around here left over from when it was inhabited that it was very easy to lose their way. Every time they saw a turn off, they'd had to stop and double-check their location again, just to be sure. It was adding to the stress of being out here. The fact that they were stood in an area where meteorites were known to hit the ground regularly didn't help either.

"How much further do you think we'll be able to get today?"

"I think we can manage to get through to the next valley. There's an abandoned village ahead of us through this forest. Once we're past that, we'll be down into the next valley and we can stop whenever we like."

"Sounds like a good opportunity to cover as much ground as possible then!" Richard grinned as he shouldered his bag. "Shall we get going then?"

"Right behind you!"

"Don't forget to put Gulpy back in her poké ball, Will!"

"Ah, sorry!"

The artificial sound of the recall beam striking Gulpy and returning her to the ball filled the silence of the mountain as they began walking once again.

* * *

 _3:37pm, 3_ _rd_ _June 2006_

While other people found abandoned evidence of former human presence eerie and unnerving, this wasn't the case with Richard. He came from Pewter City, which had no shortage of abandoned buildings. After spending so much time hanging out in places like that with his friends when he was younger, he often found himself feeling relatively at home among abandoned buildings.

Despite this, even he found the old buildings in the abandoned village unsettling as they passed through. Perhaps it was the occasional rocks that they saw lying in small craters on the ground. Several houses looked like they were falling apart and others had had their roofs knocked in, either by the elements or by a direct hit from above.

There was a subtle difference between this place and the abandoned sites Richard could remember from Pewter City. Those back home were places that humans had chosen to leave, whereas this was somewhere that they felt they _couldn't_ stay in. It made the village seem even more forlorn.

"Watch out for broken glass."

James was further ahead, looking around. At his suggestion, they'd recalled their pokémon to their poké balls. There was no telling what kind of danger these derelicts could pose to them. They were already trying to keep as close to the centre of the road as possible, just in case one of the nearby buildings collapsed.

"I don't like this place. It feels like there's something watching us from somewhere."

Nicola glanced around skittishly as she spoke. There was a distant clatter and all four of them jumped in fright. It was probably a roof tile slipping, or maybe even a meteorite hitting the ground, but that didn't stop a brief panic taking over.

"C-Could that be a ghost throwing things?!"

"N-Normally, I'd say that you were imagining things, but I really don't like this place either!"

"Wow, even Will is feeling intimidated? I guess this place really could be haunted!"

Though Richard said that, Nicola's comments had suddenly made him very aware as well. Now he couldn't shake off that feeling of being watched either. It was an intense feeling, like something was really staring at him maliciously.

As they passed the village centre, he threw a glance over his shoulder. For a split second, he though that he could see something gleaming in the shadows beneath the trees. He looked closer but couldn't see anything further. He frowned as he turned back to follow after the others. It was unusual for him to end up spooked in places like this. Very unusual.

Fortunately, they soon reached the far side of the village, itself built in a clearing in the forest. As they followed the uphill slope towards the ridge of the mountain, the abandoned site gradually disappeared behind the trees. It was once again completely empty of human presence.

* * *

 _10:26pm, 3_ _rd_ _June 2006_

"The sky seems clearer here. It's like I can actually see the stars properly."

"Well, we're a long way from civilisation after all. It doesn't seem that strange to me."

"I guess you could call that an advantage of this place…"

"No pressure, but shouldn't we start thinking about heading to bed soon? You were saying that we should try and make as much progress as possible tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, you're right, Richard."

After leaving the abandoned village, the group had continued on for some time before finally stopping to set up camp on an open patch on a clifftop on the mountain. The pine forests surrounded them on all sides, with the tops of the trees below reaching high enough to stand above the cliff edge. It was pitch black in the surrounding forest, with only the silhouettes of trees against the starlit sky marking their presence. Aside from the sunlight and the distant glow of the moon, their only source of light was the campfire they'd built after stopping.

They'd eaten dinner and washed up after it a long time ago. They'd decided to stay out for longer just so that they could see the stars – it was a clear night and it was still relatively warm outside, so it seemed like a shame not to take advantage of it. Sadly, none of them knew any of the constellations, but it was still nice just looking up at them.

Still, Richard was right and they couldn't stay out here all night. It was better to get an early start and make some progress towards the other side of Meteor Falls.

"I guess we should finish taking all of this stuff in."

Nicola looked around at the scattered assortment of camping stools, pots and other things around their campsite.

"Ah. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. It might rain in the night and ruin them. Can you help her, Will?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to put the fire out. Make sure you turn on the light in the tent."

As they started moving things about, they suddenly heard a brief whoosh. The fire seemed to flicker more than normal, like it was being blown by the wind. Then they heard a startled cry from nearby.

The pokémon started panicking and running back towards them. Richard could make out a black streak rushing at them, each time it seemed to strike, a pokémon toppled over and crashed to the ground.

"What's going on?" Nicola yelped in fright, dropping the camping stool she was carrying and scurrying over towards the rest of them. As she came over, she suddenly cried out in pain as something whipped past her.

"Are you okay?" Richard called.

"My arm! It hurts!"

Whatever was suddenly attacking them had raked her arm with its claw, leaving her with a nasty gash. Whatever it was clearly wasn't friendly and wasn't something that they could take lightly.

"Go and get some disinfectant from the first aid kit! Make sure you clean the wound!" James called to Richard. He glanced over at Charka, who had stopped retreating and was now stood by the campfire, his eyes darting around as the attack continued. "I need you to use Fire Spin, Charka!"

With a grunt, Charka built up some fire in his mouth and shot out a jet of flames. It struck the ground just behind Mushy, who was fleeing the attacker, and burst into a brilliant vortex of flames. Orange light illuminated the camp as the pokémon scrambled to re-join their trainers, but there was no sign of whatever had been attacking them. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it had vanished again. It was like a shadow, disappearing when there was light.

"I think it's gone," said James.

"Are you sure? It might come back again once Charka's fire wears off."

"We'll worry about that in a second. How's Nicola?"

"I'm doing – oww!"

"Hold still!"

Richard wiped the cut on Nicola's arm with some cotton wool soaked with disinfectant, clearing away the blood. The wound looked much worse than it actually was. As long as they kept it covered to prevent infection, it would probably heal up pretty quickly.

"So, what do we do now?"

Will returned to them, carrying the remainder of the stuff they'd been taking inside.

"Yeah. We might get attacked again in the night…"

"We don't even know what attacked us – did anyone get a good look at it?"

"No, not at all. That's why I wanted Charka to light up the campsite."

There was silence for a couple of seconds.

"Well, we don't need to worry about the identity of our attacker. It was almost certainly a wild pokémon, so we just need to think about how we can prevent it from attacking us again."

"I'm kinda afraid to go to sleep while it's still out there…should we try and hunt it down?"

James shook his head. "I think that would make things even worse. Then we'd be in its territory without a way to meaningfully fight back."

"I agree with Nicola though – trying to sleep while it's out there doesn't appeal at all!"

"How about we have the pokémon stand guard then?" Richard asked. "They can rest in their poké balls tomorrow while we're travelling."

"That's a good idea in theory, but…"

The pokémon didn't look wholly enthusiastic about it either. No surprise, really. Who would want to stay out here against an opponent that seemed to strike them without warning and without them really having a chance to fight back. Trying to get them to stand guard through the night seemed like a tough task.

Fortunately, there were a couple of pokémon who didn't seem as fazed.

Charka didn't look that bothered by the whole thing. Sure, the attack had caught him off-guard, but it seemed to have fled from his flames pretty quickly. Nothing to worry about.

Similarly, Mule hadn't once broken into a run as she plodded after the others. She clearly recognised what was going on, as she'd wandered over to her trainer to look at her injury, yet she didn't seem to be all that afraid of whatever was out there.

"I guess we'll have these two do it then," said James.

"Just two?"

"It should be fine. They'll be working together and can support each other with fire-type attacks. The attacker fled after we used Fire Spin, so I think we can assume that it either doesn't like light or otherwise can't move around unless it's in darkness."

"Fair. Well, I'm in favour of it."

"Same, though I still don't know how much sleep I'll get tonight…" Nicola sighed.

James turned to look at the two fire types.

"I guess we'll be counting on you to keep us safe tonight. We don't know if whatever attacked us will come back, but make sure that you keep an eye on all sides of the tent. If something happens, then wake us up."

Charka and Mule both nodded as the trainers and the other pokémon disappeared back into the tent. Behind them, the campfire crackled as it continued burning. No one wanted to put it out now.

Though it was a restless night for those trying to sleep, there was no further sign of their attacker.

* * *

 _6:47pm, 4_ _th_ _June 2006_

The following day was largely uneventful as well. The trainers had been on guard all through breakfast and while taking down the tent and packing up all of their things. The surrounding forest had continued to look dark and foreboding, helped by the dark clouds over Meteor Falls that day. The rain had made them uncomfortable as they walked, and they hadn't been able to shake off the unsettling feeling of being watched either.

Richard couldn't help but think that their mysterious attacker was still following them, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Still, the day passed without anything significant happening and the group soon found themselves looking for a place to stop for the night as they made their way along the valley.

"This seems like a good spot. Will! Help me get the tent up!"

"On it!"

As James and Will started unpacking the tent, Richard and Nicola worked to rig up a tarpaulin to cover their proposed cooking area. With the thick clouds in the sky, it had become much darker than normal for this time of day and it was a little difficult to see exactly what they were doing.

"Hold it there for a second! I'll just set this last pole up!"

Nicola held the tarpaulin in place as Richard took the pole now tied to one corner and worked it into the ground. He gave it a wobble – seemed secure.

"Phew!" Nicola let go of the tarpaulin and moved underneath it. Zaggy, Tricky and Naro were quick to follow her, eager to shelter from the rain. Arro lingered by the side, as if trying to decide whether or not he wanted to join them.

"Good work," said Richard. "I guess we need something else to do now."

"Should I get started on dinner?"

Nicola looked over at James expectantly as she waited for an answer.

"You could start setting up the stove! Once Will and I have got the tent up, I'll come over and help prepare everything!"

"Alright!"

"What should I do? Do you want a hand?" Richard called over to the others, handing Nicola his bag so that she could start unpacking the stove.

"Don't worry! We've got it handled!" Will called back.

"I've got an idea for something you could do though – think you could go and patrol around the edge of camp?"

"I guess I could, but why?"

"You know, in case we get attacked again like we were yesterday!"

"Urgh!" Richard shuddered at the thought. Still, James had a point – it would be better to discover it sooner rather than later. "Fine, I'll do it!"

He stepped out from the under the tarpaulin and beckoned to Arro, who scurried after him. There was no way he was going out on patrol without some kind of support and Arro's steely body would be perfect for resisting those sharp claws.

Their chosen campsite was located a short distance away from the path they'd been following that day. The ground was flat and overlooked the bottom of the valley, but the steep slopes of the mountain and the thick forests that accompanied them started quite close behind the camp.

Richard had a feeling that this was where they were most at risk from and decided to head there first. Arro trotted alongside him, looking around warily at his surroundings. The forest was dark and gloomy, full of shadows that made the two of them initially reluctant to stray inside. An attack seemed almost inevitable if they went beyond the trees.

Instead, they skirted around the outside of the forest, watching the interior carefully without stepping beyond the treeline. Behind them, they could hear the others calling out to each other as they worked on setting up the campsite. Apparently, James and Will had finished putting up the tent and were moving on to preparing dinner-

Richard felt a sudden rush as a dark form shot out of the forest and slammed into Arro.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as Arro stumbled to the side in fright.

Just as quickly as the first, the darkened blur of their attacker, seemingly like a shadow itself, struck again. This time, Arro managed to hold his ground and the shadow bounced back into the forest.

"Pull back!"

Arro followed Richard's order and started retreating towards the campsite. If they'd been hoping that the enemy would be afraid to follow them, however, then they were to be disappointed.

"Watch out!"

A shadow sprang forwards again and struck Arro, knocking him backwards. It finally settled on the grass in the open between Richard and the forest. It was a small, dark purple creature with gleaming eyes and a toothy grin, watching them carefully for any openings.

"You found it?"

James, Will and Nicola had come running over at the sound of the commotion. They stopped behind Richard and Arro and looked at the pokémon opposing them.

"What is it?"

Richard pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it over at the pokémon.

" _Sableye, the darkness pokémon. Sableye lead quiet lives deep inside caverns. They are feared, however, because these pokémon are thought to steal the spirits of people when their eyes burn with a sinister glow in the darkness. Sableye dig the ground with sharpened claws to find rocks that they eat. Substances in the eaten rocks crystallize and rise up to the pokémon's body surface._ "

"Look out!"

Richard glanced back upon hearing Nicola's yell. The sableye had charged forwards again, so fast that it blurred back to looking like a shadow again.

"Arro! Stay defensive for now!"

Arro nodded. He stiffened his steel armour just in time, causing the sableye's claws to simply bounce off. It didn't seem fazed though and quickly jumped around for a second attack. Arro held back and fended off this one as well.

Richard wanted to counter attack, but he could see that the sableye was still mounting attacks of its own with increasing viciousness. It was all Arro could do to hold on for now.

As the sableye slashed at him again and again, he suddenly emitted a loud burst of sound, like that of metal grinding. The humans all clutched their ears in pain, as did the sableye. It stumbled backwards, momentarily stunned and disoriented by the strength of the sound.

"Metal Sound?"

James winced in pain as he recognised the move. Richard, meanwhile, had spotted their opening.

"Go! Attack!"

Arro cloaked one of his claws in steel and lunged forwards. The power of the swipe sent the sableye flying backwards. It crashed into a tree and disappeared into the shadows.

"Get ready!"

Arro and the trainers all watched the treeline intently, waiting for the sableye to re-emerge and strike against. After about a minute, however, they finally relaxed.

"Is it gone?"

"I guess it's the kind of pokémon that gives up if you fight back."

"How anticlimactic…"

Not that it mattered. They were just glad that it had finally disappeared. There was always the risk of further attacks though, especially if there were other sableye around in the area. They'd need to look out while travelling the following day.

There was a grunt from Arro, causing everyone to look back at him. A sudden glow enveloped him as his body started to change, growing larger and bulkier. As the light surrounding him faded, his far heavier body sagged closer to the ground. Most of his body was now grey, with only his back and the top of his head retaining the white colouring of his old form.

"Wow! Congratulations, Arro!"

Richard grinned at him as he knelt down to pat him on the head. His armour felt just as tough and hard as it had before.

Arro grinned back at him tiredly before turning to start trudging back over towards the campsite. He'd earned a rest.

"Arro was tough enough as an aron! How much more powerful do you think he is now?"

"Let's have a look at the Pokédex!"

The other three looked at Richard.

"Do you want to do the honours?"

"Sure."

Richard pulled out his Pokédex again and pointed it at Arro.

" _Lairon, the iron armour pokémon and the evolved form of aron. Lairon feed on iron contained in rocks and water. They make their nests on mountains where iron ore is buried. As a result, these pokémon often clash with humans mining the iron ore. When two lairon meet in the wild, they fight for territory by bashing into each other with their steel bodies. The sound of their collision carries for miles._ "

"I'm really looking forward to my next gym battle now!"

Richard grinned at Arro as he put his Pokédex away.

"What are we going to do about the sableye? Do you think it might come back?"

Nicola looked at the others in concern.

"We'll have patrols until we go to bed, then we'll have to set up another guard shift. Don't worry, we're not going to just ignore it!"

James was quick to reassure her.

"But who's going to be on guard duty?" Will asked. "Since it's raining, it would be really unfair on Charka and Mule to make them do it again."

"Perhaps we can give the water types torches?"

"…That might not actually be a bad idea."

"Really? I thought he was joking!"

Even though they were still worried as they walked back over to their campsite to start cooking dinner, the subconscious awareness of something watching them had slipped away. They weren't going to be easy pickings after all.

* * *

 _10:32am, 5_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Ugh! Why did the rain have to continue today!"

Nicola let out a loud groan as she followed the others along the valley path. The weather hadn't improved since the previous day. In fact, it might have gotten worse. Still, they didn't want to stay in one place – they needed to cross Meteor Falls, for one thing. They also still felt uneasy about the sableye.

"I didn't hear anything in the night, so I wonder if we managed to finally drive it off?"

"I felt like we were being followed yesterday, but it doesn't feel that way today."

"Perhaps. I'll only be satisfied if we haven't seen it again before this time tomorrow."

"I have to wonder if the guidebook mentioned anything about this. Ghost pokémon attacking passing trainers from the shadows seems like the kind of hazard you'd want to warn people about."

Will glanced at James as he spoke, silently asking for his opinion.

"I don't remember reading anything. It could just be a single rogue wild pokémon though and it might have only arrived in the area recently."

"I guess that's a possibility."

"Well, either way I'm just glad that it doesn't seem to be bothering us for now."

Richard stretched his arms out in front of him, watching the raindrops thudding down on them. He glanced around at the others.

"Let's focus on getting through the rest of Meteor Falls – I'm looking forward to getting back to civilisation!"

* * *

"Wow! This place really is abandoned, huh?"

"I don't know why that surprises you, Dan. We knew that Meteor Falls was abandoned a long time ago."

"Do you think that the buildings might collapse, Corey?"

"Don't get too close to them, just in case. Suzy, you said that we need to get into the next valley before changing direction, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm looking forward to getting away from this village – Meteor Falls is dangerous enough with all the meteorites without having to worry about this place collapsing on us as well."

"I guess we'd better hope that the Spirit of Meteor Falls doesn't attack us then!"

"Spirit of Meteor Falls? What do you mean by that, Corey?"

"Didn't you hear that rumour in Kasena Town? About a ghost pokémon that was supposedly left behind when the villages here were abandoned?"

"Oh! I remember! You mean the one that supposedly attacks trainers because it wants revenge on humans?"

"I-Is that true, Dan?"

"Oh, of course it isn't, Suzy!"

Corey turned to look at her and grinned confidently.

"It does seem like the sort of story that would be spread about a place like this," Dan said. "But I don't think that anyone seriously believes it."

"That's a relief…"

Suzy sighed as she continued walking after them. She thought she heard the sudden snapping of a tree branch behind them and spun around. The forest beyond the village was dark and gloomy and she couldn't make anything out. It must have just been her imagination. Frowning, she turned back to follow after Corey and Dan.

If she'd looked back for just a little longer, perhaps she'd have spotted a pair of eyes suddenly gleam as a toothy grin appeared in the darkness…

* * *

 **I thought that somewhere like Meteor Falls would be rife with abandoned elements of civilisation, which in turn feeds into the presence of ghosts and whatnot. The main conflict of the chapter ended up melting away as the sableye gave up, but I'm sure that's a realistic interpretation of how some wild pokémon would act.**

 **Richard and Arro have come a long way from their initial conflict with one another, but the developments this chapter hopefully show how much stronger they've grown over the last 24 chapters.**

 **There's not really much more to say about this chapter. It's filled some of the time nicely, but I don't think that we're quite one with Meteor Falls just yet…**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.


	53. A Hard-Headed Foe!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Arro evolved into a lairon as the group battled against a wild sableye that had been stalking them as they passed through Meteor Falls.**

 **Upload Date: 2** **nd** **March 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 53: A Hard-Headed Foe!**

 _Meteor Falls, Hoenn_

 _11:31am, 6_ _th_ _June 2006_

With the bulk of Meteor Falls behind them, James, Richard, Nicola and Will were starting to feel relieved. They'd had a scare the previous evening when they'd spotted a meteorite in the sky overhead. However, it had crashed to the ground on the upper slopes of the mountain they'd been passing and hadn't caused them any harm.

It was still a scary experience though and they were very keen to make their way down to the safety of Route 115. Once there, it would be a straight run down the northern coast of Hoenn towards Rustboro City.

"Look over there! Do you think that could be a shortcut?"

Everyone looked over to where Richard was pointing. While the road they were on took them along the open centre of the valley, the one he'd spotted disappeared into the trees covering the sloping hills to the west. It didn't look all that appealing, especially after their experience with the sableye a couple of days before.

"Let me have a look at the guidebook."

While James was pulling the guidebook out of his bag, Nicola and Will gazed over at the path with suspicion.

"That's definitely the kind of place that that sableye would hide in, right?"

"I agree. Maybe Richard is in league with it…"

"That's a harsh assumption to make," said Richard, walking over to join them. "I thought you guys wanted to get through Meteor Falls quicker after what happened last night."

"I'd also prefer it to be uneventful," Nicola replied.

"Same. It's hard to stop for training when there are meteorites flying everywhere," said Will.

"They're not exactly 'flying everywhere' but…"

Meanwhile, James had found the right page in the book. He studied the map, looking very closely at the web of lines marking the paths through the area. They didn't want to make any wrong turns while trying to find a shortcut.

"So, how does it look?" Will asked, wandering over.

"I think it'll shorten the journey," said James, sighing. "It should link up with the main path once we're over the hills. The slopes are quite steep in places, but it's still faster than walking around."

"What about dangerous wildlife?" Nicola demanded.

"Just the usual warnings about wild pokémon. I'm sure we'll encounter some, but I don't know if it'll be as bad as the sableye."

Richard looked around at the others.

"Well, I still think that it's worth it if we can cut some time off our journey. It also means we can get off of Meteor Falls faster, which gets us away from the meteorites."

"I can understand that, but I'm worried about it getting us into even more trouble," said Nicola.

"No, I actually agree with Richard now," Will said. "Moving west will get us further away from the heart of Meteor Falls and that seems safer to me."

"You sure?" Nicola frowned. "I'm not convinced that we won't be attacked by a wild pokémon again."

"Isn't that just a part of being a pokémon trainer?"

"Okay, guys!" James interrupted them. "I don't think that the forest path will be as bad as we're afraid it will be. According to the guidebook, sableye can be found on Meteor Falls, but they're incredibly rare. It's more like we're lucky that we encountered one in the first place."

"If that's true, then I guess that'll be okay…" Nicola mumbled.

"Let's get moving then," said Richard. "We don't want this to take any longer than it has to."

* * *

 _12:05pm, 6_ _th_ _June 2006_

It wasn't as bad as they'd been afraid. The slopes weren't too steep, and it was really just a challenging walk than anything more severe. They'd faced worse before and been just fine.

As they followed the winding path among the pine trees and rock formations, Will had stopped keeping a particularly close eye out. James and Richard were leading the group, so he'd know about any obstacles or wild pokémon before he needed to react. He had his doubts about whether any wild pokémon would stray this close to the path when they could stay hidden in the forests and mountains.

"How are you finding it?"

He glanced to the side to find Nicola walking beside him. He'd known that she had been ill-suited to the physical strain of going on a pokémon journey back when she'd first started, but there was little sign of that now. She was easily keeping pace with the others and sometimes even protested when they decided to stop for rests.

"No problems here," he replied.

"That reminds me: I was wondering how your training is coming along lately."

"You want to know about my training?"

Will gave her a curious look. They got along quite well, but they generally kept largely to themselves when it came to training. If they did train together, then it was usually only with James and Richard as well. Nicola was normally focused on her own training, both contests and battles, and didn't pay much attention to what Will did.

"I feel like I did really well with the gym battle in Mauville," Nicola replied. "But I know that that came from all the defeats I've suffered along the way. I guess I'm just curious about how you're doing, since you don't challenge any gyms."

"I guess that's fair," said Will. "I mean, both Toya and Turkey have evolved while we've been travelling, so I guess that I've been improving. I can hold my own in practice battles against the rest of you as well."

"Yeah, I remember that." Nicola nodded, casting her mind back to their most recent bout. "You haven't been challenging that many other trainers these days though, have you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't remember you fighting anyone since you had that battle at Trainer Hill in Mauville."

"I guess you've got a point there…"

"I'm not about to make any kind of judgement on how you train or if it's effective, but I think that having proper battles is an important part of getting stronger. If you're just practising with the three of us, then are you really getting any real battle experience?"

Will turned away frowning. Nicola's words reminded him of that trainer he'd fought back on Dewford Island. Something about no being able to improve by learning from other people's mistakes alone.

"Can't you see that I'm improving though?" he asked.

"I guess so." Nicola nodded. "But James and Richard are able to point out a lot more mistakes than I am. They're more experienced and notice different things. If you battle other people who use different tactics, then you'll have a better idea of what you need to improve overall. I could have trained for a year with James and Richard and I still would have been beaten by Norman because I wasn't prepared for his battle style."

Will let out a sigh. "Maybe you're right. Why are you even asking me this though?"

"I was kind of hoping to spend more time training with you," Nicola replied. "Since we don't train together that often, I figured that we could learn more from each other."

"I'm not opposed to that…"

"Hey, guys!"

Both Nicola and Will looked further up the slope as they heard Richard's voice.

"What is it?" Will asked.

"Listen!"

They fell silent and started listening carefully. In the distance, they could make out a loud thudding sound, like a rock smashing against something. It continued happening irregularly as they listened.

"What's making that sound?" Nicola asked as she and Will moved up the path to join the other two.

"I think it might be a wild pokémon. I'm not sure what kind," said James. "It doesn't sound like it's far from the path though, so we might end up running into it at some point."

"That sounds scary."

"We'll be cautious." James reached down and patted Muro on the head. "Besides, we've got our own pokémon should the worst happen."

That was a good point. The pokémon had mostly been put back in their poké balls when they'd started on the path up the hill since the tight paths would have been hell to navigate with seventeen pokémon in tow. There was no harm in having a couple out ready, just as James had already done with Muro.

"Don't worry about it too much," Richard said as Nicola sent out Kipa and Will sent out Gulpy. "I'm sure it'll just be another random wild pokémon that just wants to keep itself to itself."

"I hope that you're right," Nicola sighed. They'd had more than enough excitement with the sableye. She just wanted to get through the rest of Meteor Falls as uneventfully as possible.

"Right! Follow me then."

As James started walking again, Muro by his side, the other three moved to follow. Will continued listening carefully to the distant sound as they moved. Though irregular, it seemed pretty constant. He couldn't help but wonder if it was indeed a pokémon and what it might be up to.

* * *

 _12:19pm, 6_ _th_ _June 2006_

After continuing walking for some time, the group finally found themselves at the top of the hill. Though they were still surrounded by trees, the ground had levelled out and it was much easier to walk. The sounds they'd been hearing from further down the hill were still there and were much louder now that they were getting closer to the source.

"Keep your eyes peeled," James said as he and Muro led the way along the path, which continued to wind its way between trees on the way towards the downward slope. The others followed him, all looking around carefully for the source of the sounds. Now that they were closer it sounded a lot like something being hammered against trees. The forest wasn't too dense, and it was easy to see quite a distance around, but the way that the sound echoed made it difficult to pinpoint.

"Did you have to choose Gulpy?" Nicola hissed to Will.

"It was the first poké ball I grabbed. If she's bothering you, then I can switch..."

"Remember to keep quiet," Richard whispered as Will recalled Gulpy and sent out Turkey instead. "It'll hear us otherwise."

"There it is!"

Reacting to James' sudden warning, they all followed his pointing finger. Ahead of them, but slightly away from the path, was a small, blue pokémon with what looked like bony grey armour on its head. It kept running at the tree ahead of it, head lowered. There was a heavy thud as it smashed into it.

"Some kind of training?" Nicola wondered.

"I guess so." James nodded.

"Have you ever seen a pokémon like that before?" Will asked as he pulled out his Pokédex.

"I haven't." Richard shook his head. "Let's hear what the Pokédex has to say."

" _Bagon, the rock head pokémon. Bagon have a dream of one day soaring in the sky. In doomed efforts to fly, these pokémon have been observed to hurl themselves off cliffs. As a result of their dives, their heads have grown tough and as hard as tempered steel. These pokémon slam their hard heads against huge rocks and trees until they shatter them._ "

"Ah."

As they looked up from the Pokédex, the four of them realised that the bagon had stopped charging at the trees and had noticed them. Its face lit up in realisation and it suddenly started charging towards them.

"Watch out!" James yelped, moving to quickly get out of the way. As they scattered, however, the bagon started slowing down. Now that it was closer, they could see that it was looking at them excitedly. It pawed the ground and looked at them expectantly.

"What is it doing?" Richard asked.

"I'm not sure…" James kept an eye on the bagon as it looked between the group's pokémon and again gave them an expectant look.

"Do you think it wants to battle?" Will asked.

"What do you…oh!" James realised it as well. "That might be it!"

"What? Tell me?" Nicola cried.

"The Pokédex says that it wants to fly, right?" said Will. "What if it evolves into a pokémon that is able to fly? That way, if it battles a lot then it'll become stronger and eventually evolve."

"That makes a lot of sense." Richard nodded. "Can we afford to stop and battle it though?"

"I don't see any reason why not," James replied.

"In that case, I'll go up against it." Will stepped forwards, Turkey perched on his shoulder.

The bagon jumped up and down in delight before charging at them.

"Use Aerial Ace!"

Turkey took off to meet his new opponent. They crashed into each other and recoiled backwards. The bagon skidded on the forest floor as it stopped, while Turkey regained his balance and flew forwards again as the bagon opened its mouth and started firing a stream of embers towards him.

"I-Isn't that dangerous in a forest?" Nicola yelped in alarm.

"Don't worry. We can put it out before if it starts a fire," Richard replied.

"Use Double Team!"

The embers blasted towards Turkey, but he suddenly summoned a group of doubles who all weaved through the trees. The embers struck some of them, but they simply faded out of existence. The real Turkey remained unharmed.

"Use Steel Wing!"

As Turkey turned his wings to steel, the bagon charged again. It dodged the attack and aimed directly at his underbelly. At the last second, Turkey spun in the air and gained height to put himself out of reach. As the bagon dropped down to the ground again, Turkey tucked in his wings and dived towards him. There was a crash at he hit his target, sending the bagon flying backwards. It crashed into a tree and slid down to the ground. It gave itself a shake to clear its head and started running back towards Turkey.

However, the swellow had already moved. Bounding forwards at a startling pace, he slammed into his opponent with a powerful strike to the shoulder. As the bagon toppled to the side, he slammed into it with a steel-cloaked wing.

"Wow! Nice work, Will!" Richard called. "Turkey's pretty tough, huh?"

"You bet he is!" Will replied with a grin.

"Actually, we should probably get moving again," said James, noticing that the bagon had pulled itself back to its feet and was getting ready to attack again. "I hadn't realised how late it had gotten. We need to keep moving if we want to get out of the mountains before dark."

"Is that so?" Will sighed in disappointment. He beckoned to Turkey, who flew over and landed on his shoulder. He looked over at the bagon. "Sorry about that – we've got to go now. We'll have to finish our battle some other time!"

The bagon seemed a little downhearted by the sudden end of their battle. It watched the trainers as they resumed their walk along the forest path.

* * *

 _1:34pm, 6_ _th_ _June 2006_

One of the things that most trainers know is that wild pokémon can be unpredictable at times. There are some that will shun any contact with humans and others that are all too eager to interact and become friends with them. There are some species or individuals that particularly enjoy training themselves against human trainers and their pokémon, given how much stronger a trained pokémon can become. While most of these end up being one-off encounters, there are occasions when a martial wild pokémon might decide that training against the same trainer again is worthwhile.

Even knowing that it was a possibility, it still came as a surprise to the group when they suddenly found the bagon from earlier patrolling around a section of the path they were due to travel down.

They'd decided to stop for lunch just prior, which had given both humans and pokémon a chance to recharge and Turkey to practise a technique he'd used against the bagon.

"That looks a lot like Fly to me," James had said.

"Fly?"

"Yeah. It's a powerful flying-type attack that involves flying out of reach and then diving down again at full power. I've seen it used a couple of times, but I've never had a pokémon learn it."

"Your only flying type is Nulin," Richard had reminded him.

So, Will and Turkey had begun diligently working on the move. Fortunately, it wasn't an especially complicated one to use, just one that required a lot of focus to make sure that there was enough power in the blows. Though there was still work to be done on it, Will was satisfied with the progress they'd made by the time they were packing everything up again to resume their journey.

It was just after setting off that they encountered the bagon again.

"Isn't that…?"

"I think it is."

James confirmed what Richard was thinking. The bagon, patrolling around the downhill path leading to the next valley, had immediately started running towards them enthusiastically as it noticed them. It started jumping up and down by Will and looked up at him expectantly.

"Do you think it wants to finish our battle from earlier?" he asked, looking around at the others.

"Maybe it does," said Nicola. "It seems really eager."

"Well, we don't really have the time to stop again. It would have been better if it had found us while we were eating lunch."

James started walking forwards again. The others followed him, shooting apologetic looks at the bagon as they passed.

However, the bagon didn't seem content to just see them leave. It ran forwards, almost tripping on the downward slope, and cut in front of Will again, fixing him with another expectant stare.

"I don't think this is going to work," he said to James.

James let out a sigh as he saw the bagon. "Alright, just make it as quick as you can."

"Is this really the best place to battle?" Nicola asked as she, Richard and James moved back up the hill slightly to be out of the way.

"Beggars can't be choosers." Richard shrugged. If it was only going to be a quick battle, then there wouldn't be much harm done anyway.

Deciding to take the opportunity to practise using Fly, Will whistled for Turkey, who was flying overhead with Nulin. With a loud cry, he dropped down through the air and started hovering in front of his trainer. He grinned, recognising the bagon.

With a cry, it charged towards them, lowering its head and trying to keep its balance on the uneven ground. Turkey shot up into the air to avoid the attack. Picking his moment, he dived down. He gained speed and power, slamming into the bagon and sending it flying back. It started rolling down the hill but managed to recover. It shot and envious look at Turkey before firing a blast of embers back up towards him.

"Use Steel Wing!"

At Will's command, Turkey dived forwards. His wings were coated with steel as he braved the spray of embers scorching his feathers. The bagon attempted to avoid the attack but was too slow. Turkey clipped its head with one of his wings and sent it flying back. Hitting a tree saved it from falling all the way down the hill, but it was still a heavy blow. But the bagon pulled itself forward again, trudging up the hill again to face its opponent.

"Use Fly!"

Turkey shot up into the air, circling as he got a fix on the bagon's location. With a cry, he dived down again and slammed into his opponent. The bagon was once again thrown back, this time tumbling all the way to the bottom of the hill.

"Is it alright?" Nicola gasped in alarm.

"Don't you remember what the Pokédex said?" Richard asked. "Bagon like to throw themselves off of cliffs – I'm sure this is nothing to a pokémon like this."

"I think we should go and check on it anyway," said Will, beckoning to Turkey, who landed on his shoulder. "It might still want to fight, after all."

"After all that, I hope not," said James.

The four of them made their way carefully down the path to where the bagon had fallen. As they got closer, they were relieved to see that it was starting to pull itself up again, shaking its head and looking back up at the hill. It walked over towards them as they reached the bottom. Though it seemed to be in remarkably good condition for having tumbled all the way down the hill, it had dropped its combative stance. It seemed like it recognised its defeat.

"Are you okay?" Nicola asked as they reached it.

The bagon looked at her and nodded. It seemed to have escaped the fall with little more than some scrapes and bruises. In fact, it had already looked back at Turkey and started hopping up and down excitedly again, frantically gesturing to him.

"What's up with it now? You don't think it wants to keep fighting, do you?" Richard asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Will leaned down towards the bagon. "You don't want to get even more hurt, right?"

The bagon shook its head vigorously before pointing at Turkey again and then pointing to itself eagerly.

"Oh!"

Will, Richard and James all looked around at Nicola, who looked like she'd just had an idea.

"What is it?" Richard asked.

"I think I figured it out!" Nicola replied. She knelt down in front of the bagon and smiled at it. "You're not actually after a battle anymore, are you?"

The bagon nodded.

"Then what is it after?" Will asked, folding his arms and he thought.

"I think I've got it!" James grinned. He looked at Nicola. "You're thinking of…right?"

"Yeah – that!" Nicola nodded. "The Pokédex says that bagon dream of flying, right? This one must look up to Turkey because he can fly!"

"Meaning that it wants to travel with us and learn from him." James finished for her.

"Is that true?" Will asked, looking down at the bagon again. It nodded eagerly. "Well, you can come along with us if you want to." He produced a poké ball and offered it to the bagon. After a moment of hesitation, it bounced up and bumped its head against the ball.

There was a futuristic whir as it was sucked inside. The ball clicked shut and shuddered in Will's hand for a couple of seconds before finally stopping. There was a click as the ball finished sealing.

"I guess Turkey's going to have his work cut out for him now!" Richard grinned. "It'll be tough trying to teach a pokémon without wings how to fly!"

"It'll be tough on Will as well!" James added. "He's basically taking on the same duty!"

"What are you going to call it?" Nicola asked.

"I think…" Will considered the question for a couple of seconds. "…Blue?"

"Isn't that just what colour it is?" Nicola frowned.

"Not everyone wants to use super complicated names like James!" Richard laughed. "As long as it'll respond to you, that's the main thing!"

"Blue is it then!" Will grinned. He clicked the release mechanism and the bagon rematerialized on the ground. "Welcome to the team, Blue! Turkey and I will make sure that you get stronger and learn to fly someday!"

Blue cheered happily, enthused by his words.

"Right! Let's get moving again!" James called. "We all want to get off of Meteor Falls, right?"

"Are we far from Route 115?" Richard asked as he started walking after him.

"Not too far now. If things go our way, then we might even make it there today."

"What are we waiting for then?" Nicola grinned as she ran to catch up to them.

Behind them, Will smiled at Turkey and Blue. "Come on, guys – let's get moving!"

Turkey immediately took off and gained height, disappearing into the canopy. Blue watched him go with an awed look before turning to hurry after Will and the others.

* * *

 **Since we haven't had a Will-centric chapter for a while…**

 **Anyway, I don't have anything in particular to say in my author notes for this chapter. I hope that I was able to capture the way that bagon would act – they strike me as the kind of pokémon that would be headstrong and reckless. Perfect, perhaps, for a trainer like Will.**

 **As a side note,** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **ended last month with two more views that** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **(1,170 to** _ **Kanto**_ **'s 1,168), making February 2018 the first month since I joined this site where** _ **Kanto**_ **hasn't been my most viewed story. It seems like** _ **Hoenn**_ **is increasingly taking over the mantle from its predecessor.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Leer, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	54. Brother V Brother

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group continued their journey across Meteor Falls. Along the way, they encountered a very eager bagon who wanted to battle Turkey and ended up joining Will's team.**

 **Upload Date: 10** **th** **March 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 54: Brother V Brother**

 _Meteor Falls, Hoenn_

 _9:46am, 7_ _th_ _June 2006_

Even somewhere like Meteor Falls that had been largely abandoned by humanity wasn't entirely silent. The league season meant that almost everywhere in the region was busier and livelier than normal – trainers and their pokémon were constantly training whenever they weren't travelling, eating or sleeping. The mornings, quiet in the winter and autumn, were often particularly loud since many trainers liked to train before they started the day's travelling.

This was the reason for all the noise in the western part of Meteor Falls. Now that they were safely away from the worst parts of the meteorite strike zones, the group had taken a far laxer view towards sticking in one place and training for longer. James and Will were taking full advantage of this – all of their pokémon were doing some form of training, though they were particularly focusing on Toya and Nulin.

"One more try!" James called.

Nulin nodded in response and soared up into the air. Opening his beak and concentrating hard, he fired a pure-white beam at a rock nestled against the mountain slopes. A pale mist rose from it as it struck the rock and encased it in a layer of ice.

"Wow! You're really doing it!" Will grinned. He turned and nodded at Toya. "Don't let Nulin outdo you!"

Toya also attempted to fire a beam of ice, but he missed his target after losing control of the beam. Still, it was an improvement: it was the first time that he'd managed to fire the beam on his first try.

"I was wondering how you were doing. Looks like both Nulin and Toya are really starting to pick Ice Beam up!"

James and Will looked back to see an old man approaching them from the old, wooden house a short distance from where they were standing. His name was Harold and, when they'd met him the previous evening, he'd been very keen to brag about being the person who lived furthest inside Meteor Falls.

Since the group had decided to camp nearby, they'd spent some time that evening talking with Harold, learning that he had once been a trainer in his youth as well. That was when he'd mentioned Ice Beam, his favourite attack.

James and Will had jumped at the opportunity to help their pokémon get stronger and had set to work with Nulin and Toya to master the technique. After part of the evening and much of the morning so far dedicated to this practise, it looked as if their efforts were finally paying off.

"They really have picked it up easily! You really did a great job teaching them," said James.

Harold chuckled. "Oh, I don't know about that. A good teacher is nothing without good students!"

Nulin and Toya looked pleased after hearing that.

"Should we start thinking about getting going?"

Richard was walking over from their former campsite with Nicola, all evidence of their presence having been packed away again.

"I guess we should," said James, checking his watch. "We want to make it to the next town as soon as possible." Supplies were getting low again, after all.

"I don't think that there's much more I can teach Toya and Nulin," said Harold. "Just keep practising and they'll have them down in no time at all!"

"Understood!" Will nodded. "Thanks for all your help, Harold!"

"It was my pleasure, young man!" Harold grinned at them. "It's always nice to see youngsters out travelling with their pokémon at this time of year – it reminds me of the good old days!"

The group waved at him as they started walking down the road leading out of the valley. It wouldn't be long now before they were back in civilisation.

"So, what's the first thing you're going to do once we're in Kaban City?" Richard asked, looking between the others.

"A shower, definitely!" Nicola immediately replied.

"I want to try and find a tough trainer to fight," said Will.

"Oh? You're feeling pretty confident at the moment?" James grinned.

"Of course – Toya and I are going to master Ice Beam and grow even more powerful!"

"I think you've grown pretty strong recently anyway," said Richard. "I mean, you've got Turkey and Gulpy, who are already quite tough themselves. Blue is really keen to fight and packs quite a punch. Plus, you've got Toya's new moves as well."

Indeed, Blue was currently scuffling with Kacha as they walked along, tackling each other playfully as they scampered after the trainers. She'd already spent as much time today training as the other three combined. Will was starting to think that just practice battles wouldn't be enough to satisfy her for long.

"Well, we should get to Kaban City before we worry about what we do there," said James. "Let's go, guys!"

* * *

 _Kaban City, Hoenn_

 _12:21pm, 7_ _th_ _June 2006_

Kaban City wasn't a large place, but it seemed like a metropolis as James led the way across the bridge in the centre of town. After all the time they'd spent in Meteor Falls, it was a wonder to behold – full of life and activity, shops that were full of stock and streets that were full of people walking about. It was a world away from what they'd seen in the mountains.

It took him until then to remember that it hadn't even been a week since they'd first started following the path leading up to Meteor Falls. Five days – that was all. But it felt like they'd been away from the bustle of modern life for a very long time.

They wasted no time in tracking down the pokémon centre and heading in so that they could book rooms for the night and have their pokémon checked up by the nurse. It was a process that they'd become so familiar with that they hardly noticed it normally, yet they realised how much they'd come to miss the old routine while they'd been away in the mountains. In many ways, it had felt even more desolate than the empty, rolling dunes of Route 111.

"Oh! New pokémon!" Nicola exclaimed as they walked through the entrance to the trainers' lounge, spotting a couple of pokémon that she hadn't seen before.

Richard laughed. "Calm down! Remember that we're back in the city now!"

Nicola didn't respond, instead pulling out her Pokédex and pointing it at a small, green pokémon with red and blue flowers on the end of its spindly arms.

" _Roselia, the thorn pokémon and the evolved form of budew. Roselia shoot sharp thorns as projectiles at any opponent that tries to steal the flowers on their arms. The aroma of these pokémon brings serenity to living things. A roselia that drinks nutritionally rich spring water blooms with lovely flowers._ "

For such a small pokémon, it sounded like it packed quite a punch. Nicola made a mental note not to challenge the trainer sat with it and turned her Pokédex towards the other pokémon, a cute, pink pokémon that was round like a balloon.

" _Jigglypuff, the balloon pokémon and the evolved form of igglybuff. A jigglypuff's vocal chords can freely adjust the wavelength of its voice. These pokémon use this ability to sing at precisely the right wavelength to make their foes most drowsy. When these pokémon sing, they never pause to breathe. This puts them at a severe disadvantage against a foe that cannot be put to sleep._ "

"Yeah, you want to watch out for jigglypuff," said Richard. "They can cause some real problems in battle."

"Really? It's so cute though…"

"You haven't heard them sing. I pray that you never have to…"

"…I'll take your word for it then," said Nicola. She looked around at the others. "Anyway, don't we need to plan what we're doing next?"

"I guess so, yeah." James nodded, reaching for his guidebook. "There are a couple of options for where to go from here."

"Before we start that, I have a question," said Will.

"Fire away."

Will nodded at Nicola, who gave him a blank look in return, before turning back to James. "I'm feeling confident in the strength of my team right now – we've been training hard and improving ourselves. I want to battle you to see how far I've come."

There were a couple of seconds of silence.

"Oh! That's what you meant!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed, finally working out why he'd suddenly nodded at her. "You're taking my advice then?"

"You suggested this?" Richard asked. "Are you sure that was a good idea?"

"What do you mean? The only way to truly improve as a trainer is to fight others, right?"

"I guess so, but to go up against James…"

James looked his brother in the eye. He could see his determination in his facial expression. They'd never had a proper battle together before, just practice spars. He knew that Will's tactics and drive meant that he was a capable trainer.

But he lacked experience fighting real battles, so there was only one way that it could really end. Still, it would be a good experience for both of them and James saw no reason to deny him. He nodded. "Sure, but let's have lunch first while we wait for the pokémon to be all healed up."

* * *

 _1:37pm, 7_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Alright, what rules do you guys want to use?"

Richard looked between James and Will as he stood at the side of the arena.

"Well, we've both got four pokémon each, so I guess we could just use all of them?"

James looked over at Will, who nodded.

"Let's do that then!" Richard grinned.

"Good luck, both of you!" Nicola called.

James and Will both reached for their first poké balls and hurled them out.

Gulpy materialised in front of Will, while Kacha appeared opposite them. Both pokémon looked excited to get started. They all waited for Richard's shout before the orders started flying.

"Begin!"

"Go on the attack!"

Both trainers urged their pokémon forward. Gulpy lurched towards Kacha, only for the pikachu to vanish from sight for a split second. He reappeared on the gulpin's left, slamming his fist into her flank. Her flexible skin bent inwards with the impact, the force of the punch causing her to rock to the side.

However, she didn't seem all that bothered by it, as if the attack was a mere annoyance. She spun around, taking advantage of the momentum from Kacha's punch, and fired a blast of sludge towards him. He managed to race clear at the last second, but the sludge has glanced his right side. He winced as he came to a stop; once the initial pain subsided, he could feel his skin itching as the sludge irritated it.

"Keep your distance!" James called. There was no point wasting attacks up close when he'd have an advantage at a distance.

Kacha nodded and jumped to the side to avoid a second ball of sludge thrown by Gulpy. Growling as he fixed his gaze on his opponent, he started charging electricity in his cheek sacs. A crackling sound filled the air as the gathering bolts jumped around him.

"Hold position!" Will ordered. "Brace for it!"

As Kacha fired a bolt of electricity, Gulpy seemed to let herself sag closer to the ground. The electricity struck her easily, passing through her body and causing her to spasm. As Kacha lifted his attack, however, a blank look came over her face. Though her body was covered by scorch marks and her muscles occasionally jerked involuntarily, causing her entire body to wobble, she didn't look to be in pain at all.

"Use Sludge!" Will shouted.

Gulpy fired another bundle of sludge towards Kacha, but it came so slowly that he had plenty of time to dodge out of the way. The pikachu fired another bolt of electricity at his opponent, again managing to strike her directly. Once again, however, Gulpy seemed to forget all about the pain.

There was an uneasy stalemate on the arena for a couple of seconds as both pokémon eyed each other carefully and the two trainers thought about what to do next. It was Will who moved first.

"Pound!"

With a startling burst of speed, Gulpy flung herself across the practice arena towards where Kacha was standing. She slammed into him before he had a chance to react, sending him stumbling backwards, barely able to maintain his balance.

Spotting the opening, Will called out, telling her to use Sludge. The poisonous mass was already flying through the air before he'd finished his order. Kacha cried out in alarm and attempted a last-minute dodge. He was too slow and was struck by the full force of the attack.

"Use Poison Gas!"

Will wasn't going to let up. He knew that there was a power imbalance between Gulpy and Kacha. If they didn't move fast to claim victory, then they'd just get worn down by his superior firepower.

At his command, Gulpy expelled a small cloud of gas. It floated quickly in Kacha's direction and, despite his best efforts to resist it, he inhaled some of it. He coughed and choked, unable to focus as Gulpy sprang forwards again.

"Thunderbolt!" James called.

Kacha reacted instinctively, firing out a blast of electricity directly in front of himself. He caught Gulpy while she was in the air, sending electricity coursing through her. However, it wasn't enough to stop her advance and she slammed into him once again.

The process repeated, Gulpy charging at Kacha as he tried to ward her off with electricity, until the pikachu finally collapsed, unable to carry on the fight.

"Kacha is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Gulpy is the winner!"

"Kacha, return!"

James recalled the injured pokémon to his poké ball. "You put up a good fight – looks like we underestimated Gulpy." He looked over at his younger brother as he put Kacha's ball away and pulled out another one. "Alright, I guess it's time I get serious! You won't get away with using your normal tactics this time, Will!"

"I'm looking forward to it!" Will called back. Though he was starting to get into the swing of the battle, he could feel his throat going a little dry. James was still stronger than him and a head-on fight would be difficult for him to win, if it was even possible at all. He'd need to focus everything on achieving victory.

"Go, Charka!"

The poké ball spun through the air and bounced off the ground before popping open. The charmeleon materialised, hopping from one foot to the other as he got ready to fight.

Will wasn't prepared to just sit back and wait for him to attack though. "Use Sludge!"

Gulpy opened her wide mouth and spat a ball of sludge at Charka. However, he simply opened his mouth and fired a stream of flames at the oncoming attack. The sludge was engulfed and incinerated. It was going to be a far tougher battle than the last one.

"Go on the offensive! You know the drill!" James called.

With a brief, knowing smile, Charka opened his mouth and spat out a cloud of thick, black smoke. As it filled the air and floated across the arena, Gulpy started moving, hoping to keep herself clear of the next attack. Will already knew exactly what to expect – James was using it anyway because it was effective.

Sure enough, an orange glow appeared from the cloud, followed a split second later by a jet of flame that licked its way across the arena and wrapped itself around Gulpy. The gulpin cried out in alarm as she found herself caught in the middle of a fiery vortex, immobilised by the smoke and flames.

A final burst of flames came streaming from the rapidly fading smoke cloud and licked their way towards Gulpy, combining with the vortex to create a searing inferno. The trainers felt the heat wave from the intense flames hit their faces. After only a few seconds, the last of the flames dissipated, leaving a burned and exhausted Gulpy lying on the ground.

"Gulpy is unable to battle! The winner is Charka!"

 _Such power!_

Will could hardly contain his frustration at how easily Charka had counter attacked and defeated Gulpy. Still, he reassured himself, Gulpy had been severely weakened by the battle with Kacha. They'd have put up a much greater fight if they'd been at full strength.

Charka was James' strongest pokémon and one of his closest friends. He was the symbol of the strength of their team. If Will was to prove that he'd become stronger and was worthy of respect, then he knew that he needed to bring the charmeleon down. He had to give it his all.

"Go, Toya!"

Toya gave him a nod as he materialised on the charred and blasted arena floor. He winced slightly as he felt the hot ground on his feet. Across from him, Charka looked just as confident as ever, even with his traditional weakness to water attacks.

"Water Gun!"

Will wanted to start as strongly as he could. There was no time to worry about winning in a particularly skilful way – all that mattered was bringing Charka down. As long as he doused him in enough water, victory would be assured.

Charka wasn't prepared to just sit back though, and neither was James. With a shout from his trainer, Charka jumped to the side and prepared to fire back. Fire Spin wasn't a strong move, but it was very effective at keeping the foe pinned down. Toya was struck by the counter attack and grunted in pain as the flames tore around him as they raced skyward.

"Flamethrower!"

As Charka prepared for his attack, the fiery vortex suddenly started wavering and rotating faster. With a sudden burst, the flames suddenly dissipated and the vortex collapsed. Toya's spinning shell came to a rest and the wartortle himself popped back out. With a shout, he fired a jet of water towards Charka, who responded with a burst of his flames.

"Wow! They're really going all out!" Nicola gasped, watching as the two pokémon exchanged attacks with an increasing speed and ferocity.

"It's not really that surprising. Will loves focusing on power and James' strategies using Charka kinda work the same way. They're both their first pokémon as well, so…"

"Yeah…" Nicola could understand. There was something about a battle between two first pokémon – a sign that both trainers were pulling out all the stops.

Breaking off from the engagement briefly, Toya and Charka put some space between each other. They locked eyes for a tense second. As Toya prepared to attack again, Charka suddenly spat out another cloud of smoke. Though he and James were quickly hidden from Will and Toya's sight, the sound of the recall beam was unmistakable.

The sound disappointed Will. Though it was an agreed part of the rules and something that James regularly did in battles, he'd really been enjoying the showdown between their two strongest. Charka being withdrawn could technically be seen as an admission of defeat by James, but Will felt a little bit cheated by it. He hadn't truly beaten Charka and that meant there was some unfinished business for later.

He was snapped back to reality as a deafening sound echoed from within the smoke, a shockwave racing forwards and knocking Toya off of his feet. There was no mistaking that yell – Muro had taken to the battlefield!

As the loudred walked out of the fading smoke, he fixed Toya with a fierce look. He wasn't going to let himself be outdone.

"Use Uproar again!"

Muro nodded, his ears starting to pulse as he prepared another blast of sound. Toya tensed himself as Muro shouted loudly, the sound echoing around. A second shockwave hit him, but this time he stayed upright. He shook his furry tail as he took a step towards his opponent.

"Counter attack! We need to gain the initiative!" Will shouted.

Toya was quick to respond. With a brief nod, he darted forwards. Muro spotted his opportunity as Toya drew closer and raised his foot, aiming to smash into the wartortle. However, Toya changed direction at the last moment and, in trying to turn back to face him, Muro overbalanced and almost fell over. With the loudred exposed, Toya dived in and bit at his ankle. There was a shout of pain as his opponent toppled backwards and crashed to the ground.

The sudden switch to Muro had caught Will somewhat off-guard, but it looked like the battle was going back in his favour again. Still, he needed to think of a way to swing things decisively in his favour. If Toya defeated Muro, then there was still Charka and Nulin to go. Of those, Charka was the biggest threat. He had no doubt that Toya would be able to defeat him, but he would still have Turkey and Blue if needs be.

Toya had been continuing to hold off Muro with carefully aimed blasts of water. Now that his opponent was soaked, it was time for his next strike. Taking a deep breath, he fired a bright white beam at Muro.

Muro attempted to dive clear as James shouted a warning, but the icy beam caught his foot. As it froze, the ice rapidly spread up the rest of his body until it was completely encased. There was a loud crack as the ice shattered again and Muro crashed to the ground.

Still, he picked himself up and started storming back towards Toya. The wartortle jumped to the right to dodge the wild swing but misjudged his distance and landed flat on his belly a short distance away. Muro spotted the opportunity immediately and plunged towards him as he scrambled to get back to his feet. The loudred slammed his foot down onto him with a loud thud, winding him.

"Go defensive!" James called.

Muro jumped back from Toya and watched him carefully, preparing himself for another attack.

As Toya clawed his way back to his feet, Will wondered why James had decided to pull back instead of pressing his advantage. Maybe he was trying to keep him in the fight for longer – Muro was starting to look worse for wear and a powerful attack might be enough to finish him.

 _A powerful attack?_

An old, familiar idea came to him. He glanced at Toya, noticing that he looked pretty worn down as well. It would take some bold moves to win this battle, but he thought that he had a chance.

"Smash yourself into the ground, Toya!"

"He's going with this again?!" Nicola exclaimed as she watched Toya obediently plough himself into the ground.

The wartortle winced in pain as he staggered back to his feet, but it had worked. A faint blue, watery aura started to surround him and grew stronger. Now was their chance.

He knew what his trainer wanted him to do even before the words left his lips. He opened his own mouth and felt a powerful surge of water gushing up from inside him. Fixing his gaze on Muro, he fired an even more powerful jet of water towards him.

With a shout from James, however, the loudred dived to the side at the last moment. As Toya remained stunned for a split second, Muro stormed towards him from the left. He finally turned his head and hit Muro, but he was too close. Fighting through the water, he slammed into Toya with a mighty kick.

Feeling his strength leave his legs, Toya toppled backwards and landed on his back.

"Toya is unable to battle! The winner is Muro!"

Will felt a little stunned as he recalled Toya to his poké ball. He'd been convinced that his final shot would win him the round. He'd still thought it when Muro was hit at the last moment on his approach. Still, Toya getting knocked out was something he'd already factored in. He just hadn't thought that it would happen against Muro. Though he was a tough pokémon, he'd never really struck Will in the same way as James' other pokémon – too few powerful moves to threaten him.

Pulling out another poké ball, he cast aside those thoughts. Toya might have gone down, but he was determined to launch his own counter attack.

"Go, Blue!"

The eager Blue materialised on the ground and flapped her tiny arms, jumping up and down with enthusiasm. She grinned eagerly at Muro opposite her.

"Go for the knockout!"

At Will's command, Blue immediately sprang forwards. Unlike Will's other pokémon, she didn't have an attack pattern that he'd taught her. Though he was going to have far less control over exactly what she did, it also meant that James would have a harder time predicting what she would do next.

Unfortunately, he had to go along with whatever Blue decided and a direct frontal assault wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. Still, Blue fought through Muro's sonic shockwaves and managed to slam into his stomach with her armoured head. As he stumbled backwards, the bagon followed up with a stream of fiery embers.

Crying out in pain as the embers singed him, Muro managed to regain his balance. This time, he raised a foot as Blue stormed forwards again. He lowered it at an angle, attempting to slip beneath her tough head and strike her more vulnerable body, but Blue lowered her head as she approached, making it impossible.

Instead, both pokémon recoiled in pain. Muro recovered first and took advantage of the opening to blast Blue with Uproar again, leaving her momentarily stunned. He followed up with a loud screech. He rushed forwards, limping noticeably, as Blue staggered about, clutching her head. There was a loud thud as he slammed his foot into her.

"Come on, Blue! Get it together!" Will called. "You can win this – I know it!"

Though still a little disoriented by the recent attacks, Blue quickly moved back to go on the offensive again. Her first headbutt went nowhere as Muro dodged out of the way, but a second one scored a hit on one of his legs. As he dropped to one knee, Blue spotted her chance and ploughed into him with a final strike.

"Muro is unable to battle! Blue is the winner!"

Will sighed with relief as James recalled Muro. The battle was even again, and he still had a chance to win. He didn't know which pokémon James would send out next, but he was confident that Blue would have the strength and stamina to go up against them. He still had Turkey in reserve as well, just in case.

"Go, Nulin!"

Nulin, huh? Will had thought that Charka was a more likely choice, but he supposed that James might be trying to take advantage of their weakened state or setting up so that Charka had less work to do later. Either way, his strategy remained unchanged.

"Give it your all! Use Headbutt!"

Blue surged forwards, flushed with the thrill of her victory over Muro. That tiny wingull might be able to fly, but she wasn't about to let herself be outshone.

However, she quickly discovered that it was going to be far from easy. With each attempted strike, Nulin wove around, deftly avoiding Blue's attacks with ease. After every dodge, he dived closer and struck at Blue with his wings before pulling back out of reach.

"Focus Energy!"

Blue disengaged briefly and fixed Nulin with a purposeful stare. Her eyes scanned the wingull's body relentlessly, identifying every possible weak spot. It was tougher than it normally would have been, given how fast he was flying around.

As soon as she was done, Blue launched herself into another attack. Nulin dodged, but she landed and threw herself up again. She missed his body but caught one of his wings and he started toppling down.

This was their chance! Blue pulled back slightly to prepare for her next attack. She started moving forwards, taking aim and lowering her head. Nulin had managed to keep himself airborne, but he was struggling to hold himself in place as his wing recovered.

"Ice Beam!"

As Blue drew closer, Nulin opened his beak and fired a white beam, a chill filling the air. Blue was far too close – there was no opportunity to dodge. In seconds, she was encased completely by the ice. As it shattered, the force of the attack sent her flying back. She crashed to the ground by Will and lay still.

"Blue is unable to battle! Nulin is the winner!"

Will gritted his teeth as he recalled Blue to her poké ball. "Good effort. Don't worry, we'll still pull through," he said as he put the ball away.

He'd been backed into somewhat of a corner now. Turkey was tough, but he would struggle against both Nulin and Charka. Still, he matched up well against Nulin – he was larger and heavier, so his attacks would pack more of a punch. He'd trained against the wingull so often that he knew his fighting style completely. The difficulty would be in the fight against Charka.

"Go, Turkey!"

Turkey surged out of the ball and immediately started flying at Nulin. His wings were bathed in a white light as he smashed into him. The wingull was hurled backwards with a cry. He managed to right himself and flew forwards again, his eyes following Turkey as he circled around to face him again.

Will knew that he had a unique opportunity to land easy knockout blows. There was no point wasting time with Steel Wing, which would have less effect – Turkey could probably finish Nulin off with just a couple more Aerial Aces. However, he was keen to practise their new attack as well.

"Fly!"

"Water Pulse!"

Turkey shot up high into the air. Nulin's attack sailed harmlessly below him and splashed to the ground.

There was a tense pause as Nulin and James watched for Turkey's next move. The swellow was difficult to see clearly, given the height he'd ascended to.

Suddenly, they detected movement. Turkey had started diving, gaining speed as he plunged towards Nulin. It looked like the attack was going to be a powerful one!

As the swellow rocketed down towards him, Nulin prepared to make his move. He suddenly fired a ball of water into the air towards him, followed quickly by a second one. Turkey had plenty of time to avoid both, but his distraction gave Nulin an opportunity to start moving clear. As he drew closer to the ground and frantically made adjustments to his flight course, Turkey heard a high-pitched sound rise up towards him. He tried to clear it from his mind, but it was so distracting! His course thrown off, he was suddenly hurtling straight at the ground. He tried to pull up but ended up crashing on the arena floor.

As he clawed his way back up, Nulin had already swept around behind him. There was a splash as a ball of water struck him, soaking his feathers and knocking him back to the ground again.

"Focus, Turkey!" Will yelled.

Hearing his trainer's voice, Turkey pulled himself back up again. This time, he lurched forwards to avoid another attack from Nulin. He shook his head to clear it and finally took off again, shaking some of the water from his feathers. Disappointed that he hadn't remained in his vulnerable state, Nulin gained height and switched his position so that he was ready for the next stage of the battle.

Turkey was quick to circle around and charge at Nulin with his wings spread wide. Nulin responded in kind, his own wings surrounded by white light. The two of them smashed into each other, the smaller and physically weaker Nulin being knocked aside by Turkey. As he was flung back, however, the wingull managed to fire another ball of water. It hit the surprised swellow and knocked him back.

Both pokémon were starting to get exhausted. Nulin looked as though he was just barely keeping himself in the air, his normally-straight wings flapping irregularly. Turkey was better off in terms of physical injuries but being hit by the balls of water had disoriented him and he was looking increasingly drained.

Will hadn't forgotten that Turkey still needed to fight Charka after this and, with the swellow's strength being whittled away, he was more mindful than ever of Nulin's Ice Beam attack. It still posed a strong risk to Turkey, being as powerful and accurate as it was, and it could even be enough to end the battle. There was no time to be cautious.

"Use Fly again!"

Turkey shot up into the sky again. As he circled far above, he focused his attention on Nulin and tensed himself for his dive back to the ground. With a cry, he tucked in his wings and let his body tip downwards. The wind raced past him as he gained speed, but he was focused and kept his eyes firmly on his target.

Finally spreading his wings slightly to control his descend, he swung his lower body down so that he was ready to slam into Nulin with his talons. The wingull made a desperate attempt to evade but moved just a little too slowly. There was a thud as the two pokémon hit the ground.

Will allowed himself a sigh of relief. The attack had gone just as planned and Turkey's power meant that the battle with Nulin was effectively over. He just needed to think about how he was going to put down Charka, or if it would even be possible.

As those thoughts were running through his head, however, he suddenly realised that Nulin had pulled free from Turkey and spun around to face him. Summoning his remaining energy, he opened his beak and shot an icy beam at his opponent. Turkey could only utter a brief cry of surprise before he was hit and encased in ice. He was thrown back as it shattered, crashing to the ground and laying silent.

"Turkey is unable to battle! Nulin is the winner!" Richard announced. "All four of Will's pokémon are unable to battle, so James wins!"

"Huh? How?" Will gasped, looking between the defeated Turkey and victorious Nulin. "We hit you with our full force!"

"You were too confident that you'd won the fight!" James called back as he walked forwards to pat Nulin on the head. "Nulin was able to just slip through the gap between Turkey's talons and counter attacked."

"Ugh." Will held up Turkey's poké ball and recalled him. Even if it had ended in a defeat, he'd been proud of the power and skill the swellow had displayed. Still, losing was frustrating. He couldn't quite grasp how he'd failed to overpower James' other pokémon. He knew that he'd gotten stronger, but he hadn't expected Muro and Nulin to put up as much of a fight as they did.

…Perhaps that was the problem – he'd underestimated how much trouble Muro and Nulin would give him. That wasn't too worrying though. He'd only done that because he knew the two of them well. Against a trainer and pokémon he'd just met, he wouldn't make mistakes like that.

"So, about the battle…" he said. He wanted to dissect his defeat and work out where he could have improved.

"Let's head back to the pokémon centre first," said James. "Once our pokémon are getting healed up, we can talk about what happened."

That seemed fair.

Will set off after James, Richard and Nicola as they all started walking away from the arena.

* * *

 _2:09pm, 7_ _th_ _June 2006_

"So, where did I go wrong?"

Will was quick to restart the discussion as he sat down in the trainers' lounge.

"First up, I think you did really well," said James. "Blue was pretty tough and the rest of your pokémon have been growing stronger as well. You also came up with some good strategies to use against me."

"Agreed." Richard nodded.

"Yeah, I wish I could do as well as that against James," Nicola added.

"Yeah, but I still lost," Will replied. "Where did I go wrong? Was it because I underestimated Muro and Nulin?"

"That might be part of it," said James. "But I also think that you may have overestimated yourself a little bit."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you have several favourite tactics and I think you don't realise how easy it is for me to predict them. I was pretty much waiting for you to have Toya hurt himself to boost his water power and based my strategy around that. Similarly, I knew that you'd go for your best attacks with Turkey and focus on trying to do heavy damage with each strike."

"That sounds more like him being predictable rather than him overestimating his abilities," said Nicola.

"Ah, I guess so!" James chuckled. "Sorry, I couldn't think of the right way to phrase it on the spot."

"On that subject, I think you worked quite well with Blue in the battle," said Richard. "And you were certainly more unpredictable."

"I think that was the same with Gulpy as well." James nodded. "I wasn't expecting such a fierce attack from her and Kacha and I let our guards down."

"So, I need to work on making my moves less predictable and focus on trying to surprise my opponents?" Will recapped.

"That's probably enough to work on for now," Richard replied. "It was pretty fun watching the two of you go all out against each other – it's completely different having a proper battle to a practice battle!"

"Agreed!" James said.

"Do you feel like it was worth doing?" Nicola asked, looking at Will.

"Yeah, I think so." Will nodded, smiling at her. "Thanks for the suggestion. It's helped me out a lot."

"Sure! Next time, we should have another battle!"

"Actually, don't we need to talk about where we're going to go next?" Richard asked.

"Good point." James pulled out the guidebook. "The next town on Route 115 is Tiane Town."

"Isn't that the place Mia told us was hosting a contest soon?" Nicola asked.

"That's right." James reached into his bag and pulled out a second small book. Mia had given it to him before they'd parted ways in Kasena Town – it was a programme listing all of the contests that were due to take place across Hoenn this season. It was much more convenient than having to check the website every time they reached a new city.

"Are you sure that we're going to be in time for that? It took us quite a while to get through Meteor Falls…" Will pointed out.

"Here it is!" James found the page for June and scanned it to find Tiane Town. "We'll be just in time – the next contest is the day after tomorrow!"

"I guess that's settled then!" Nicola grinned happily. "I'm looking forward to it!"

"How far is Tiane Town?" Richard asked. "Do you think we'll make it in time?"

"Easily," James replied. "We could probably make it there before dinner time if we set off right now."

"That's really close," said Nicola. "Would it be better to get to Tiane Town sooner?"

James shook his head. "I don't think that it'll make much of a difference and we need to stay here while the pokémon heal up anyway. We had a rough trip across Meteor Falls, so I think we can afford to kick back a bit today."

"Well, I'm going to head out and do some practising for the contest!" Nicola jumped to her feet. "You're welcome to join me if you want!"

"I think I'll kick back and relax for a bit!" Richard grinned at her. "Might come out later in the afternoon though!"

"Suit yourself!" Nicola called back as she started walking towards the doorway. She probably wouldn't stay out that long today. After Meteor Falls and the intensity of James and Will's battle, they were all feeling pretty exhausting. It would be nice to have a chance to recover.

* * *

 **We haven't had a large-scale battle between some of the protagonists in a long time. It felt good to have an opportunity to put James and Will's teams to the test in this chapter and get a feel for how their teams have developed so far. I wanted to give more focus to James' new pokémon, since we've seen an awful lot of Charka and Kacha from** _ **Kanto**_ **and** _ **Sevii Islands**_ **, but it wouldn't have been the same with their move combinations. RIP Agile Slam. :(**

 **I also wanted to try and get more into Will's head this chapter since he's currently the most neglected and underdeveloped character on the main cast. I hope that I'm making steps in the right direction with the events of this chapter!**

 **Also, why is it that my Facebook posts only get likes if they're about chapter delays? :/**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Leer, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	55. Ember Swirl

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group finally make their way out of Meteor Falls and into Kaban City on Route 115, where James and Will fought a four-on-four battle together. Though James was victorious, both trainers learned from the experience.**

 **Upload Date: 16** **th** **March 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 55: Ember Swirl**

 _Tiane Town, Hoenn_

 _12:42pm, 8_ _th_ _June 2006_

With Meteor Falls behind them, the group had set off on their short journey from Kaban City to Tiane Town with a renewed enthusiasm. The day may have been rather drab and gloomy, but James and Nicola were already looking ahead to the bright stage lights of the contest hall. There was going to be lots of training to do if they were to get their teams fully ready for the upcoming challenge.

Upon arriving in Tiane Town, this feeling had grown more urgent as they noticed the number of coordinators milling around the contest hall. It wasn't an especially large number, but they'd thought that Tiane Town was much like Leevay Town in many ways – a bit too far out for large numbers of coordinators to flock to.

"I hope we're going to be alright," James murmured as they walked through the door to the hall.

"What do you mean?" Nicola asked, turning to look at him. "There are a few more people than we were expecting, but that doesn't mean that we're going to lose."

"No, but it means there's more competition and more of a chance that we'll lose," James replied. "Still, you've really been fired up since the contest in Kellen City."

"Of course! Now that I've won one ribbon, I definitely want to earn another and catch up to you!"

"It's good to see you're eager, at least."

The queue for the registration desk wasn't too long – most of the other coordinators must have already been registered by this stage. They'd hoped to get the opportunity to do some practice using the stage itself, but it seemed that there was going to be a long wait. Instead, they decided to meet up with Richard and Will back at the pokémon centre so that they could have lunch.

* * *

 _7:02pm, 8_ _th_ _June 2006_

By the evening, the sun had been peeking briefly through the clouds as it set. With the forecast for the following day being for rain though, it wasn't enough to excite James and Nicola. In a way, they were just glad that they weren't going to be travelling tomorrow.

"Hey! How did it go?" Richard immediately called out to them as they walked back into the trainers' lounge. "You were out quite late today."

"There was so much work to do," Nicola sighed as she plopped herself down next to him. "I wanted to work on some new combinations for Mule and Zaggy, but they just weren't getting it!"

James laughed. "I don't think we've ever had such an intense practice session!" He followed Nicola over, but remained standing. Time was marching on and his growling stomach was demanding that they head for the restaurant.

Will seemed to pick up on his implication and stood up. "I guess we should go and get some dinner. I guess you guys will want an early night so that you can train as much as possible tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. Sounds good to me!" Nicola nodded enthusiastically. "I was starting to feel hungry myself!"

They made their way over to the restaurant and joined the queue to get their food. The restaurants in pokémon centres usually stayed open until around nine in the evening, but the peak time was between six and eight. They normally tried to get to the restaurant as early as they could – they'd once staggered in at quarter to nine after a particularly long training session to find that there was almost no food left – but the middle of the rush was normally acceptable – a slight delay on getting their food, but generally a guarantee that they'd get what they wanted.

As she talked with James and the others, Nicola accidentally stepped too far forwards when the line moved again and bumped into the girl standing in front of her.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" she quickly exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I'm…" The moment the girl turned to look at her, there was a brief spark of surprise and realisation in her eyes. She quickly turned back to face forwards and didn't say another word.

"Did you do something to offend her?" Richard whispered.

"Of course not!" Nicola hissed back. She frowned. It was definitely an odd reaction, but she felt as though it was best to avoid pressing it.

After getting her dinner, the girl swiftly disappeared into the crowd, glancing back at Nicola briefly one last time before she went. Weird.

The thought soon left Nicola's mind, though, as she and the others sat down to eat and talk about the plans for the following day.

* * *

 _3:43pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2006_

With as much practice as they could possibly get beforehand, James and Nicola had felt more confident as they arrived back at the contest hall with Richard and Will in tow the following afternoon. They'd deliberately aimed to get there with plenty of time to spare, which looked like it might have been a smart move.

The lobby itself was packed, though this was partly because it was smaller than pervious ones they'd been to, but it was the size of the line of coordinators waiting to finalise their registration that was the most daunting sight there. It might take them a little while to get through all of this just to get to the holding room.

James let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we'd better find a place in the queue, Nicola."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

"Good luck, both of you."

Richard and Will were already preparing to move off and head towards the spectator areas. They had to worry about finding their seats as well – though the crowd of spectators wasn't as large as they thought it might be, there were still plenty of people who'd come in from nearby towns to watch the contest.

"Make sure you cheer us on!" Nicola called after them as they disappeared amongst the crowd. She turned back to James as they returned to the queue. "It's going to be a big one, huh?"

"Wouldn't want it any other way!" James grinned. "Same rules as normal?"

"Oh, you mean about if we end up against each other? Yeah, same rules apply – I want to beat you myself this time!"

"Is that so?" James raised an eyebrow. "Don't think that I'm going to just sit back and let you win."

"That's good – there's no satisfaction in beating someone who's holding back!"

Though there was still a part of her that worried about going up against James, Nicola had felt quite uplifted ever since the contest in Kellen City. It wasn't just the fact that she's won. It was more that she'd spent all of her previous contests worrying about whether or not she'd be good enough, wondering if she really had what it took to win.

Now she knew that she was capable of fending off other coordinators and emerging at the very top of the pyramid. It effectively meant that, out of all the coordinators who entered that contest, she had been the one who had performed the best. If she could do it there, then she could do it again here.

The line had moved along as James and Nicola finally stepped forwards to finish registering.

* * *

 _4:10pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2006_

Richard had been rather surprised by the total number of coordinators who were taking part in this contest. Including James and Nicola, there were 22 in total. It wasn't exactly good news for him and Will since they'd have to diligently sit through all of them just to see their friends perform. Such was the difficult life of a contest spectator!

Fortunately, the announcement at the end of the third performance snapped him back to attention.

"Contestant number four: James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"He's on!"

Richard and Will stopped daydreaming and focused their attention on the stage.

Down below, James walked out from backstage and stood in the spotlight. He held Nulin's poké ball firmly in his hand. As the crowd fell silent in anticipation, he raised the ball and clicked the release button.

Nulin materialised, hovering above the stage. He quickly gained height before soaring downwards. He wove around the stage, flapping his wings and showing off his increasingly noticeable sheen. Gliding close to the ground, he suddenly fired a ball of water into the air, quickly followed by another at a higher speed.

The two high-pressure balls of water exploded outwards as they hit, sending a shower of water cascading down. Nulin flew amongst the falling drops, weaving and scattering them around the stage. Diving back down towards the ground, he turned up and fired a beam of ice at the stage lights above. The lighting on the stage turned weird for a couple of seconds as the ice froze over the lights and distorted them. There was a shattering sound as the ice broke and started tumbling down to the ground, the newly-restored lights reflecting off the pieces as they drifted down.

Still, Nulin wasn't finished there. Flying up, he struck several of the falling ice shards on their way down using his wings, making them shatter further. He spun around and fired another beam down at the stage, freezing the surface completely. As it glittered in the light, Nulin started another dive down.

Spinning around to face up again, he fired another ball of water into the air. He immediately tore after it and plunged into the sphere. A split second later, the ball burst, sending water flying outwards from Nulin.

The crowd applauded as he drifted back down to the stage and landed on James' shoulder.

"That was a pretty good one," said Richard, clapping as he watched James and Nulin exit the stage and a couple of stagehands come running on to quickly remove the ice from the floor.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "I was wondering what he was going to do with Ice Beam. It turned out pretty well in the end."

"Contestant number five: Hannah Elliott!"

Richard was about to switch back off and wait for Nicola's name to be called when he happened to catch sight of the pokémon the girl had just sent out.

"Oh! I haven't seen a torchic in a long time!"

"A torchic?" Will looked down at the fluffy orange chick. "You've seen one of those before?" he asked as he reached for his Pokédex.

"Yeah. James, Livvi and I saw one when we were in the Sevii Islands last year. That was part of what inspired me and James to come here."

" _Torchic, the chick pokémon. If attacked, it strikes back by spitting balls of fire it forms in its stomach. Torchic dislike darkness because they can't see their surroundings. They have a flame sac deep inside their body that perpetually burns. They feel warm if hugged_."

Will could see the appeal of a torchic in a contest – it was small and fluffy after all and it sounded a lot like this was the kind of popular pet that would appeal to people who liked contests. Aside from that, there was nothing that particularly grabbed him about it.

He turned towards Richard, intending to continue talking quietly while they waited for Nicola's turn, but found that he'd decided to watch the torchic's performance instead. With a sigh, he turned back to watch as well. He might as well see what happened.

The start of the performance wasn't anything to write home about – quite a bit of hobbling that was kind of cute, but also seemed a little clumsy and unpractised, as well as spewing some embers and launching some precise swipes with his clawed feet.

Afterwards, he wondered if this had been a deliberate ploy on the part of the bird's coordinator to catch the audience unawares and maximise the end of her appeal. Regardless, the sudden change in the performance as it reached its finale really grabbed his attention. It might have even drawn him in if he hadn't been paying attention to the performance beforehand.

Rooting himself towards the back of the stage, just in front of his coordinator, the torchic fired a cluster of embers into the air. He moved his head around as he spewed more. Will quickly realised that he was getting them to move in a spiral as they burst outwards. This alone was impressive, but not especially unique – Will had seen similar tactics used at other contests.

However, the torchic suddenly started moving forwards. As he reached the centre of the stage, he started pivoting on one of his feet. He moved quickly, still spewing the spiralling embers into the air. They grew so dense above him that it was as though a large, glowing cloud of orange had formed. The embers whipped around him as they descended down to the ground, glowing intermittently with a weak fire.

It was like watching a firework.

As the torchic finally stopped pivoting and let the rest of the embers drop to the ground, the crowd applauded and cheered loudly. The girl bowed to the crowd as she recalled her pokémon and quickly disappeared backstage again.

* * *

 _4:51pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2006_

The appeals continued, but there wasn't anything that grabbed Richard and Will's attention in the same way as that torchic's performance. They'd practically switched off again when they finally heard the MC announcing that Nicola was up next.

"It's about time," Will said, sitting up and prodding Richard to make sure he was paying attention.

Nicola walked out onto the stage and pulled out a poké ball. She threw it confidently, Tricky bursting forth and landing on the ground. He immediately emitted several bursts of electricity, causing the lighting above to flicker and brighten. They'd gotten pretty skilled at managing that.

Still…

"Why is she using Tricky?" Richard wondered. "I thought the plan was for her to use Mule in the first round?"

"Maybe she changed it so that she'd be less similar to that other performance," Will replied. "I wouldn't want to be in the shadow of that if I could help it."

Tricky had been dashing around, scattering sparks and snapping playfully at the air around him. He wagged his short tail with excitement as he did. Though it wasn't an especially flashy performance (it wasn't even all that different to the one they'd used back in Kellen City), it was clear that Tricky was really getting into it and enjoying it. The excitement was infectious and both of them got a pretty big cheer from the crowd when the performance finally ended.

"What do you reckon?" Will asked, turning to look at Richard.

"Why are you looking at me?" Richard replied. "Do I look like an expert on pokémon contests?"

"True, I guess." Will shrugged. "But I thought you'd have an opinion as her friend at least."

"I could say the same thing back to you," Richard sighed. "I honestly don't know. I want to say that she'll get through with no problem, but there have been other performances that were good as well. There are so many competitors as well…"

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"…Weaselling out of giving your opinion, I see…"

The rest of the coordinators came and went, their pokémon performing as best as they could. Though the competition had been a tough one so far, Richard and Will were relieved to discover that both James and Nicola, as well as (unsurprisingly) the girl with the torchic, had made it through to the battle rounds.

* * *

 _5:20pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2006_

Just his luck!

James gritted his teeth as he and Kacha looked across the battlefield at Hannah Elliott and her torchic. It was going to be tough trying to defeat the favourite to win the contest, especially given how unexpected it had been to be drawn against her in the quarter finals. He was going to need to focus if he wanted to pull off a victory.

"Begin!"

As the clock started ticking down, both James and Kacha sprang into action.

"Agility and Brick Break!"

Kacha squeaked in acknowledgement as he rushed forwards. In a split second, he was upon the torchic. His fist shot out but halted a mere inch away from his opponent. The red glow vanishing, he jumped back to put some distance between them.

James nodded with approval. He'd long since learned that it was better to target the opponents points instead of trying to injure them – he wasn't fighting a regular battle, after all. Hannah's points had dropped in response to the attack thanks to Kacha's display of power. If he could keep up this dominating appearance, then they could keep her torchic pinned down and whittle down their points before they could respond effectively.

"Again!"

Kacha rushed forwards a second time, stopping directly in front of the torchic. He extended his fist in an instant, again holding it mere inches from him. This time, however, the torchic bobbed his head forwards and pecked Kacha's paw.

Crying in pain, Kacha bounced back from the torchic. He clutched his paw as he staggered back over towards James.

"Use Fury Swipes, Chika!" Hannah called.

Chika charged forwards, jumping as he reached Kacha. He twirled and spun as he whipped his two clawed feet around and swiped at the pikachu. Kacha staggered further backwards to escape. Hoping to get some breathing room, he fired a blast of electricity towards Chika, forcing him to retreat.

What to do next?

James frowned as he briefly thought over his options. He knew that torchic didn't get on that well with the dark at all and it would be comparatively easy for him and Kacha to short out the stage lights. It wouldn't be complete darkness, but more than enough to scare Chika into inaction. At the same time, he felt that he couldn't do that. This wasn't a battle centred on demonstrating domination and he got the feeling that taking advantage of Chika's weakness would only end up hurting his own points.

No, they had to keep going for flashy tactics to try and win.

"Thunderbolt!"

Kacha immediately fired a blast of electricity at the torchic, who fired a stream of embers in response. Kacha's attack easily scattered the weaker attack and struck Chika hard, hurling him back. As he landed, however, he managed to roll and use the momentum to get back to his feet in a single smooth movement.

"Ember Swirl!"

At Hannah's words, Chika fired a stream of embers into the air, moving his head to create a spiral. He spun on one foot, creating the large and dense cluster of embers above him. Kacha quickly darted forwards, knowing that he needed to strike before his opponent did – his points were already ticking down steadily. As he got close, however, he felt himself being pounded by fast-moving embers that had dropped out of the mass overhead. The intense heat was starting to get to him as well.

With a shrill cry, Chika lowered his head, causing the whole cloud of embers to drift downwards. Kacha attempted to jump back but was too late. The embers crashed around him and on top of him, sending him flying to the side. He crashed towards the back of the stage, covered in scorch marks from all the heat.

"Time's up!" the MC announced. "Looks like this is a victory for Chika and his coordinator, Hannah Elliott!"

"Whoa," James mumbled. It really had been quite dominating – he hadn't made much of a dent on Hannah's points at all.

"Thanks, Chika." Hannah reached down and patted the torchic on the head. "That was a fantastic performance."

James sighed. Perhaps he was still too mired in his battle mentality? Either way, there was no disguising his defeat here. He recalled Kacha to his poké ball, thanking the pikachu for his hard work, and walked over to shake hands with the victor.

Hannah had seemed quite unassuming when he'd first seen her in the holding room. She'd chatted happily to other coordinators, clearly confident but never seeming like she was looking down on the others. He'd thought that she could be a tough opponent, but he hadn't thought that she'd cast Kacha aside so easily.

"Thanks for the battle," she said as she shook his hand.

"Same," he replied. "It showed me that I've got a lot left to learn."

She nodded sagely. "We always do."

After that, they were hurried from the stage so that the stagehands could get to work fixing it up for the next battle and they parted ways. James wondered how Nicola would get on. She was in completely the opposite bracket to him and Hannah. Assuming she made it to the finals, would she be able to overcome Hannah's combinations and emerge victorious?

He stretched his arms and let out a defeated sigh. "Well, I guess I'd better get back so that I can watch her first match."

Before worrying about how she'd handle Hannah, she'd need to actually get there first.

* * *

 _6:10pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2006_

The quarter finals had been tough, but Nicola had managed to pull through thanks to Zaggy. He'd performed well for her again in the semi-finals as well, managing to secure a win over her opponent. Now, there was just one opponent left for her to fight.

"Take care when approaching her – that torchic is much stronger than it looks!" James had warned her as she'd left the holding room.

She was willing to take that advice into account. As she walked up the stairs again towards the stage, she pondered exactly how to approach it. Since Zaggy was tired out and had gone to sleep on one of the chairs in the holding room, she had decided to switch over to Mule. She hadn't had a chance to take part in the Kellen contest before, so it would be a good opportunity to get her back into the swing of things.

As she stood opposite Hannah on the stage, she pulled out the numel's poké ball. Across from her, her opponent did the same with one of her poké balls. As they faced each other, Nicola noticed that Hannah seemed unsettled and fidgety – she would glance at her briefly and then immediately break eye contact again.

Nicola realised with a start that she was the same girl that she'd run into in the queue in the restaurant the previous evening. She had briefly started to wonder what was causing the girl's odd behaviour when the MC announced the start of the battle.

"Go, Mule!"

"Go, Seva!"

Much to Nicola's surprise, it wasn't Hannah torchic, Chika, who emerged from the ball. Instead it was a long snake with a pointed, blade-like tail. Though taken off-guard, she quickly rallied. "Mule, use Ember!"

As the numel was firing a cluster of embers at the opposing pokémon, Nicola quickly pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Seviper, the fang snake pokémon. Seviper share a generations-long feud with zangoose. The scars on their bodies are evidence of vicious battles. These pokémon attack using their sword-edged tail, which they sharpen on hard rocks. They hide in tall grass and strike unwary prey with venomous fangs._ "

Seva dodged Mule's spray of embers by extending his body and curling it into a coil wide enough for the attack to pass through the middle. It wasn't a perfect move (a couple of embers still struck his body in places) but it was impressive nonetheless. Nicola's points were already trickling down.

As Mule and Nicola watched, stunned by the sight, Seva sharply contracted his body and sprang forwards. His tail glowed purple with poison as he drew closer. Instead of hitting Mule though, he instead stopped just in front of her, bringing his tail forwards and slamming it into the ground. Using this as a second springboard, he powered himself even higher into the air and swung his tail around. There was a series of quick strikes as he descended, with Mule flinching as the tail grazed her sides and back.

In another second, Seva had leaped back to the other side of the stage, landing and coiling up. Nicola and Mule could only look with stunned silence. Not only had he landed those attacks quickly and without being struck back in return, but he'd kept the physical damage he dealt to a minimum – Nicola realised that even the poison in his tail had drained just before impact. Her points had dropped quite severely, while Hannah and Seva's were practically untouched. It hadn't even been a minute since the start.

Still, Nicola suddenly found herself smiling.

She'd seen this in Hannah's other matches as well – she always took care to minimise the damage her opponents took and only did significant damage if the opponent had charged at her. There was something refreshing about the way she and her pokémon performed – a battle, yet not a battle at the same time.

"Glare!"

Across the battlefield, Hannah gave another order. Seva immediately fixed Mule with an intimidating stare, rooting her to the spot. What was to come next? Maybe Hannah would simply try and wait it out – after all, she now had a significant lead and could keep her opponent fixed in place.

Nicola, however, had other plans. "Use Amnesia!"

A blank look came over Mule's face as she cleared her mind. Her muscles slackened as she forgot about the fear she'd felt after seeing Seva's glare. Hearing her next orders, she started running forwards while Hannah and Seva were still momentarily stunned by her sudden breakout. She fired a stream of embers from her mouth, allowing them to trail out behind her and bathe the air around her with an orange glow.

As she reached Seva, she skidded to a halt and slammed one foot into the ground. There was a shockwave which caused the room to shake, making the countless abandoned embers on the stage jump back into the air. Seva shuddered briefly before launching himself into the air to get clear. Spinning, he extended his tail sharply like a spear and hurled himself back towards the ground.

Mule jumped clear at the last moment, spewing another cloud of embers as she did. Seva cried out in pain – he was struck by the embers as he landed.

Nicola found herself growing hotter as she shouted and cheered at Mule, gesturing wildly as she gave instructions. She found herself getting more and more caught up in the action as Mule and Seva clashed and darted around each other, each carefully trying to manage their actions so that they didn't make themselves look unappealing to the audience.

Hannah seemed to be getting into it as well, her initial unease before the battle having vanished. Every order Nicola gave Mule was met by an enthusiastic counter-order from her to Seva. Though the seviper often seemed to have the upper hand in terms of manoeuvrability, Mule was matching him with her tenacity and endurance. She had the added advantage of her embers, which she was scattering around almost constantly.

As time ticked away, both sides moved to make their finishing moves. Seva sprang towards Mule, his tail glowing purple. Mule stood her ground. She suddenly fired an intense burst of embers at the ground beneath her, creating a bright glow. Seva was momentarily dazzled by the sight but landed on his tail in front of her, preparing to spring up again.

Mule saw her chance and charged forwards, her feet crunching on the hot embers underfoot. She could hit Seva directly and send him flying back. At the last moment, however, the seviper leaned his body over to the side. As Mule attempted to stop, he flicked his tail up. He caught her at the base of her neck and hurled her backwards. There was a crash as she landed, but she managed to remain upright.

"Time's up!"

At the MC's words, both coordinators spun around to look at the screen. Though both bars had plummeted from where they'd been the last time they'd looked and were much closer than before, there were still slightly more points left in Hannah's bar than in Nicola's.

"Aww." A disappointed smile appeared on Nicola's face. It had been so close as well! Still, even though she felt a little hollow at having lost at the very end, there was a warm feeling inside her. She felt like she'd had a truly great battle and there was no denying that she'd enjoyed the contest. She felt oddly content to accept her defeat.

There would be other contests and she'd definitely learn from this battle. With these thoughts and feelings coursing through her mind, she walked over towards Hannah and offered her hand.

"Congratulations!" she said. "I had loads of fun with that battle!"

"Same!" Hannah replied breathlessly, taking her hand. Due to either Mule's embers heating the room or the enthusiastic movements they'd been making during the battle, both she and Nicola had sweat on their foreheads. As they let go of each other's hand, a hesitant look came over Hannah's face again. "Umm, I…"

"Congratulations, Hannah and Seva! Well done to both of you and Chika for your victory!"

The MC came over and ushered Hannah forwards to receive her ribbon. Nicola clapped with everyone else before heading backstage. Hannah was the victor and it would be unfair of her to loiter near the spotlight.

She stretched her arms above her head before reaching over to pat Mule on the head.

"You did great out there. Your next performance is going to be our best yet – I just know it!"

The numel grunted happily in response and rubbed her face against her hand. Like Nicola, it seemed that she was happy with her performance.

* * *

 _6:21pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2006_

"It's too bad that you couldn't win at the end there, Nicola," said Richard as he and Will walked over to meet up with James and Nicola in the lobby.

"No need to worry," James assured her. "We'll definitely do better next time!"

"Yeah!" Nicola nodded enthusiastically. "But I'm really glad I got to take part in this contest – I had a great time and so did my pokémon!"

"That's the important thing, I guess." James nodded.

"It's fun even though you didn't win?" Will frowned. "That seems odd."

"It's kinda hard to explain," Nicola said. "I still feel a little upset that I didn't win, but I know that I did my best and enjoyed the experience…I guess that doesn't really answer it, huh?"

"Not really, no." Will shook his head.

"Anyway, let's head back to the pokémon centre. If we hurry, we might be able to beat the crowd in the restaurant." Richard looked around at them all.

"I want to discuss tomorrow's plan with everyone over dinner if that's alright," James said. "Just so that we're clear on what we're doing."

Nodding in agreement, the four of them started walking towards the door. They could see the raindrops falling outside – they were going to have to move fast or they were going to get soaked!

"Wait!"

As they reached the door, they suddenly heard a shout and Nicola felt someone grab the back of her jumper.

"Huh?" She looked around to find Hannah stood there, panting as she regained her breath. "D-Did you need something?"

Hannah stopped panting and straightened up, letting go of Nicola's jumper. "You…don't remember me, do you?"

"Remember…?" Nicola frowned, studying the girl's face and her brown bob cut hair. Now that she thought about it, there was something that had seemed familiar about her. But where from? "Ah! Do you go to school in Littleroot Town?"

"That's right!" Hannah smiled awkwardly. "We're in the same class and we started our journeys at the same time! I always wanted to try and talk to you since you seemed to spend most of your time alone after transferring in, plus you had Corey to deal with as well, but I couldn't pluck up the courage to actually approach you! I guess this is kinda like our first proper meeting – I'm Hannah Elliott, pleased to meet you!"

"P-Pleased to meet you too," Nicola replied, a little dazed by the speed at which she'd said everything.

"Ah! Sorry about that!" Hannah gasped. She took a deep breath. "Sorry," she said again, "I wasn't sure whether you'd want me to talk to you or not, so I guess I tried to get everything out at once…"

"Don't worry about it," Nicola replied. She smiled at her. "I'm surprised that you remembered me though."

"I try not to forget people's faces!" Hannah grinned. "I recognised you when we bumped into each other in the pokémon centre yesterday, but I kinda panicked and didn't say anything."

"I was wondering why you did that," said Nicola.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw you in the holding room – for some reason, it never crossed my mind that you might have become a coordinator!"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," said Will. "But you're staying at the pokémon centre, right?"

"Huh? Yes, that's right."

"Then how about you continue your conversation there?"

"Ah! Sorry!" Hannah blushed bright red. "I was holding you guys up! I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," said Nicola. "Come back to the pokémon centre with us."

* * *

 _6:47pm, 9_ _th_ _June 2009_

"…So, you guys are all travelling together? That's so nice!"

"It's helpful having other people around sometimes!" Nicola grinned.

She and Hannah were sat next to each other at a table in the restaurant, with James, Richard and Will sat opposite. Having gotten their food, they'd been quick to start talking again.

"It must be really nice having some guaranteed support in the audience though," Hannah said, nodding in the direction of Richard and Will.

"I guess so," said Nicola. "It's nice knowing there's someone out there who will cheer for you."

"And having those guaranteed votes is really good – sometimes a single vote in the appeals round can make all the difference to who gets through." Hannah looked between James and Nicola enviously. "Though I guess you guys have to divide the extra support, so it's only really one extra vote each!"

"Vote?" Richard and Will looked at her blankly.

"Huh?" Hannah looked back at them. "You…didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"The appeals round is decided partly by the judges and partly by the audience's vote – there's a panel in front of your seats that allows you to vote for whichever coordinator you preferred."

"What?" James and Nicola both said, turning to look sharply at their companions.

"Ah." Richard and Will both looked back sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"Well, it's not like it makes a massive difference!" Hannah laughed. "The judges usually have enough weight to overturn a small difference like that, so you probably haven't lost out too much from them not voting!"

"I thought you said that a single vote can sometimes make all the difference," Will muttered, frowning.

"Make sure that you guys look into this next time," said James. "If audience participation is important, then it's rude not to otherwise."

"You're just saying that because you want the extra support…"

As the boys bickered, Nicola turned back to Hannah. "I meant to say that I saw your torchic's special attack during the appeals round and your battle against James – it was seriously impressive!"

Sat on Hannah's lap, the torchic cheeped happily in response to the praise. His trainer didn't look as happy though. She frowned as she looked down at her plate.

"…I'm glad you think so."

"Is something wrong?" Nicola asked.

"Ah, it's just…" Hannah paused and sighed. "It's a long story and…I don't really feel like trying to tell it right now."

Nicola shared a glance with James and the others, who stopped arguing to listen in.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "If you ever want to talk about it again, then I'll listen, but don't think that you have to!"

"Thanks." Hannah smiled at her. Her face brightened up again. "So, where are you guys off to now? The gym in Rustboro?"

"We've already been there," James replied. "But we _are_ heading towards Rustboro City at the moment. Are you heading the same way?"

"I'm going down through the mountains," Hannah replied, shaking her head. She glanced over at Nicola. "But I wanted to let you know about a big contest that's coming up soon. It's ten days away, and in Gharnot Town. I'm really looking forward to it, so it'd be great if we could compete together again."

"Oh! I remember one of our other friends mentioning that to us," said James. "Don't worry – we're planning to head along to Gharnot Town once we've reached Rustboro!"

"I'll definitely be there!" Nicola grinned. "I'm looking forward to seeing more of your performances!"

"Awesome!" Hannah smiled back, gently squeezing Chika against her. "I'm looking forwards to it even more now! It's a shame that we can't travel there together."

"You could come along with us if you wanted," said Richard.

"Well, there's somewhere I need to head to on the way to Gharnot Town anyway," Hannah replied sadly. "Thanks for offering though."

Will looked around the table, noticing that everyone was reaching the end of their meals. "Should we head to the trainers' lounge after this?"

"That sounds like a good idea to me!" James grinned.

"That'll be fun!" Hannah nodded eagerly, turning to Nicola. "There's still so much that I want to talk to you about!"

"Sure!" Nicola replied.

They finished up their food and put their trays away before heading for the trainers' lounge. Despite all the exertions of the day's contest, the conversation kept them from getting tired. It was quite late by the time that they finally got to bed.

* * *

 **Another contest chapter this time, though Nicola and James were both unfortunate in being unable to win a new ribbon. Still, maybe they'll have better luck next time now that Richard and Will actually know how the system works!**

 **I think I did a pretty good job keeping Hannah's role in Chapter 2 minor enough that she stayed under the radar up to this point (in contrast, Corey was more prominent in Chapter 2 – though I suppose it was also a far shorter wait before he was formally introduced as a character). Regardless, James and Nicola now have another rival to deal with in their quest to get to the Grand Festival.**

 **A quick word on next week's upload schedule: since I'm heading away on holiday next Friday, my plan is to upload Chapter 56 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **on Tuesday and to follow that up with Chapter 15 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **on Thursday. The week after next there won't be an upload for the above-mentioned reason. Instead,** _ **Hoenn**_ **will resume uploads in April.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Leer, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	56. Swablu in the Mist

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw James and Nicola both get defeated at the hands of Hannah in the Tiane contest as the group started making their way down Route 115 towards Rustboro City.**

 **Upload Date: 20** **th** **March 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 56: Swablu in the Mist**

 _Kolath City, Hoenn_

 _8:48am, 11_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Try again, Blue – use Dragon Breath!"

"Keep up the pressure, Vortex – use Ancient Power!"

The cool, quiet morning air was broken by the sounds of battle coming from the practice arenas near the pokémon centre in Kolath City. Richard and Will had managed to get up early so that they could head out and do some training before they resumed their journey. After an uneventful trip down from Tiane Town, both had been pretty eager to give their pokémon some action.

Blue fired a blueish beam from her mouth. Across from her, Vortex whirled around. A cluster of boulders suddenly jerked up into the air around it. Controlling them with its power, it hurled them towards the bagon. Blue's attack was quickly blocked by the boulders, but she wasn't finished yet. Vortex had only just learned Ancient Power and it was still getting used to it – there were gaps to be exploited in its defences.

With a loud shout, she tore forwards, lowering her head. There was a loud thud, followed by a crack, as she smashed into the boulders head on. The first boulder shattered as she pushed through it, opening a route towards Vortex. She quickly fired another beam at it. In response, the baltoy fired a beam of psychic energy back at her. The two attacks collided, causing an explosion.

"That was pretty good!" Richard called over to Will. "Blue's really gotten the hang of using Dragon Breath!"

"She's keen to learn alright." Will nodded, giving the bagon a thumbs-up as she looked back at him.

"Looks like we still need to work a little on how we deal with Ancient Power," Richard said, leaning down to try and pat Vortex on the head – very difficult with all that spinning. "It was a great idea to aim for that weakness though – well-spotted, Blue."

Blue grinned proudly in response to the praise. She hadn't been with them long, but she was already making her mark on the team. She was working hard, perhaps even more so because of her defeat in Will's battle with James days before.

"I guess we should head back and meet up with the others," said Will. "I remember James mentioning that he wanted to get moving quickly today."

"We still need to have breakfast before we go as well," Richard sighed. "Oh well, we'll have some more opportunities to train some other time."

Beckoning to Vortex and Blue, the two trainers started walking back towards the pokémon centre. Though everything had been quite quiet when they'd first left, the city had been waking up while they were training. Trainers had started coming and going, either heading off to stock up on supplies or explore the city.

Walking back into the lobby, Richard and Will found James and Nicola waiting for them in the trainers' lounge. The two of them were looking at the guidebook, having been occasionally glancing up to look around for the others.

"You're back," James said as Richard and Will sat down. "How was the training?"

"It was great!" Richard grinned. "I think we've finally managed to nail down both Blue's Dragon Breath and Vortex's Ancient Power. I'm looking forwards to putting my new strength to the test when we get to the next gym!"

"That reminds me, we haven't been to a gym in a long time, have we?" said Will.

"I thought that we could try and find one in the guidebook once we get to Rustboro City," said James. "I know that contests have taken over a bit recently…"

"Never mind that," said Nicola. "We need to talk about today's plan."

"Have you got a complicated route planned for us today?" Richard asked, turning to look at James.

"It's more or less a straight road from here to Rustboro City," James replied. "The problem is the distance."

"How long until we get to Rustboro?"

"If we make good progress both today and tomorrow, then we could get there by tomorrow evening," James said. He frowned. "I'm not sure if we'll have the stamina to manage it though."

"We found several pokémon centres that are along the route," said Nicola. "So, we thought that it would be best to have a more relaxed journey and get into Rustboro a day later."

"I guess I don't really mind." Richard shrugged. "Whatever you think is best."

"Let's go with that then," said Will. "Otherwise there might be more early starts!"

As they laughed, Richard's stomach started rumbling loudly. It sounded like it was time for breakfast!

* * *

 _9:32am, 11_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Right! I think I've got everything!" Nicola announced to herself as she finished zipping her bag shut. Another quick sweep around her room didn't turn up anything that she'd missed while packing – she was ready to go.

It really did feel like they were advancing quickly. The days when she'd reach the end of the day's travelling and wonder if she'd even be able to walk the following day were long behind her. It already felt like longer than it actually had been since they parted ways with Hannah at the turn-off into the mountains the previous day. Though Nicola had been sad to see her go, she knew that they'd get a chance to see each other again once they reached Gharnot Town.

The thought of the contest filled her with excitement – both Mia and Hannah had said that it was supposed to be a big one that attracted a lot of attention from coordinators in Hoenn. The opportunity to go up against so many others was pretty scary, but there was a part of her that was looking forward to it in a way that she hadn't felt before her victory in Kellen City.

Putting her thoughts aside, she stretched her arms and looked around so that she could look out of the window one last time before setting off to join the others.

"Huh?"

Much to her surprise, she couldn't really see anything from the window at all. The beautiful blue sky above Kolath City had gone – now there was just a thick whiteness that almost obscured the buildings on the opposite side of the street. Nicola had never known such a sudden and complete change in the weather.

Leaving her room, she quickly strode along the corridor and knocked on the door of the boys' room. It opened almost immediately.

"You've seen it too?" James asked as he saw her.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I thought the weather forecast said it would be sunny all day today?"

"I guess this is another reminder that you can't always trust the weather forecasts," Richard sighed, gazing out of the window at the thick fog.

"I wonder what caused it," Will muttered. "It's weird for it to change this suddenly."

"No one else seems that bothered by it," Richard added, noticing that the people outside hadn't even really stopped walking.

"Is it normal for somewhere like here?" Nicola asked.

"I didn't see anything about this in the guidebook," James replied. "But I guess we could ask at reception and see if they know anything."

"I'll come with you," said Nicola as he walked out of the room.

"We'll finish packing for now," Will said. "Find out what you can and let us know!"

James and Nicola quickly walked towards the stairs and went down to the lobby. Unsurprisingly, there was already a small group of other trainers who had gathered there for information.

"I know that this must be very strange for you all, but I assure you that there's nothing unusual about this," the receptionist said. "Visibility will be lower for much of today, but it's still possible to travel. If you have any doubts, then you're more than welcome to wait here until the mist lifts."

"What's this about?" James asked one of the other trainers as the group started to disperse.

"Apparently a ton of wild swablu migrate across from the mainland around this time of year," the trainer replied with a sigh. "They leave a trail of mist as they go so that the other members of their flocks can follow them and that's what causes this fog."

"How long does it last?" Nicola asked.

"The receptionist was saying until sometime this evening. But it all depends on when the swablu are coming, so it sounds like it's going to be patchy until the migration stops."

"Did they say when that is?"

"Nope!" The trainer shook his head. "They've just left us to get on with it!"

"What are we going to do then?" Nicola asked as the other trainer left. "Should we stay here until it clears up?"

"I'm not sure," said James. He turned and started walking back upstairs. "I think it's probably best if we set off anyway. The fog isn't _that_ thick, so we should still be able to travel today."

"We'll have to be careful though," Nicola sighed as she followed him.

* * *

 _Route 115, Hoenn_

 _11:49am, 11_ _th_ _June 2006_

It was amazing what a difference it made, having all of the surrounding landscape obscured by the dense fog. The group could see maybe twelve feet in front of them for the most part, but it was difficult to judge and it seemed to change constantly. The fog was becoming thicker and then lighter frequently. Every now and again, they'd see trees appearing out of the whiteness, as well as all the other objects that they normally wouldn't bat an eyelid over passing. They had to stick close together to make sure that they didn't lose each other in the fog.

"Are you guys still sure that this is a good idea?" Will asked.

"You know, I might be starting to have second thoughts myself," James replied, moving to the right as another tree appeared at the limit of their vision. He tried to peer into the murky fog, but it was impossible to make out anything in the distance. The fog was brightly lit though – it was surprising that the sun wasn't burning it off quicker than it was. That was the one thing that was keeping him going. Once they reached midday, surely the sunlight would be strong enough to burn off the fog. Even if it just made it much thinner, it would make their journey much easier.

"I don't think that we need to worry too much." Richard spoke up. "We deliberately chose a route that we thought would be safest, right? There won't be any cars and there aren't many pokémon sighting along this path either."

"That's true." James nodded. They had indeed been very careful about what route to take. That didn't mean that it was completely safe though and it didn't make it any easier to travel along either.

"Don't worry, guys!" Nicola grinned back at them. "If it's just the wild pokémon that are causing this, then it'll clear up once they've passed through."

"You say that, but it's been pretty constant so far," Will said. "How long until those wild pokémon finish moving through the area?"

"The receptionist seemed to be saying that they come in batches," said James. "I don't know how long it lingers here after they've passed though."

"In any case, what can we do about it?" Nicola asked. "We've already set off, so if we're going to head anywhere, then it might as well be the next town on Route 115."

"Yeah, it's not like we can just stop and sit around here while we hope for the weather to change," said Richard.

"Well, I think the visibility could have been worse," said James. "We can keep pressing on."

As they continued walking, they occasionally heard the sounds of flapping wings and chirping from somewhere out in the mist. It always passed by quickly without them seeing anything overhead though. They wondered what could have been making the sounds – it didn't sound like the taillow and wingull cries that they had grown used to hearing in Hoenn.

"Ah!"

Hearing Nicola's sudden cry, the other three quickly looked forwards towards her. A small, blue creature with wings that looked a little like white, fluffy clouds had come flying out of the mist. It let out a loud cry of surprise as it saw Nicola, seconds before it crashed into the side of her head.

"Are you okay?" Richard asked as he ran forwards.

"I'm fine, I think!" Nicola staggered slightly to the side from the force of the impact. The pain of the collision was quickly vanishing. The pokémon seemed to be relatively unharmed as well.

"Is that one of the swablu?" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Swablu, the cotton bird pokémon. Swablu have light and fluffy wings that are like cottony clouds. These pokémon are not frightened of humans. They land on the heads of humans and sit there like a cotton-fluff hat. They constantly groom their cotton-like wings. They take a shower to clean themselves if they become dirty._ "

"Hey! Don't get mad at me!" Nicola yelped as the swablu, apparently angered by the collision, started jumping up and pecking at her clothes. She pulled back, but the swablu followed. She continued grabbing at her and chirping angrily.

Will laughed. "If it's bothering you, then why don't you just fight it with your pokémon?"

"I didn't want to get involved with it in the first place!" Nicola exclaimed, yanking her arm back to try and free her sleeve from the swablu's beak.

"The swablu probably wishes that as well," said James.

Nicola finally pulled herself free, only for the swablu to dive forwards and start pecking at her again. Growing more irritated, she pulled out a poké ball. "Go, Kipa!"

Kipa burst out of the ball and materialised on the ground.

"Oh? You're going to fight it?" Richard asked.

"Only because it won't leave me alone," Nicola replied, jumping back to put some distance between herself and the wild pokémon. "Use Water Gun!"

Kipa immediately fired a blast of water towards the swablu. She had anticipated the attack, however, and darted to the side at the last moment. With a shrill cry, she dived down towards him, hammering him with a flurry of small, but constant pecks.

"Stay strong, Kipa!" Nicola called.

Flinching under the barrage, Kipa bided his time. The swablu seemed to sense weakness and kept up the pace of attacks. She finally leaped backwards before diving in for a proper peck at the fin on the top of his head. At that moment, Kipa suddenly let out a shout and swung one of his arms at the swablu. He struck her with all the power he'd stored up while under attack, sending her flying backwards.

"What a hit!" James gasped. "That was a great move, Kipa!"

"Looks like we need to keep the pressure up," said Nicola, nodding at the marshtomp as the swablu regained her balance and started flying back towards them. She didn't look like she was ready to give up and she didn't seem the least bit afraid of Kipa's power.

With a shout, Kipa fired another blast of water at her. This time he scored a direct hit, but the swablu just kept coming, fighting her way through the jet of water with all her might. As Kipa ran out of breath, she suddenly bolted forwards and smashed into his forehead.

"That swablu really is tough," said Richard. "How is it keeping that up?"

"It must be strong," said Will, nodding approvingly as he watched Kipa and the swablu continue to exchange attacks. They both looked like they were starting to get exhausted.

"Alright, I've decided!" Nicola reached into her bag and pulled out an empty poké ball. Taking aim, she threw it at the swablu as she disengaged from Kipa. It glanced off her wing and popped open, sucking her inside before dropping to the ground and starting to roll.

Kipa and Nicola stared at it intensely as the rocking continued. There was suddenly a cracking sound and the ball split apart violently. The swablu burst back out and started diving towards Kipa again.

"Argh! It got free!" Nicola yelped, fumbling around for another poké ball.

Just before she hit Kipa, however, the swablu suddenly peeled off and started looking off down the road. Obviously, there wasn't much to see due to the fog, but she seemed to have detected something. Just as Nicola was about to throw her second ball, the swablu suddenly started flying off down the road.

"Huh?!" Nicola gasped. "You're not getting away!" She started running after the swablu.

* * *

 _12:03pm, 11_ _th_ _June 2006_

As they ran after the distant, hazy form of the swablu, the group suddenly realised why she had been so keen to get away when she did. Beyond the fog, they could hear the snarls of aggressive wild pokémon, possibly poochyena from the sound of them. They'd been seeing other swablu scattered here and there every now and again, with a couple of the larger ones appearing to be rounding up the flock. Perhaps they'd ended up separated from each other in the mist that they themselves had created?

The swablu that Nicola had tried to catch continued flying with a purpose. Suddenly, they all saw dark shapes appearing out of the fog. A couple of swablu flew back in their direction in terror as a growling poochyena jumped up and snapped at their feet. The rest of the pack prowled around as well. They all tensed up as they spotted the humans.

It was the swablu who made the first move though. She immediately dived towards the first poochyena and pecked sharply at his ear. He yowled in pain and spun around to snap at her, only for her to move just out of range. She goaded him and his packmates into following her.

"She's leading them away from the other swablu," Nicola said, suddenly realising.

"So that's why she suddenly decided to leave," said James. He frowned. "I know that she's tough, but isn't she worn out from the fight with Kipa?"

"You're right!" Nicola exclaimed. "I should help her!"

"Are you sure?" Richard asked. "It looks to me like she's handling things quite well as it is."

Sure enough, the swablu had dived down to strike the poochyena, unleashing a heavy volley of pecks. The poochyena was spooked and started running, though its companions remained. The swablu was quick to move back into the air again though, clearly used to this kind of fighting. The poochyena would probably be able to kill her easily if they managed to get a hold of her, but she didn't seem the least bit fazed by them. A second, and then a third poochyena broke and fled under her uncompromising attacks.

Nicola could feel her admiration for this swablu growing more and more by the second as she weaved and dodged and struck back. It was impressive to watch, even if the fog made some movements a little difficult to make out.

However, it was clear that the swablu was starting to tire. She was also focusing too much on one poochyena at a time at the expense of the others – and those remaining had started to realise it.

"Look out!" Nicola suddenly shouted, noticing a poochyena preparing to leap from the swablu's blind spot.

The swablu reacted to her, spotting the poochyena and pulling away just in time. She dived down to strike her, but her attacks weren't connecting in the same way. It looked like she was at the limit of her strength.

At that moment, Nicola and Kipa sprang into action. With a shout from Nicola, Kipa sprang forwards. He blasted the nearest poochyena with water and sent him packing. He fired a stream of mud towards the next one. This one managed to dodge him, but the pack had clearly started to have second thoughts. They hadn't bargained on another tough pokémon getting involved. Half the pack had already fled as well.

As Kipa and the swablu began another attack, they finally decided they'd had enough and tore off into the fog. They quickly disappeared from sight, leaving just silence behind them.

"Great work, Kipa!" Nicola grinned. "You showed them!"

"Where did the rest of the swablu go?" Richard asked, looking around. Sure enough, there was no sign of the other swablu. Had they taken the opportunity to flee now that they'd been rounded up by the larger ones? In that case, what about the one who'd been left behind?

Worn out, the swablu let herself drop down and perched herself on the branch of a nearby tree. She started to clean her wings.

The group all exchanged looks. Wasn't she concerned about the fact that the rest of her group had left her behind? Was that normal for her? It was difficult to tell what the swablu was thinking as they watched her preen herself. She looked a little bruised and battered after the battle, but not especially injured.

"Hey." Nicola stepped forwards to address the swablu. "Why don't you come along with me?"

The swablu stopping preening her fluffy feathers and studied her with interest. Perhaps she was trying to size the trainer up. It was difficult to tell exactly what she was thinking.

"I'm training to take part in the Hoenn League," Nicola explained. "That means that I need to get stronger and fight strong opponents. It would be great to have your support."

The swablu finally gave an affirmative chirp. She looked quite confident – perhaps she was the kind of pokémon that liked fighting others? That would help explain the reluctance of the rest of the flock to wait for her – they wouldn't want to be dragged into any unnecessary fights.

Nicola held up an empty poké ball and patted it against the swablu's head. She was sucked inside once again. This time, the ball sealed shut with a click.

"Congratulations, Nicola," said James.

"Yeah, great work." Richard nodded. "Any ideas on what you're going to call her?"

"Hmm." Nicola pondered for a couple of seconds. "I think Blu would be nice."

"Blue?" Will asked. "Why are you giving it the same name as Blue? Won't that be really confusing?"

"I was going to spell it without the 'e'," Nicola replied. "Y'know, from 'swablu'."

"Yeah, but it sounds identical," Will said, continuing to frown. "I'm not sure that this is a good idea."

"I don't think it'll be that bad," James said. "It'll probably be pretty obvious which one we're talking about when we say it."

"I say you go with it for now," Richard said, grinning at Nicola. "If it doesn't work out, then you can always change it later."

"I guess we'll do that then," said Nicola. She smiled at the poké ball. She was certain that she'd be able to get much stronger as long as she was travelling with Blu.

"Hey! Looks like the fog's disappearing!" said Will.

Nicola looked around. Sure enough, the fog was getting much lighter and they were starting to see farther and farther into the distance. Up above, they could just make out a blue sky and the direct sunshine cutting through the mist.

"Come on then!" James called, taking the lead. "Let's get to the next town before the next flock of swablu come through here!"

The group set off again, continuing their journey down Route 115. Though the day had started rather uncertainly, it had turned out to be quite a nice one after all. It was days like this that made them truly appreciate travelling.

* * *

 **Curse my brother for deciding on a nickname that was extremely similar to one I already had planned for Nicola's pokémon! Still, I thought it could prove to be quite amusing to keep the swablu's nickname in place anyway. The main problem will, of course, be for the protagonists who will most hear the two names instead of seeing them – you, the reader, have the benefit of the spelling difference.**

 **So, we'll keep things as they are for now and if you're finding the similar nicknames too confusing, then I can always have Nicola change Blu's nickname at some point (come to think of it, it would give an opportunity to delve into that part of pokémon training as well…)**

 **Anyway, I don't really have much more I wanted to say about this chapter. The group will be back in Rustboro for next chapter, ready for the next phase of the journey. As a reminder, Chapter 15 of** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **will go up on Thursday and then after that** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **uploads won't resume until April.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Fury Attack, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	57. Return to Rustboro

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, the group encountered a sudden fog on Route 115 caused by a swablu migration as they continued towards Rustboro City. After helping protect some swablu from a pack of poochyena, Nicola befriended and caught one of the swablu, naming her 'Blu'.**

 **Upload Date: 6** **th** **April 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 57: Return to Rustboro**

 _Route 115, Hoenn_

 _7:21am, 13_ _th_ _June 2006_

"No, wait – you need to listen!" Nicola hissed, trying to make her voice loud enough to reach Blu but quiet enough that it wouldn't disturb the quiet morning atmosphere. The swablu didn't seem to pay much attention to what she was saying and was instead preparing to launch a flurry of attacks on a nearby tree.

That wasn't what Nicola had intended her to do.

She let out a sigh and shook her head as Blu started pummelling the tree. She was glad that the swablu had decided to stay with her and she still had high hopes for her, but it was pretty painful to see how little she respected orders. Even Zaggy could be coaxed into following Nicola's directions with the right incentives. With Blu, she didn't have any idea how to approach it. It wasn't even that she just really liked fighting – she constantly behaved recklessly and was outrageously stubborn. It was difficult to get her to listen to anything that Nicola said at all.

"What am I going to do about all this?" Nicola let out another sigh. Getting up early to have a training session with Blu felt increasingly like a stupid idea the longer she stood and watched.

"Oh? You're up, Nicola?"

Looking around, Nicola spotted Richard emerging from the entrance of the tent. He rubbed his eyes blearily and scratched his hair in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of his bedhead. He started walking towards her.

"I thought I'd try and get some training done before the rest of you woke up," Nicola replied. "I thought I'd need some time for me and Blu to get used to each other."

"Ah, I can understand that." Richard nodded as he approached her. "So…" He paused briefly as he observed Blu recklessly hurling herself at a tree. "…How's it going?"

"Could be better."

"Yeah, I can see…"

They both fell silent as Nicola let out another sigh. Blu finished charging the tree and pulled back, flying oddly due to a bad impact on one of her wings. She resolutely dived towards another tree anyway, slamming into it with a bang.

"I can't seem to get her to listen to me," Nicola admitted sheepishly.

"So, it's a bit like when you first caught Zaggy?" Richard turned to her and grinned. "You really know how to pick pokémon, don't you?"

"But Zaggy would listen if I bribed him." Nicola fell silent for a couple of seconds. She turned to look at Richard. "Any suggestions for what I could do?"

"That's a tough one," Richard replied. "It might be a good start to spend more time together and keep observing Blu's behaviour. Get to know her and let her get to know you. That way you'll be more inclined to listen to each other."

"No quick and easy options then?" Nicola sighed.

Richard laughed. "That's pokémon training for you! Don't worry about it. As long as you keep spending time together, things will work out. It's just about making an effort to understand each other."

"Is there anything I can do now?"

"Perhaps just keep her out of her poké ball as much as possible. That way you're spending as much time together as possible."

"Got it."

"Anyway." Richard glanced back at the tent. "The others will be up soon – or at least James will be – so we should probably start thinking about breakfast and packing up."

"We're still quite a long way from Rustboro City, aren't we?" Nicola said. "Can we really make it there by this evening?"

"It'll be fine – James is still learning to use the map, but his estimates have been getting better." Richard turned and started walking back towards the tent. "Let's go and set up the stove – I'm starving!"

* * *

 _Rustboro City, Hoenn_

 _6:47pm, 13_ _th_ _June 2006_

After all the time spent in smaller towns and crossing the desolate Meteor Falls, the larger buildings and bustling streets of Rustboro City were a welcome sight as the group walked down one of the main streets towards the pokémon centre. It had been a long journey and they were all looking forward to getting to their rooms for a rest.

"What are we going to do about dinner?" James asked.

"Yeah, now's the best time to go for dinner, isn't it?" Richard sighed. "I suppose we should go straight there, really."

"Can't we head up to our rooms quickly first?" Will asked. "We've been on our feet all day and I'm exhausted!"

"I was kinda hoping to have a shower before dinner as well," Nicola added sheepishly. For all the difficulty she'd been having with Blu that morning, the swablu was perched quite happily on top of her head and had been for most of the day.

"Well, this isn't the pokémon centre in the city centre, so it probably won't be as crowded," said James. "If you want a quick rest before we go down, then it should be fine."

"As long as you're sure," Richard sighed.

They walked through the automatic doors and through the lobby. The pokémon centre was about as busy as they'd been expecting – in a big city, it was rare to find a pokémon centre that was deserted or nearly deserted. Still, there were far fewer people than there had been the last time they were in Rustboro. Most had probably moved on to other parts of the region.

There were plenty of free rooms, so they had no trouble booking a couple. Much to their relief, there didn't seem to be too many people in the restaurant at the moment either – if they were quick, then they shouldn't have any trouble getting dinner.

"Right, how long do you think you'll need, Nicola?" James asked.

"Give me fifteen minutes."

"Does that sound good to you too, Will?"

"Fine by me, I guess…"

"Let's go then," said Richard. "I wonder if there's anything good on the menu…?"

They walked through the doorway to the stairwell and climbed the stairs. As they started walking along the hallway and looking out for their rooms, Richard spotted an advertisement on the wall.

 _Discover the ancient world with the latest in fossil revival from the Devon Corporation!_

This piqued his interest.

Looking closer, it seemed that there was now a fossil revival service here in Rustboro City using a new machine developed by the Devon Corporation. Cutting-edge technology, apparently. The price wasn't that bad either – it was more expensive than most things a trainer would need to spend money on, but it was well within Richard's reach.

He had thought that he wouldn't be able to revive a pokémon from the fossil he'd dug up at the dig site in the desert until he was back in Kanto. If he could actually revive it here and get himself a new team member, then that would be great. His previous fossil-revived pokémon had been a powerful and reliable friend – it would be great to have another pokémon like that.

"Looks like the lab is on the other side of the city though," he mumbled to himself. "That's going to be a bit of a hard sell…"

Well, he'd have a chance to think about it while he waited for the others get ready for dinner. He resumed walking after James and Will towards their room, feeling more cheerful than he had a few minutes before.

* * *

 _7:35pm, 13_ _th_ _June 2006_

"A fossil lab, huh?" James leant his cheek against his hand as he looked over at Richard. "I mean, I don't have any problem with you going for it, but won't it take a while?"

"It said that…"

"…That it's new technology? You said that, but it still took hours to revive your helix fossil back on Cinnabar Island. And the lab doesn't open until ten."

"In short, we're not going to be going anywhere tomorrow if you're doing that," said Will.

"I guess that's what I'm asking," Richard replied sheepishly.

"Well, we could use the opportunity to stock up on supplies again," said James, glancing at the ceiling as he thought. "We should still have time to make it to Gharnot Town…"

"So, it's settled then?" Richard grinned hopefully. "I can go and get my fossil revived tomorrow?"

"Yeah, fine." James nodded.

"What's this about fossils?"

The boys glanced around as Nicola joined them.

"Richard found a poster for a fossil lab here in Rustboro," James explained. "Says he wants to go there tomorrow and see if he can revive anything from the fossil he dug up in the desert."

"Really?" Nicola cried excitedly. "You're going to get an ancient pokémon?"

"Hopefully," Richard replied. "Though I've already got one at home…"

"Hey," Nicola sat down next to him. "Mind if I tag along when you go? I'm kinda curious about exactly what happens."

"It's really boring if you're not the scientist," said Richard. "If it's anything like the lab on Cinnabar Island, then I'll just get sent away for a few hours while they do everything and then come back to find a new pokémon waiting."

"Still, I won't have anything else to do tomorrow," said Nicola. "It can't be any worse than that."

"You can come if you want," said Richard. He glanced at the white ball of fluffy cotton sitting on top of Nicola's head like a hat. "Are you going to keep Blu there all night?"

"When I tried to take her off, she started pecking me," Nicola replied. "I think I'll wait until she's ready to get off herself."

"If Nicola's going with Richard tomorrow, then I'll need you to help with the shopping," James said to Will. "I know I can count on you, Will!"

"How early?" Will groaned.

"We can start later tomorrow since we're not going to be travelling," James replied.

"It still sounds like it's going to be busy…"

"I'm looking forward to it now!" Richard grinned. "I can't wait to see what kind of pokémon they can revive from this fossil!"

"You've been talking too much." James prodded him gently in the arm. "You haven't eaten anything yet!"

"Sorry!" Richard quickly turned his attention back to his plate and resumed digging in.

* * *

 _11:48am, 14_ _th_ _June 2006_

"It should be just around here somewhere…"

Richard strolled along the pavement as he looked about for the fossil lab. Nicola followed in his wake, also looking around for anything that could look like their destination. It had been a long walk across the city and both of them were getting tired – though James had said that today wasn't going to be a 'travelling day', they still seemed to have covered a lot of ground and to have used a lot of energy.

"Oh! Is that it?"

Richard looked around upon hearing Nicola's voice. She was pointing at a small building that they'd just passed. A small sign by the front door, easily missed, indicated that the fossil lab lay inside.

"Well-spotted, Nicola!" Richard grinned at her, turning around and walking back towards it. The automatic doors whirred open as they approached. A blast of cool air from the air-conditioned interior hit them as they stepped through.

The first thing that struck Richard was how different this lab looked compared to the one back on Cinnabar Island. That lab had been very…austere. It had clearly been a lab designed for its purpose and not really for presentation. This lab, however, looked much sleeker. Perhaps it was the result of the Devon Corporation beginning to commercialise the revival of pokémon fossils that meant more money had been poured into creating an impressive interior?

There were pictures of pokémon that Richard had never seen on the walls, all looking very…ancient? Was that the way to put it? He could tell at a glance that these were examples of previous successful revivals. He wondered if his fossil could be revived into one of the ones in the pictures.

He approached the front desk and greeted the receptionist. "I've come to get a fossil revived."

"You've come to the right place, Sir," the receptionist replied cheerfully. "I'll give the doctor a buzz."

Richard and Nicola sat down in the waiting area. It didn't take long before a middle-aged man appeared from the door leading further into the building.

"This young man just here," the receptionist said to him.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Doctor Harris – I'm in charge of fossil revival here," the man said.

"I'm Richard Winter," said Richard. "Pleased to meet you."

"And I'm Nicola Hewitt," Nicola added.

"It's great to see youngsters with an interest in fossils!" Doctor Harris grinned. "If you'd like to come this way."

"Ah, sure!" Richard and Nicola jumped to their feet and followed him back through the door he'd come through. The corridor beyond felt very 'scientific', a lot more like the lab on Cinnabar Island. They weren't walking for long before they reached another door on the right.

Stepping through, they found themselves in a room with a large machine at the centre. Various lights and buttons flashed with different colours. Richard couldn't even begin to understand what they were all supposed to do.

"So, may I see your fossil, Richard?" Doctor Harris asked.

"Here." Richard pulled off his backpack and gently lifted out his fossil from its protected pocket. He handed the brownish rock to the doctor, who took it equally gently and carried it over to the machine.

"Do you two know anything about fossil revival?" he asked as he laid it in a large slot in the machine.

"I don't really know anything," Nicola replied.

"I got a fossil revived on Cinnabar Island last year, but I didn't get to see what they were doing," said Richard.

"Ah, I see." Doctor Harris nodded. "It's quite a simple process – just lengthy. Do you know why it is that we're able to revive pokémon from fossils?"

"It's because of traces of DNA left behind, right?" Richard replied.

"Correct!" Doctor Harris closed the lid on the slot and moved around to the main computer. "That's why the first step for me is to scan the fossil and make sure that there's enough DNA for a pokémon to be revived from it."

"How often is there not enough?" Nicola asked.

"Very rarely. The kinds of trainers who bring in fossils are normally the type to make sure that they've chosen the finest fossils they've found." Doctor Harris gave a satisfied nod. "There seems to be enough in your fossil for the revival to go ahead."

"That's a relief," Richard sighed.

"So, what happens next?" Nicola asked.

"We're going to be growing a new pokémon from that DNA," Doctor Harris explained. "It looks like you found a 'claw fossil', so I can create an anorith from that."

"Anorith, huh?" Richard said thoughtfully. "I think I've heard of them. What do they look like?"

"Like this." Doctor Harris pointed to a picture on the wall of a small, beetle-like creature with eye stalks extended from the sides of its head. It also had a pair of menacing-looking claws.

"That looks pretty impressive," Nicola murmured. "But a little scary as well…"

"It'll be fine," Richard assured her. Though he was trying to keep his face straight and serious, he couldn't quite stop a smile from spreading across his face. He turned back to look at the doctor. "So, how long will it take to finish reviving?"

"The process should be finished in about two hours," Doctor Harris replied. "But I want to run some tests after that, so I'd come back after three hours."

"And should I pay now or after the revival is complete?"

"You can pay later. You already know the cost, right?"

"I checked before I came here."

"Alright. I'll see the two of you later then. Just go straight to the left to get back to the lobby." Doctor Harris turned his attention back to the machine as it whirred to life.

* * *

 _2:57pm, 14_ _th_ _June 2006_

"I'm still not sure that will be enough though…"

"You need to have some more faith in yourself, Nicola. Blu decided to come along with you, so that means she'll eventually learn to listen to you."

"It still doesn't feel that way." Nicola let out a sigh, trying to glance up at the swablu perched on her head.

After leaving the lab, the two of them had spent some time exploring the city before stopping for lunch. The conversation had alternated between the excitement of Richard getting a new pokémon and Nicola's problems with her own. Her one consolation was that Blu seemed more than eager to do battle, though she wondered if that cooperativeness would last very long in battle and whether it would also extend to contests.

"These things happen," said Richard as they entered the lobby to the lab again. "Pokémon are living creatures, remember? You can't expect them to always do exactly what you tell them to."

"I guess you've got a point there…"

"Welcome back!" the receptionist greeted them cheerfully as they approached. "I think that Doctor Harris is ready for you – I'll just give him a buzz."

"Thanks," Richard replied.

It only took a few minutes for Doctor Harris to appear.

"Everything's gone according to plan," he said as soon as he saw Richard. "I'll take you to meet your new pokémon."

Richard and Nicola followed him back down the corridor. This time they were heading for a different room. As they entered, they immediately spotted an anorith lying in a small, plastic cot by the side of the room.

"Is this…?"

"Your new pokémon, yes."

"Wow! It looks even more impressive in real life!" Richard quickly whipped out his Pokédex and pointed it at the anorith.

" _Anorith, the old shrimp pokémon. Anorith are said to be a type of pokémon predecessor, with eight wings at the sides of their bodies. These pokémon swam in the primordial sea by undulating these eight wings. They are believed to have used their extending claws to catch prey hiding among rocks on the seafloor._ "

"So, this is a prehistoric pokémon?" Nicola looked at the anorith with interest. The pokémon itself seemed a little spooked by the sudden attention and tried to scuttle into one corner of the cot.

"Don't worry." Richard reached out his hand gently to show that he meant no harm, while Nicola pulled back to give them some space. After a couple of seconds of hesitation, it moved forwards to examine his fingers. Richard pulled out a poké ball and gently tapped it on the anorith's head.

"Well, congratulations, Richard," said Nicola as the anorith was sucked into the ball. It clicked shut pretty quickly.

"Thanks!" A wide grin spread across Richard's face. "Welcome to the team, Pincer!"

"Why 'Pincer'?" Nicola asked.

"It's easy to call out, isn't it?" Richard replied before turning to look at Doctor Harris. "Will he be ready to battle?"

"He's in good condition," Doctor Harris replied. "I suggest taking it easy at first though so that he can get used to it."

"I'll keep it in mind," said Richard. "Thank you for all your help!"

"You're welcome, young man," Doctor Harris replied. "Make sure you take good care of your new anorith."

* * *

 _3:12pm, 14_ _th_ _June 2006_

After settling up and leaving the lab, Richard and Nicola had found themselves with some time to kill. Getting the bus back across the city to the pokémon centre, they'd found that James and Will were still out. Richard, practically bouncing with excitement at the prospect of seeing what Pincer was capable of, suggested that they head out to the practice arenas and have a battle.

The idea had appealed to Nicola as well. After all, it would give her another chance to try bonding with Blu.

"Just one-on-one then?" Richard called over as they took positions on the practice arena.

"Sounds good to me!" Nicola called back, nodding her head sharply to coax Blu into flying down to the battlefield. Across from them, Pincer was already in position. He watched Blu with a cautious gaze.

"Let's begin then!" Richard grinned. "Pincer, use Water Gun!"

Pincer immediately fired a blast of water towards Blu, who bounced to the side to avoid it. She jumped into the air and fired herself back towards Pincer, trying to pummel him under a flurry of fast attacks. As both trainers shouted orders, Pincer tried to disengage. Blu initially attempted to continue chasing him, but reluctantly pulled back at Nicola's shout.

"Harden!"

Pincer toughened up the rocky armour around his body. Blu, meanwhile, set up a mystical veil around her side of the arena. She suddenly flew forwards again, smashing into Pincer with her beak. Pincer reacted with a swipe with one of his steel-clad claws. The two continued exchanging attacks for a few seconds before finally separating again.

"It seems to me that Blu is listening to you!" Richard called over.

"I guess so," Nicola replied. "But she still gets stubborn if I try and get her to do something different!"

The battle resumed. Pincer fired another blast of water towards Blu, this time managing to hit her. However, she recovered quickly and, with a determined cry, hurled herself towards Pincer again. Instead of attacking with her beak this time, she instead smashed into him with a full-body tackle. Pincer was thrown back by the force of the impact and landed with a thud. He quickly pulled himself up again though – it would take more than that to penetrate his armour!

"Was Blu able to use Take Down before?" Richard called.

"I don't think she was!" Nicola replied. "But I guess it does seem like a fitting move for her!"

Blu cried out again and hurled herself recklessly at Pincer again. There was another crash, though the anorith was able to pull off a last-minute slash with his claw. Both sides crashed to the ground and struggled to pull themselves up again.

"You know, Nicola!" Richard began. "I'm not sure that you have a problem with Blu at all!"

"Huh?"

"Sure, she's headstrong and doesn't always listen to all of your orders, but I've seen pokémon that have behaved far worse!" Richard explained. "I think as long as you work _with_ Blu's recklessness instead of against it and build your battle plans around it, you could do really well together!"

"Y-You really think that?" Nicola asked, a little stunned. She looked over at Blu. Maybe Richard had a point – maybe it was just a clash of approaches between her and Blu. She hadn't thought about it that way.

"Anyway, shall we resume the battle?" Richard called.

Nicola was about to respond when they suddenly heard someone else call out to them.

"Hey, guys! You made it back from the lab okay then?"

Looking around, they spotted James and Will on the path by the practice arenas, both fully-laden with shopping bags.

"You're back as well then!" Richard grinned cheerfully. "Everything went well with us!"

"Glad to hear it!" James called. "If you've got a minute, we could use some help getting these bags in!"

"Guess we'll have to finish this battle some other time!" Richard called over to Nicola. "Let's go!"

"Sure!" Nicola nodded. Blu returned to settle on her head as she started walking over towards James and Will.

"Come on," Richard said, beckoning to Pincer, who looked at him curiously. "I'll introduce you to my friends." He gently lifted up the anorith and started walking over to the others as well. "You were fighting really well against Nicola. I can tell that you're going to be a really strong pokémon."

Pincer made some clicking noises in response. Though he'd been rather tense after leaving the lab, surrounded by new people and new sights and sounds, he seemed to be more settled now. Perhaps the chance to blow off some steam and lose himself in the battle had helped to put him more at ease.

Richard smiled. One way or another, he was thrilled that he now had a new friend to share his adventure with.

"Don't leave me out, guys!" he called as he started jogging towards the other three to help out with the shopping.

* * *

 **Phew! The last pokémon whose capture was easily predictable beforehand has been added to the team. Now you're all completely in the dark again about when and what the capture will be!**

 **There's not much more I have to say on this chapter. Richard has a full team now as well as the group managed to reach Rustboro City. The Gharnot contest will be next and after that we'll be back on the 'main road', so to speak.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Harden, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	58. When Sparks Fly

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group return to Rustboro City, where Richard revived the fossil he found in the desert into an anorith, which he named 'Pincer'.**

 **Upload Date: 14** **th** **April 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 58: When Sparks Fly**

 _Gharnot Town, Hoenn_

 _3:27pm, 17_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Alright, guys! We've got a big contest coming up and that means there's a big victory up for grabs! We've been training really hard over the last week and I think we stand a good chance of pulling off a win here!"

Charka, Kacha, Nulin and Muro all stood to attention as James paced back and forth in front of them, delivering his speech.

"Still, the opposition is going to be tough and the crowd and judges harder to please. We can't afford to give a single inch, or we'll be swept aside. You've done me proud in the past, so I trust that you'll perform your best here too!"

"Umm, James…" Nicola mumbled.

"Are you sure you need to do this right here?" Richard asked.

"Can't it wait until we get to the pokémon centre?" Will gasped.

They were all sweltering under the intense sunshine. It had been an unusually hot day and the long hike along Route 116 had been far more unpleasant than normal. And at the outskirts of Gharnot Town, James had suddenly decided that it was the right time to stop and have a pep talk with his pokémon.

"Ah." James rubbed the back of his head bashfully as he looked back at them. "I'm not sure I'd be able to give the same kind of speech at the pokémon centre – it would be embarrassing with other people around, you know."

"But you're okay with doing it in front of us?" Richard sighed.

"Let's just get going," said Nicola, turning and starting to walk away along the street.

"You said it!" Will walked after her.

"Alright, alright!" James beckoned to his pokémon and set off after the others. "You don't have to get huffy about it!"

Though he said that, James had some sympathy with them. They were all feeling much more on edge now compared to the last time they'd been in Gharnot Town. A part of that was surely down to them actually having an objective in the town instead of just passing through, but the whole town felt a little different anyway. An odd mix of excitement and tension. There _was_ a big contest in just two days after all.

This tension increased even further as they got closer to the pokémon centre and they started seeing more coordinators around. Everyone seemed to be eyeing each other suspiciously, trying to size up their opposition. It was starting to make James and Nicola feel very unsettled…

"I hope there's going to be space in the pokémon centre," Richard said, turning to look at Will.

"It's a big place. I'm sure there'll be spaces."

James and Nicola both let out a sigh. There was a part of both of them that was jealous of the lack of pressure on their companions. Still, they were the ones who'd chosen to aim to compete in the contest here. They had to own that decision.

"Oh! Nicola!"

As they reached the entrance to the pokémon centre, they heard someone call out to them from nearby. Hannah was approaching the pokémon centre from the other direction. She waved enthusiastically to them as she got closer.

"Hannah! It's great to see you again!" Nicola cried, running forwards to greet her. "Did you have a good trip down here?"

"It was fine. Pretty uneventful, but sometimes it's better that way, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

Hannah stopped to greet the three boys before they walked into the lobby of the pokémon centre. It seemed more crowded than they'd been expecting. The beleaguered receptionist was trying to deal with the small crowd of trainers clustered around in front of his desk, all waiting to book rooms. The trainers' lounge was almost completely occupied and there were even some people sitting around and chatting in the restaurant.

And James, Richard, Nicola and Will had made sure that they'd gotten here early!

"I'm glad we arrived today and not tomorrow," Nicola mumbled.

Fortunately, the receptionist was doing a good job at getting through everyone quickly, as exhausted as he looked. He fired out his questions quickly as they stepped forwards. "How many of you? How many nights?"

"Can we get a room for the three of us?" James said, gesturing to him, Richard and Will. "Three nights."

"Alright, may I see your trainer card?"

James handed over his trainer card and watched the receptionist quickly scan it.

"Just so you know, we're expecting an even bigger influx over the next two days. Our rooms can take up to four people, so we may have to add an extra person if we run out of separate rooms."

"That's fine," James replied.

"Do you normally get a room to yourself?" Hannah asked as she and Nicola stepped forwards.

"Normally." Nicola nodded. "But I guess they'll want me to share with other people…"

"In that case, should we get a room together?" Hannah asked. "Better to be with at least one person that you know, right?"

"Sure!" Nicola agreed eagerly. The two of them turned to look at the receptionist and asked for a room.

"We've got a room with just one girl staying in it at the moment," he explained. "Since there's two of you, would you mind going in there?"

"Are there no other rooms we could have?" Hannah asked. "I mean, I know that you have to fill them all up eventually, but…"

"It's easier for us if we try and keep as many whole rooms open as possible," the receptionist replied. "We have a fair number of trainers who travel in groups and want to stay together, just like you five, so it makes sense to try and keep them together."

"Well, we don't mind," said Nicola. She offered her trainer card. "We were probably going to have to share anyway."

"Thanks for your understanding," the receptionist said, taking the trainer card and quickly scanning it. "The girl who's already in there knows to expect other people joining her. She's still in at the moment, so I'd head on up straight away so that you can introduce yourselves and sort out arrangements."

"Alright," Nicola said as she took the key.

"Shall we meet up again in ten minutes?" James asked as the five of them started walking towards the staircase.

"What are you planning? Training?" Richard asked.

"It's a bit late for that. I actually thought that it would be nice to head out and get some ice cream or something. It's a hot day after all."

"Sounds good to me," said Hannah. "The trainers' lounge is packed anyway!"

"It'll be better than staying inside, huh?" Will added. "I'd better make sure that Turkey and Gulpy stay in their poké balls though…"

At the top of the staircase, the boys turned off to head towards their room. Nicola and Hannah waved goodbye before heading along the corridor to their room.

"Room 23, right?" Hannah looked over to Nicola as they approached the door.

"That's right." Nicola nodded.

"Alright then." Hannah reached out and knocked firmly on the door. "Hello? We've been sent to the same room as you!"

From beyond the door, they heard the sound of someone getting to their feet and walking over. After a couple of seconds of soft footsteps getting closer to them, there was a click and the door started opening.

"Huh?" Nicola gasped.

"Ugh!"

It was Mia.

"D-Do you guys know…" As Hannah started to speak, the door shut again. There was a click as it was manually locked. "…each other?" She and Nicola looked at each other. Things weren't going according to plan.

* * *

 _4:12pm, 17_ _th_ _June 2006_

"So, that's why you were late getting done?" Will asked.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "She only opened up when I said I was going to get James and ask what he thought."

The two of them were loitering in the lobby of the pokémon centre. Richard was over using one of the videophones and James was checking the opening times and menu for the restaurant that night. Even with the air conditioning on, it still felt oppressively hot and humid and both of them were continually stopping to wipe the sweat from their foreheads. Their clothes kept sticking to them uncomfortably as well.

"Wow. Still, at least you managed to get her to open up."

"I felt bad that Hannah got caught up in it though…"

"Hey! I was always going to let you in!"

The two of them looked around to see Mia and Hannah approaching them from the direction of the staircase.

"Sure you were," Nicola said, frowning.

"Come on, guys," Hannah sighed. "You can't keep arguing all afternoon – it's far too hot for that!"

"Sorry again for shutting the door in your face," Mia said, turning back to look at her. "I look forwards to sharing a room with you."

"Ah, same here." Hannah nodded.

"Right! Looks like everyone's here!" James walked over, grinning at them. Richard, having finished his call, was just behind him. "Let's go and find an ice cream shop!"

"Sounds great!" Mia smiled, drawing close to him as the group started walking towards the door.

It wasn't hard to find somewhere selling ice creams with the heat and the influx of coordinators for the contest. Though the afternoon sun was still hot, they found themselves a place in the shade not far from the pokémon centre. It felt as though summer had well and truly arrived now.

* * *

 _8:01pm, 17_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Evening!" James said as he walked through the trainers' lounge. It was mostly deserted now, with most of the other coordinators either at dinner or having returned to their rooms. Now that the sun was setting rapidly, the air conditioning was doing a much better job at keeping the room cool. All in all, it was an appealing place to hang out again.

"Ah! Evening!"

Mia and Hannah were sat on one of the sofas, both looking quite relaxed. Mia was holding a magazine, her gaze flicking between it and James as he approached.

"Oh! You guys are hanging out in here now?" Nicola came running across from the lobby to join them. "Let me join!"

"Come sit next to me, Nicola!" Hannah called eagerly.

As Nicola dropped down onto the sofa on Hannah's left side, Mia quietly got up and moved onto the other sofa next to James.

"Not enough space," she mumbled, head buried in the magazine.

"You reading anything good?" James asked.

"This?" Mia pulled the magazine away from her face.

Now that James could get a better look at the cover, he could see the title: _Contest Central_. Somehow, he thought he could guess what it was about now.

"It's the main magazine for coordinators across the nation, right?" Hannah asked eagerly, leaning forwards to join in.

"That's right." Mia nodded.

"Anything good?"

"I was just reading an article on Ellie Summers."

"Oh, really? Is it on the latest contest? I've been meaning to read it myself…" Hannah got up and squeezed onto the sofa on Mia's other side. "She won, right?"

"Of course she did," Mia replied.

"Didn't need to ask, did I?" Hannah grinned. She leant in and stared at the page. "Wow! So pretty!"

"Umm, who's Ellie Summers?" James asked.

"You haven't heard of her?" Mia and Hannah turned to him, shocked expressions on their faces. Hannah looked across at Nicola.

"You've heard of her, right, Nicola?"

"Sorry!" Nicola grinned guiltily.

"How can you be coordinators but not know about Ellie?" Mia gasped.

"We're still new to this," James replied. "I still don't really know much about the contest scene aside from where they're being hosted."

"Ellie Summers is the rising star on the contest scene," Hannah explained. "She only became a coordinator last year, but she's already the favourite to win this year's Sinnoh Grand Festival."

"Sinnoh?" Nicola gave her a confused look. "Not Hoenn?"

"The contest world is bigger than just Hoenn, Nicola," Mia said, shaking her head. "Anyway, Ellie's performances are always flawless and so beautiful! I'd love to see one of her performances live!"

"They're that good, huh?" James said.

"They are!" Mia nodded eagerly. She held up the magazine so that James and Nicola could see.

"Whoa…" James mumbled as he looked at the pictures.

The first thing that drew his attention was the pokémon, a creature with a small, round body and a long, tag-like tail. It was glowing with a blue colour, with several waves of blue energy emanating from its body. He could tell from the wide smile on the pokémon's face that it was having fun.

There was also a separate picture of Ellie below, smiling and fiddling with the end of one of her twintails, apparently taken at the time she was interviewed. The fact that she was wearing a formal dress surprised James. At first, he thought that perhaps it was for the interview, but he quickly realised that she was wearing it in the picture from the performance as well. Well, he supposed that coordinators were free to choose what they wore after all.

"What kind of pokémon is that?" Nicola asked, pointing at the pokémon in the picture.

"Oh, that's a chimecho," Hannah explained. "I'm hoping to catch one myself someday…"

"Doesn't she look impressive?" Mia asked James enthusiastically. "I became her fan at the end of last year's season and I've been following her progress ever since."

"You look up to her?" James asked.

"Yeah!" Mia nodded. "It's really rare for someone to be talented enough to be a favourite to win the Grand Festival in their second year as a coordinator. Since I'm in the same position, it makes me feel like I really could stand a chance at winning the Hoenn Grand Festival this year."

"I guess that makes sense," said James.

"If you want, I could show you some videos of her performances later," said Mia.

"Sure, sounds good to me." James nodded.

"Oh! Me too!" Nicola cried. "I want to watch them as well!"

"…I guess you can come along as well," Mia muttered.

"Before we do that though," Hannah began, "we need to discuss what we're doing tomorrow."

"Training, right?" James, Mia and Nicola all looked back at her and spoke in unison.

"Well, yeah," Hannah sighed. "But wouldn't it be nice to spend some time exploring Gharnot Town while we're here?"

"I suppose we could do that at some point while we're taking a break from training," said Mia.

"It's something that we could do with Richard and Will too," Nicola added.

"As long as it doesn't eat into too much of our training time," said James. "It's a big contest after all."

"Sure." Hannah nodded. "Anyway, you were talking about showing them videos of Ellie's performances, Mia."

* * *

 _10:31am, 18_ _th_ _June 2006_

After the intense heat of the previous day, the group could have been forgiven for thinking that the weather would continue that way for some time. Unfortunately, fate had other plans and they'd awoken to be greeted with the sight of pouring rain and the distant boom of thunder.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Richard asked.

"What were we going to do instead?" James shrugged.

Despite the weather, they'd still all set out to explore Gharnot Town. They were far from the only ones as well – other coordinators and countless people who'd come to watch the contest the following day had filled the streets.

"I could have slept for longer," Will sighed.

"Whoa! Look at this!" Nicola exclaimed, pointing enthusiastically at a small statute of a pokémon on the corner of the fence running along the nearby bridge over one of the two rivers that flowed through the town.

"Oh, it's a statue of a barboach," Hannah said, wandering over to look at it as well. "I think I remember reading that the barboach that swim down the rivers are an important part of the town's history."

"Barboach, huh?" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Barboach, the whiskers pokémon. A barboach's sensitive whiskers serve as a superb radar system. These pokémon hide in mud, leaving only their two whiskers exposed while they wait for prey to come along. A barboach's body is covered with a slimy film. If a foe grabs them, these pokémon just slip out of the enemy's grip. These pokémon grow weak if the slimy coating dries up._ "

"Apparently, they have a festival here every year to honour the barboach," said Mia. "I've heard that it's quite impressive."

"Do you know when it is?" Will asked.

"The start of autumn," Mia replied. "Harvest season."

"I guess we'll be too busy with other things by that stage," Nicola sighed. "It would be nice to see it."

"Why such a big deal over the barboach though?" Richard asked, frowning as he examined the statue. "They don't look all that impressive to me."

"I think it's to do with the environment." Hannah pulled out a Gharnot Town guidebook and started looking through it. "The rivers are important to the town because they bring fresh water and fish to catch."

"People can pick some odd things to get attached to sometimes," James said. He looked over at the river, spotting a red pokémon similar to a krabby scuttling about on the mud flat on the far bank.

" _Corphish, the ruffian pokémon. Corphish were originally foreign pokémon that were imported as pets. They eventually turned up in the wild. These pokémon is very hardy and have greatly increased their population. They have no trouble living in filthy and polluted water. Corphish catch prey with their sharp claws. They have no strong likes or dislikes when it comes to food - they will eat anything._ "

"It says here that the corphish have become a real problem here," said Hannah. "Apparently, they've been hunting the barboach recently and there are worries that the numbers are being depleted."

There was a flash of lightning, followed seconds later by the boom of thunder. It sounded as though the storm was getting closer. Perhaps in anticipation, the nearby crowd of people crossing the bridge in both directions started to pick up speed.

"Let's get moving," said Richard, shivering as the cold air bit into him.

"Where to next?" Nicola asked.

"I say this way!" Will plunged into the crowd and quickly disappeared from sight.

"No harm in it, I guess," said James.

The others all started trying to cross the crowd, but it quickly became difficult and disorienting. James could feel that he was starting to get swept along with the crowd and fought harder to keep himself moving across. He finally emerged on the other side and ducked into a much quieter street nearby.

"That was pretty crazy, huh?"

Looking to his side, he noticed that Hannah had joined him. There wasn't any sign of the others yet though. Perhaps they were still stuck in the crowd.

"Yeah," he said idly, agreeing with what Hannah had said.

The two quickly fell into silence as they waited for any sign of the others. After a few minutes, Hannah spoke again. "You don't think that they got lost, do you?"

"Maybe they did…" James murmured, frowning as he glanced back at the crowd. It had finally started to disperse somewhat, but there was still no sign of them. Crossing the crowd had perhaps not been such a good idea after all.

James and Hannah remained silent for another few seconds, watching the street in case any of the others appeared. Eventually, they turned back to each other.

"I guess we could circle around and try looking for them," said Hannah.

"Let's do that," James replied. "It's better than standing around and doing nothing."

The two of them started walking back in roughly the direction they'd come, looking down the nearby streets for any sign of their companions.

"I hope the others haven't got lost," James said as they walked along. "I'm normally the one with the map, so they might not be familiar with the layout of the town."

"I hope they're not," Hannah replied. "Lost, I mean!" she quickly added. "I was hoping to talk to Nicola about ideas for combinations."

"I think both Nicola and I could learn more from you than you could from us," James said. "Your combinations at the contest in Tiane Town were seriously impressive."

"Ahaha!" Hannah laughed awkwardly. "Thanks for the praise, but I don't think I'm that impressive. I just had the right person to train me…" Her mood seemed to drop for a split second before she bounced back again. "I didn't really get much of a good look at your team back in Tiane Town. I saw your wingull in the appeals round and then Chika fought your pikachu in the battle round, but I don't know much more about you and the rest of your team."

James laughed. "A part of me feels like it would be better to keep as much as I can a secret! Still, I guess we all end up seeing a bit of each other's techniques while training."

"I always exchange ideas with other coordinators," said Hannah. "You can take the best bits of their ideas and create new ones from them."

"I kind of feel like it would be an unfair trade for the two of us though," James sighed. "I haven't got anything that can match your Ember Swirl technique."

"Teaching others helps as well. That's why I'm always eager to help out less experienced coordinators!" Hannah grinned at him. "Since the others have disappeared, why don't we head back and have a look at your team? You never know what kind of ideas we could come up with."

"Well, if you're offering then I guess I'll take you up on that," James replied.

* * *

 _11:27am, 18_ _th_ _June 2006_

Nicola walked along the street running alongside the river as the rain splashed to the ground around her. She looked over cautiously at her companion as she stepped forwards. "So…"

"No," Mia replied instantly.

"I haven't even said anything yet!" Nicola exclaimed.

"I don't really have that much interest in talking to you," said Mia, turning to look towards the buildings on their right. She let out a sigh. "Why couldn't I have ended up with James instead?"

"Well, since we've ended up together and there's no sign of the others, why don't we exchange contest tips?" Nicola asked hopefully. Even if it was difficult for her to get along with Mia, she recognised her as a skilled coordinator. Anything she could learn from her would be great for her own chances. She also knew from experience that exchanging ideas was mutually beneficial.

"No. I don't see why I need to help you."

"Come on! You don't have to be so cold!" Nicola groaned. Her gaze was drawn to a flash of light she saw out of the corner of her eye. The sudden clap of thunder made her jump. The storm was really getting close now.

Mia shook her head at her and turned off to head down the next street. There was a square up ahead. Perhaps there'd be a better chance at spotting the others if they went there.

"Ah, wait up!" Nicola called as she started following her. She suddenly felt a rattling by her side and glanced down. One of her poké balls was shaking. As she reached for it, it popped open. Tricky materialised on the ground next to her. He looked up at the darkened sky as if searching for something.

There was another flash, followed almost immediately by the roar of the thunder. It was almost on top of them now.

"Come on!"

Nicola looked up to see Mia beckoning to her. She quickly hurried to catch up to her. "Sorry! Tricky let himself out of his poké ball…"

"Electric pokémon like being out in storms," Mia replied brusquely. "Anyway, we should get under cover – we don't want to be hit by lightning."

"Could that actually happen?" Nicola cried as she followed Mia under the eave of a nearby building.

"You never know," Mia replied. "It's best to be careful."

"But…" Before Nicola could respond, there was suddenly another flash. An arc of lightning flew across the square as if pulled. It struck Tricky, who had stayed out in the middle of the street. He grinned and shook himself in pleasure as he absorbed the electricity.

At the same time, the boom of the thunder echoed through the air. The nearby walls shook slightly from the vibrations and caused Nicola, Mia, and everyone else who was nearby to clutch their ears. As the lightning vanished, a child somewhere among the other people started crying.

"That was pretty intense," Nicola gasped, looking out at the pouring rain briefly before looking down at Tricky. "Thanks for keeping the lightning away from us, Tricky!"

Tricky barked happily in reply, wagging his tail energetically. He was so full of electricity that it was continually spilling out and sparking across his body. There was also a dull yellow glow surrounding him. As they emerged from shelter and back onto the street, the various humans and pokémon made sure to avoid him. There was a high potential for an electric shock in these conditions.

"You should probably get back in your ball for now," said Nicola, noticing everyone's caution and holding the ball up. "Come on back."

"…You know, if Tricky learned to store up electricity like that properly, then it might be quite an appealing move," Mia murmured as Tricky returned to the ball.

"Huh?" Nicola looked at her in surprise.

"What?" Mia asked.

"Did you just give me some contest advice?"

"…I don't know what you mean," Mia said, turning away. "I just happened to say something about your electrike. If you want to listen to it, then that's your business. Anyway, come on – it's getting cold out here."

Nicola blinked a couple of times as Mia set off along the street. That was a surprise. Maybe Mia wasn't all bad after all.

"Hey," she said, grinning as she quickly moved up to walk alongside her. "I don't suppose you could 'just happen' to show Tricky how it's done?"

"Don't push your luck."

"Hey, you guys!"

Looking around, Mia and Nicola spotted Richard and Will approaching them from the way they'd come. Richard waved to them as they got closer.

"Where did you guys wander off to?" Nicola asked.

"We looked around and couldn't find you guys," said Will. "It's a good thing we didn't get too far apart."

"What are you talking about?" Richard grinned. "We all know the way back to the pokémon centre, right?"

"I guess you're not wrong," Mia sighed. "Have you not seen any sign of the others?"

"Nothing at all," Will replied.

"I guess we should head back to the pokémon centre then," said Nicola. "I kind of feel like we've seen enough of Gharnot Town for now."

"I agree with you," said Richard. "We might have another chance tomorrow."

* * *

 _12:13pm, 18_ _th_ _June 2006_

The rain had eased up somewhat by the time the four of them had arrived back at the pokémon centre. A combination of the new influx of people and the rain meant that it was even more crowded than it had been the previous day. Their hearts sank at the thought of trying to find seats in the trainers' lounge or the restaurant at any point in the next few days.

"I'm going to head to the practice arena," said Nicola. "Let me know if the others show up."

"I'll come with you," said Mia. "If there's a free space, then I guess we could share it."

"Alright, good luck with your training," said Richard. "I'm probably going to head back upstairs and get changed."

"Same," Will added.

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Mia and Nicola continued along the corridor while the boys went up. On the left side were the pokémon centre's indoor arenas. Due to the restricted space and how hot it tended to get in there, most trainers preferred to use outdoor arenas. In this weather, however, there was likely to be a lot of competition for indoor arena. In fact, Nicola already fully expected to be leaving again in less than a minute. There was no way that there'd be space.

"Ugh," Mia groaned as they stepped through the door and were hit by the heat. It wasn't like the heat outside the previous day. All kinds of smells that Nicola didn't want to think too closely about combined with the heat to create thick, warm air that felt unpleasant to inhale, let alone smell.

She shook her head. The three battlefields were indeed all in use. A wildly-moving flame caught her attention. It belonged to a charmeleon who was hopping about in a weird kind of way on one of the arenas.

"James?" Mia stepped forwards as she recognised the pokémon and his trainer.

"Huh?" James looked around and spotted them. "Hey, Nicola, Mia! You guys made it back okay?"

"Where have you guys been?" Hannah, standing at the other end of the arena, called over to them with a grin.

"So, you _did_ come back here in the end?" Nicola let out a sigh as she followed Mia over towards them. "What have you guys been doing? Training for tomorrow?"

"We got back here a little while ago," James replied. "Hannah was helping me teach a new move to Charka."

The charmeleon growled and nodded eagerly. He looked quite pleased with himself.

"What…kind of move?" Nicola asked cautiously.

"It's called 'Swords Dance'," Hannah explained. "It's where a pokémon builds up its fighting spirit with a frenzied dance."

"It didn't look all that frenzied to me," Nicola said, frowning.

"That's because they're trying to moderate it for a contest performance," said Mia.

"That's right." James nodded. "It'll be a useful move in battle as well though."

"I guess you guys want to train as well, right?" said Hannah.

"That's right!" Nicola nodded. "I want to teach Tricky how to store more electricity." A smirk crossed her face. "Mia said that she'd be happy to help me!"

"Huh?" Mia turned to her in surprise.

"That's really kind of you, Mia," said James. "Thanks for helping her!"

"…I-It's not a problem," Mia replied quietly.

"How about we split the arena in two?" Hannah suggested. "We can keep practising Swords Dance that way."

"Sounds good to me," James said as Charka started walking over. "We're going to get this move down before the end of the day!"

As James and Hannah moved off to their half of the arena, Mia shot a fierce look back at Nicola. "Alright, if we're doing this then we're going to do it well. Follow me lead and I'll make sure that Tricky can use Charge by the end of the day. You better be ready to work hard, Nicola!"

"S-Sure!" Nicola replied, nodding. She started to wonder if she'd perhaps made a mistake in getting Mia involved…

* * *

 **First off, apologies for the delay on this chapter. There's been a lot happening recently and it's been difficult to keep my mind on** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **. Fortunately, I only needed an extra day and I have no doubt that I'll make better time next week.**

 **A small rework to my original plan meant that I was able to have two chapters to spend on the Gharnot contest, which feels fitting given how I've hyped it up in previous chapters. I wanted to focus on character interactions in this chapter, as well as doing some minor world building for the wider contest scene. Hopefully, I'll have more of an opportunity to do the pokémon next chapter.**

 **Anyway, that's about all I have to mention this time. I proofread this chapter before uploading it, but mistakes still have a habit of slipping through sometimes.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Harden, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	59. Charged Atmosphere

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group arrive in Gharnot Town, the location of one of the biggest contests in Hoenn. Once there, they met up with Mia and Hannah again and started preparing for the contest, with both Charka and Tricky learning new moves.**

 **Upload Date: 20** **th** **April 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 59: Charged Atmosphere**

 _Gharnot Town, Hoenn_

 _1:49pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

A rainy morning had given way to a gloomy, but drier afternoon as the Gharnot contest approached. The town had been busy the previous day – now that even more spectators had shown up, the streets were busy despite the miserable weather. The practice arenas were all occupied. The indoor arena at the pokémon centre wasn't enough for such a large number of coordinators and no one wanted to pass up the opportunity for some last-minute training, even if it meant getting a little wet in the early morning rain. The fact that it had stopped shortly before lunchtime came as a welcome relief.

Even all the practice arenas in the town couldn't accommodate all the coordinators wanting to use them, though that was hardly surprising for a small town, and many had had to look elsewhere for places to practise. Some had gone to the outskirts of the town in the hopes of finding an empty lot to use as a battlefield. Others had disappeared into the hills and mountains that surrounded the town to train among nature.

James and Nicola, on the other hand, had been rather lucky. Waking up too late to get a practice arena, they'd instead gone to the contest hall and found out that they'd opened up the stage for coordinators to use for regular practice. A special exception due to the number of contestants in Gharnot Town, they were told.

Still, it was a big boost. Getting to see the layout of the stage before the start of the contest and to get used it would be useful when they started their performances. There was no way to rehearse anything accurately though – even here, they had to share with other coordinators.

"Ah! Sorry!"

"Keep to your own space!"

Making sure that they were out of the way of their fellow coordinators was a difficult task.

"Use Charge!" Nicola called.

In front of her, Tricky started gathering up electricity, sparks running along the length of his body and a distinct yellow glow surrounding him. As he absorbed more electricity, the sparks intensified. This in itself looked pretty impressive, but it wasn't intentional. Mia had been very clear that a well-performed Charge should only produce the glow – any sparks were down to Tricky accidentally letting the electricity leak out.

"You'll lose points if you can't hold all the electricity," Mia had said.

Charka, meanwhile, was jumping around eagerly, his clawed feet tapping on the ground as he built up his fighting spirit. The move itself hadn't been too tough to pick up, but then there was the issue of trying to improve its appeal. At the moment, it was still a bit aggressive to create a genuine contest appeal.

"Oh! That's it! Now hold it all in!" Nicola yelped excitedly.

Tricky had charged up electricity again, this time managing to produce the glow without any sparks. He was visibly straining though, desperately trying to keep electricity from spilling out.

"Now use Spark!" Nicola called, her voice echoing around the main hall.

With a bark, Tricky suddenly lit up brightly. Bolts of electricity twirled and twisted around his body, the occasional bolt jumping away from him. He shot around the small area James and Nicola were training in at a startling speed, becoming a bright yellow blur and leaving a brief trail of ionised air behind him.

"That looks seriously impressive," James said, gulping as he watched. He and Charka hadn't got anywhere near mastering their new move, yet Tricky was already pulling off this combination.

"He's doing well, isn't he?" Nicola asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah, definitely," James replied. He turned back to Charka. "Right! We're going to need to do even more work so that we're ready for the contest. You ready, Charka?"

Charka growled in agreement. He, too, was determined not to be outmatched.

* * *

 _3:47pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

Once all of the training was complete, or as complete as was possible, everyone's thoughts turned to the contest itself. People, both spectators and coordinators, had started heading for the contest hall as early as two hours before the contest was due to begin. In a way, this was understandable for spectators – after all, even if the Gharnot contest hall was far larger than any similarly sized town could reasonably expect to have, it was still best to get there early in order to get a good seat.

"Are you guys sure that you didn't want to get here sooner?" Mia asked, looking at Richard and Will as they walked through the entrance and into the lobby.

"I don't really mind," said Richard. "I'm sure we'll be able to see you no matter where we are."

"Seats at the back might be cheaper," Will added.

"I guess you've got a point there," said James.

"Make sure that you pay attention and vote this time!" Nicola told them firmly. "There are loads of other coordinators here, so it really could make all the difference!"

"Alright, I get it," Will groaned. He'd wanted to do some training today, but the practice arenas had been so clogged with coordinators that there had been absolutely no chance of getting one. James and Nicola should appreciate the fact that he'd even shown up.

"Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye and good luck," said Richard, glancing over at the queue of coordinators waiting to confirm their registration. It was far shorter than they'd been expecting, and the staff seemed to be getting through everyone quite quickly.

"Make sure you don't mess up, guys," Will said as he started walking towards the staircase to the upper level. "I'll be watching."

"That's a funny way of saying 'good luck'!" James shouted after him. He shook his head as he turned back to the others.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Richard said, giving him a reassuring grin. "Do you best and good luck!"

"See you when it's over!" Nicola called after him as he turned and walked off after Will.

"I guess it's time for us to go," said Hannah. "Good luck, everyone. I'm not planning on holding back, even if I'm drawn against one of you guys!"

"You're that confident of getting through the packed appeals round?" James asked wearily as they moved over to join the queue.

* * *

 _5:24pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Ugh…" Will groaned. "Is it finally time?"

"Umm…" Richard watched the stage intently, listening out for the MC's voice.

"Our next contestant is Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"Yeah, it's time."

"Good," Will sighed, pulling himself more upright and looking down at the stage.

The downside to a large contest was the sheer amount of time it took to get through all the coordinators who were participating. Each performance was just two minutes long, but thirty coordinators and their pokémon still took an hour between them. And there were far more than thirty contestants in this contest.

Mia and Hannah had both already performed earlier, the last times that Will had been paying attention to what was happening on stage. Mia and Vixa, her ninetales, had performed using a combination of fire and props and had really left a great impression with their elegance and skill. It had been different to the appeal she'd used in Anamarc Town but was definitely part of her overall style.

Hannah, on the other hand, had been relying on what she knew worked. The impressive Ember Swirl technique that Chika was using had wowed the crowd and Richard wasn't entirely sure whether she or Mia had received the louder applause. Both had been on form and confident, as had many of the other coordinators he'd been half-observing. One thing was for sure: it was going to be a tough contest for James and Nicola.

Down on the stage, Nicola and Tricky had stepped out. With a nod from Nicola, Tricky began his performance, not wanting to waste a single second of their limited time. He started with his new move, focusing on absorbing electricity until he was surrounded in a dim yellow glow. Despite his best efforts, a couple of jolts of electricity leaked out, sparking from his flanks. Still, he held on and kept his focus.

Fully charged, he raised his head and let out a loud howl. The sound echoed around the room as he suddenly allowed electricity to shoot out across his body. There was such a concentration that he was momentarily blinding to look at. He dashed around the stage, trailing sparks and ionised air behind him. The way he was moving made him look a little like a bolt of lightning himself.

After pulling himself to a stop, he repeated the now-familiar (to Richard, at least) routine of messing with the lights. This time, though, he accompanied it with an attempt to absorb electricity again. Surrounded by a yellow glow as the lights dimed and brightened again, it looked quite impressive. He let electricity escape occasionally this time, leaving him with jolts passing across his body. It added more to the sight that Richard had thought it would at first – it really reinforced the fact that it was indeed Tricky messing with the lights.

Tricky's finale wasn't flashy, but he performed it without any mistakes. Dashing around the stage while keeping himself facing the audience as much as possible, he howled and snapped at the air with his teeth while shooting out electricity across his body. A simple, but effective routine and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Richard personally didn't think it could quite compete with Mia and Hannah's performances but Nicola and Tricky had seemed so enthusiastic about it that it was hard not to enjoy it.

After Nicola and Tricky left the stage, Richard and Will returned to waiting. Will was content to just kick back and zone out. He even fell asleep at one point, much to Richard's embarrassment. For his part, Richard kept an eye out and paid attention to any performances that seemed particularly good. It was always handy to know while people could potentially cause problems for James and Nicola, even if he'd forget most of them by the time they got a chance to speak to each other again after the appeals round was over.

Even so, it felt as though an eternity had passed before they finally heard the MC announcing James' name.

"James Burton from Pallet Town!"

The crowd applauded politely as James and Charka emerged from backstage. Richard and Will quickly jerked back to attention and started clapping too. Privately, Richard had his concerns about James' performance. Though the rehearsals he'd seen were different to those of Mia and Hannah, the fact that all three were largely fire-based meant that comparisons would be inevitable.

Still, Charka jumped forwards enthusiastically as the clock started ticking.

"Show them what you've got, Charka!" James grinned at him.

With a nod, Charka shot out a jet of flames, forming a fiery vortex around himself. It swirled around, obscuring him from view for a few seconds. As they suddenly dispersed, Charka bounced forwards, jigging across the stage eagerly. He accompanied this dance with the occasional blast of flames aimed above him. He sometimes twirled around to create small and brief circles of flame around himself.

Though it still looked pretty good, it was clear that Charka still hadn't quite managed to find a way to make his aggressive Swords Dance more elegant and it looked a little clumsy and disjointed as a result. The crowd still seemed to be enjoying it though. Even if he knew the weaknesses of his dance, Charka wasn't letting it show on his face. He looked confident and cheerful – he was having fun with it regardless.

James looked less satisfied, but let Charka continue to the end of the sequence rather than cut it short. The second part of the performance moved back to Charka's traditional strengths – showing off his powerful claws! He swiped left and right with steel-coated claws, keeping his motion fluid and attacks fast. This was where he was most comfortable, and it really showed.

Finally, Charka blasted his claws with flames, turning them red-hot. He returned to swiping around at the air with precise motions, the speed of the attacks and the glow of his claws making them resemble light sticks being waved at a concert.

And then it was over. Charka grinned and waved at the audience as his claws cooled down, while James bowed and smiled. Then the two of them left the stage to return to the holding room.

"I guess that's it for us," said Will. "For now, anyway."

"Don't forget that we need to vote this time," said Richard, glancing at the panels in front of them. He'd noticed them in other contest halls but had never actually paid that much attention to what they did. He frowned as he glanced back at the stage. There were a lot of contestants and both James and Nicola had ended up near the centre of the batch. It was difficult enough to stand out even with a smaller number of competitors, but here it was going to be even harder. He was really going to need to remember to vote – it could be crucial.

* * *

 _7:58pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

Once the appeals were all finished and the audience votes had been cast, there was an hour-long break so that everyone had a chance to get some dinner. It was also going to take a while for votes to be sorted and for the judges to come to their decisions about who they wanted to get through. After leaving the holding room, James, Nicola, Mia and Hannah had met up with Richard and Will and gone back to the pokémon centre to grab a quick meal. Though the four coordinators were feeling tense, there was a lot of chatter both during the meal and the walk back to the contest hall. Once they were in the lobby, they'd said goodbye to Richard and Will and started walking back towards the holding room.

"Still, it feels pretty rough knowing that so few of us will move on to the next round," James sighed. "There's been at least fifty performances and only eight will get through…"

"Oh, didn't you know?" Hannah looked over at him. "The Gharnot contest is a little bit like the Grand Festival – sixteen coordinators make it through instead of just eight and the knockout round is longer."

"It is?" James looked relieved. "That doubles my chances of getting through at least."

"I thought your performance was good," said Mia. "A little rough around the edges, but you and Charka looked like you were really enjoying it!"

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'm still a long way off being as good as you and Hannah."

The four of them had been thankful to get away from the oppressive atmosphere inside the holding room. Though it had been designed to accommodate the large number of coordinators the Gharnot contest routinely attracted, it still felt somewhat suffocating in there. James thought that it was down to the increased tension of the competitors – it was a big contest and, even with a larger number of spaces, a lot of them would be receiving the news that they hadn't made it through.

"Your performance worked out pretty well in the end, didn't it, Nicola?" Hannah said, grinning at her.

"I was a little bit worried when Tricky accidentally started leaking electricity, but everything went okay otherwise," Nicola replied. "Not sure if it'll be enough, but…"

At that moment, they heard the announcement – the judging had finished and the results had been collected.

The four coordinators joined the rest of the competitors as they returned to the holding room. There was still a little bit of idle chatter between contestants as they filed in, but everyone quickly fell silent as they sat down. All eyes were fixed on the several TV screens around the room.

A table appeared with sixteen spaces. One by one, the spaces started to fill with the pictures and names of the coordinators who were going through. There were a couple of sighs of relief and some discreet celebrations from those who saw their names appear, while everyone else continued waiting with bated breath as the reveal continued.

Both Mia and Hannah appeared quite early on. Though they both sighed in relief, they glanced at their companions with worry as the number of unrevealed spaces dropped.

"Oh!" Nicola involuntarily exclaimed as her name and picture appeared on the penultimate slot. A brief moment of elation was quickly suppressed though – the final slot was one of the other coordinators. James was the only one of them not to get through.

"James…" Mia looked at him in concern.

"Well, these things happen," James said, leaning back in his seat and letting the tension drain out of his body. "I guess I kinda knew this would happen after our performance. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried a new style."

Though he was putting on a brave face, Nicola could see the whirlwind of emotions just beneath the surface on his face. She wished that there was something she could do, something she could say. But, somehow, she knew that it would probably be a bad idea to do that. She knew that he'd been optimistic and keen to make progress here, but she hadn't realised how strongly he felt about it. As the victor standing over the defeated, there wasn't anything she could say.

"Ah, umm!" Mia fumbled about, also trying to find the words that might off James some comfort. "L-Look, you and Charka did the best you could. It didn't work out this time, but if you think about the next one…"

"It's my fault!" Hannah cut in. "I should have spent more time helping you and Charka practise Swords Dance. I'm sure we could have gotten it presentable in time!"

"Thanks, guys," James said firmly, standing up. He gave them a pained smile. "I'm going to head to the toilet. Good luck in the knockout rounds."

The three girls watched him go, none of them able to say anything more to him. As he disappeared from the doorway, they finally turned to each other and shared a disheartened look.

"W-Well, I guess that this means he doesn't have to fight any of us," said Nicola, trying and failing to sound more positive.

"We're not exactly in the clear either, are we?" Hannah sighed. "Only one person can win this contest."

"That's how all competitions are," said Mia. She took a deep breath and gave the other two a determined look. "I'm not letting up in the next round, no matter who I'm up against! Even if I'm up against you guys."

Hannah and Nicola exchanged a look.

"Well, I'm not going to roll over either!" Hannah said.

"Same!" Nicola nodded. "If I'm going to lose, then I want to be able to say that I gave it my all!"

* * *

 _10:18pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

The addition time needed for an extra round meant that the contest itself dragged on later into the night. The battles were fierce though, so Richard and Will had been kept entertained. In particular, there'd been one guy named Sean using a pokémon called a zangoose, named Zatta, who'd been sweeping his opponents from before him.

"That is one tough pokémon," Richard had said at one point.

"Yeah. A zangoose, huh?" Will had said while pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Zangoose, the cat ferret pokémon. When they battle, they stand on their hind legs and attack with their sharply clawed forelegs. These pokémon adroitly dodge attacks with incredible agility. Their fur bristles if they encounter any seviper._ "

He was an unexpected pokémon to see in a contest – he projected a very tough and brutal image. Not the kind of thing that generally went down well at contests. Still, even Richard could tell that Zatta's sheen was incredible and he dispatched his enemies with both speed and style.

That this pokémon was truly a force to be reckoned with was illustrated in the quarter finals, when he and Sean were up against Hannah and Seva. The fighting had been particularly savage – according to the Pokédex, zangoose and seviper had a long-standing hatred for each other's species. Hannah and Seva had been overwhelmed in a startlingly short span of time and eliminated from the competition.

Now, in the semi-finals, it was Mia's turn to face Sean and Zatta. She was using a different pokémon to normal, a gloom, which Richard wondered might be part of the reason why she was struggling. The gloom, Odda, didn't seem to be as experienced as Mawa. Nor was she as…appealing in appearance as Vixa was.

"I don't know what Mia was expecting with this," Will said, shaking his head. "I mean, listen to this Pokédex entry…"

" _Gloom, the weed pokémon and the evolved form of oddish. A horribly noxious honey drools from their mouths. One whiff of the honey can result in memory loss. Some fans are said to enjoy this overwhelming stink, however. When a gloom is faced with danger, the stench worsens. If they are feeling calm and secure, they do not release their usual stinky aroma._ "

"I think you're missing the centre part," said Richard. "You know, the 'some fans are said to enjoy this overwhelming stink' bit."

"I'm just glad that we're all the way back here and not down closer to the action," said Will.

Down on the stage, Zatta had leapt at Odda, striking her with sweeping swipes from his large claws. He moved elegantly, delivering each individual strike as if they were all part of a single motion.

"Acid!" Mia shouted.

"Detect!" Sean yelled.

Just as Odda fired a spray of acid, Zatta darted to the side so quickly that it was as if he had teleported. There was a thud as he landed another blow on Odda and sent her flying back. With time ticking away, it already looked like the battle had been decided.

However, Mia wasn't content to go down without a fight.

"Giga Drain!"

Odda fired a green beam at Zatta, striking him directly and starting to drain his energy.

"Go and attack, Zatta!"

Zatta fought through the beam and lunged towards Odda. At that moment, she lowered her head and spewed a blast of spores in Zatta's face. He momentarily stumbled, giving Odda the opportunity to dodge out of the way.

Sadly, this setup came to nothing as the timer ticked down to zero shortly afterwards. Sean looked relieved as he was declared the victor, Zatta struggling to pull himself back up as his joints locked up.

Mia politely shook hands with Sean before turning her attention to comforting Odda, who seemed distraught at the loss. It wasn't just the human coordinators who were invested in winning contests and, with talented team mates in the form of Mawa and Vixa, the gloom must have felt like there was a lot of pressure on her.

"Not even Mia could beat him," Richard sighed, sitting back in his seat. "I'm starting to wonder if that zangoose can even be beaten."

"Mia got close," said Will. "That last attack combination really put the pressure on Zatta. There just wasn't enough time to take advantage of it."

"…Hey, do you think that Sean might also be a trainer?" Richard asked. "His way of fighting in these battles is a lot like the kind of battling we do."

"To be honest, that wouldn't surprise me," Will replied. "Hell, Mia's last combination seemed much more like it was geared for a proper battle instead of a contest and that was the closest anyone got to defeating him."

"The brutality of a battle and the elegance of a contest," Richard mumbled. "I guess finding a balance between the two makes you hard to beat."

"On that subject, I wonder how Nicola will do in the other semi-final," said Will. "I'm really hoping she manages to get through and fight Sean."

"So am I."

Having been in the opposite block to the other two, Nicola had been safe from Sean and Zatta's winning streak up to this point. She'd performed well in the battles so far and had managed to hold her own against some tough competition. If she made it through her semi-final match, however, then she'd finally have to go up against Sean and Zatta. That would be a formidable challenge.

* * *

 _10:26pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

The sounds of applause and cheering from the audience was audible even outside the contest hall. Hearing it made James sigh as he leaned against the outside wall of the building, just to the right of the main entrance. Though he'd come and gone to the holding room several times since the start of the knockout rounds, he hadn't stayed for long and spent most of his time out here instead.

After parting ways with the other three immediately after the results were announced, he'd gone straight outside. A part of him had contemplated going back to the pokémon centre, but he'd quickly realised that that would just make things worse for himself. He was sure he was doing a bad job of it, but he desperately wanted to try and keep his emotions hidden, or at least suppressed somewhat.

The first thing he'd done was send out his pokémon so that he could apologise for letting them down. He hadn't prepared Charka enough to handle Swords Dance and that was his responsibility. At least, he kept telling himself that to fight back against a small part of his mind that was raging at Charka for the result of the performance. He'd heard stories about other trainers occasionally lashing out at their pokémon when stressed or angry and he desperately didn't want to end up that way. It wouldn't be fair on them.

Letting out another sigh, he glanced up at the sky. His pokémon, ever supportive, were clustered around him silently. In a way, it was a chance for all of them to reflect and think about what they needed to do next. They still had a lot of improvements to make if they were going to get back into their groove – even Nulin, normally a good performer, seemed disheartened.

James knew that he really should have stayed inside to support his friends. That had been one of the core parts of the group's shared philosophy since they'd started travelling together. Still, he hadn't felt able to face them with a smile and he had been worried that seeing him moping around would have affected their confidence.

Not that it made much difference in the long run, James supposed. There was only one winner at a contest. For everyone else, the only real distinction was between though who were eliminated sooner and those eliminated later.

He shook his head to try and clear it. They were starting to approach the end of the contest and he'd no longer have an excuse to avoid everyone. He needed to get his composure back and greet them with a smile when they came out.

* * *

 _10:35pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

One of the lesser known problems with contests was how tiring they could become through just their length alone. The contest had started at four o'clock in the afternoon and now, as Nicola had stepped away from her semi-final battle victorious and returned for the last battle, the evening had vanished and been replaced with the darkness of the night. Even leaving aside the fatigue her team was feeling from the battles and the tension of the competition, it was a long time to be active. No matter how the final went, Nicola had every intention of returning straight to the pokémon centre and crashing in bed.

Though she hadn't had to fight Sean and Zatta before, she'd been observing his battle style while he fought other coordinators. While this didn't make her feel confident, per say, it did mean that she had a plan in place. Though Sean's approach to battles was familiar to someone who fought traditional battles, it was still quite unconventional for the more refined tastes of those who pursued contests. He'd probably counted on that working in his favour.

"Here we are, ladies and gentlemen!" the MC announced. "After a great evening of performances, it's time for the Gharnot contest final. On my left, I have Sean Reeves, and on my right, I have Nicola Hewitt."

As the crowd applauded, both Sean and Nicola silently took their positions, each watching the other carefully. Nicola was fairly confident that Sean wouldn't have been paying much attention to her battles until she reached the semi-final – that gave her a small advantage which she was determined to use.

"Go, Zatta!" Sean called.

Zatta burst out of his poké ball, landing on the stage and shooting a confident grin, first at Nicola and then at the crowd. After the way he'd swept his opponents before him in every previous round, it was no surprise to see that Sean was relying on him again. He'd beaten talented coordinators like Hannah and Mia, after all, what could he have to fear from Nicola's determined but rather routine performances?

Nicola tried her hardest to keep a smile forming on her face as she imagined Sean thinking that. However, she wasn't about to play into his hands. If he was sticking with his usual approach, then she'd shake hers up as much as possible.

"Go, Zaggy!"

The look on Sean's face when he first saw Zaggy was pretty amusing. He quickly recovered his composure though as they both turned to wait for the signal to start.

"Begin!"

As the timer started ticking down, both sides issued their first orders.

"Crush Claw!"

"Dig!"

As Zatta leapt towards him, Zaggy started pawing the wooden floorboards as if attempting to dig through them. The zangoose was caught momentarily off-guard but kept up his attack. Just as he was about to reach Zaggy, the zigzagoon sprang to the side and dodged his claws by millimetres.

"Looks like she's going with Zaggy's unique appeal this time, huh?" said Will.

"Well, it's a good match against a pokémon that relies on brute force I guess," Richard replied, watching as Zaggy continued meandering around the stage avoiding Zatta's attacks. "He did a great job earlier in the contest as well."

"Still, Zaggy always seems like a bit of a gamble." Will frowned. "He's at his best when he's just doing whatever he wants, but that means Nicola doesn't really have any control over the battle."

"The crowd seems to be enjoying it so far," Richard said, glancing around at some of the other spectators. With both Zaggy and Nicola starting to really get into their performance, the audience was starting to pick up some of the enthusiasm. Richard got the feeling that seeing Zaggy outmanoeuvre Zatta was adding to the crowd's enthusiasm – elegant or not, Sean and Zatta's brute force approach didn't seem strike as much of a chord with the spectators.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter how she wins in the end – as long as she actually wins," Will said, watching as Zaggy performed another dodge and scampered to the far end of the stage, wagging his tail and lowering his forequarters playfully as if it were all a game.

"Oh… Oh!" Richard suddenly exclaimed. "She might have the advantage!"

"Huh? Why?" Will asked.

"Look at Zatta!"

Down on the stage, Nicola had realised it too. It was hard for pokémon to fully recover in the short period between battles in contests, which was partly why Nicola had opted to swap out Mushy for Zaggy after the semi-final, and some effects could be carried over. As Zatta was running, he was occasionally having joints lock up and slow him down. It wasn't as noticeable, but he was still suffering from the effects of being hit by Odda's last-second Stun Spore at the end of his semi-final match.

Nicola was prepared to exploit that advantage, in a way. Zaggy's playful dodges and his general excitement were keeping her own points high, while Zatta's increasingly frustrated attempts to deal a decisive blow were looking less and less appealing as time went on. The fact that Zaggy was performing with almost no directions from her also worked in her favour – the crowd were here to see the pokémon and generally reacted well if the coordinator didn't get too involved.

Zaggy darted low to avoid another wild swing from Zatta, rubbing his body against the zangoose's leg as he passed. As Zatta span around to launch another strike, Zaggy abruptly changed direction to head for one of the spotlights around the edge of the stage. Zatta's claw struck the stage and he yelped in pain.

"Get it together, Zatta!" Sean yelled. "Use Slash!"

Zatta winced as he pulled himself upright again. Zaggy was a short distance away from him, wagging his tail eagerly. He looked a little like a dog waiting for his ball to be thrown. Zatta immediately threw himself at Zaggy, raising both claws as he drew closer. Stretching himself as much as he could, he built up just enough speed in a final burst that he was able to catch up to Zaggy's dodge.

There was a thud as Zaggy, thrown across the stage, hit the ground on Nicola's side. There were a number of gasps from the audience, but Nicola didn't seem worried. The points bar had ticked down a little, but not massively. Everyone had their gaze fixed on Zaggy as they waited for him to get up again.

Instead, there was a sudden snoring sound from where he lay. Sean and Zatta's points suddenly dropped again as the audience laughed at Zaggy.

"Quick, use…"

Before Sean could finish the order, the timer ticked down to zero and the MC stepped forward to announce the results.

"This battle is now over, and the winners are Zaggy and Nicola!"

"She did it!" Richard exclaimed.

"Zaggy pulled it off again," Will said a little incredulously. "I honestly thought that Sean and Zatta would wipe the floor with her in the end."

"Great work, Zaggy!" Nicola grinned as she reached down to pat the zigzagoon's head. He was still sleeping soundly as she scooped him up into her arms and walked over towards Sean and the MC.

"Good match," Sean said curtly as they shook hands. He didn't stick around to see the ribbon being awarded. Losing still bothered him after all.

"Congratulations to you and your wonderful team, Nicola," the MC said as she held up a yellow ribbon. "Not just any team can win the Gharnot ribbon. I'm sure we'll all be looking forward to seeing your future performances."

"Thank you very much," Nicola replied, awkwardly shaking her hand and indicating that she should put the ribbon on Zaggy for now. She couldn't stop herself from smiling.

* * *

 _10:46pm, 19_ _th_ _June 2006_

"You won the whole thing?"

"Yeah…" Nicola shifted awkwardly as she spoke to James. After meeting up with everyone else and managing to escape from the crowd, she'd found James hanging around near the entrance. "Umm, I'm sorry that you got knocked out as early as you did…"

"Eh, don't worry about it," James sighed. "At least one of us won, right?"

"You'll get your chance soon enough, James!" Hannah grinned reassuringly at him. "There are so many contests during the season that you're bound to win sooner or later."

"That doesn't sound as encouraging as you want it to sound," James replied, raising an eyebrow.

The others laughed.

"Well, it was always going to be a tough contest," said Richard. "I don't think there's any shame in losing when the competition is toughest."

"I guess you're right," said James. "We just need to redouble our training before the next contest."

"What are your plans after this?" Mia asked. "Where are you heading?"

"Good question," said Will. "We haven't discussed it yet, have we?"

"Actually, Richard and I were having a look at the map earlier today," said James. "We thought that we could head towards a place called Lavaridge Town to the north-east of Mauville City."

"Oh! Lavaridge? You'll love it there!" Hannah said enthusiastically.

"Why's that?" Nicola asked as they started walking back towards the pokémon centre.

"It's right next to a volcano, so there are loads of hot springs in town!"

"Wow! Really?" Nicola exclaimed. "…Wait – next to a volcano?"

"It's active, but I don't think it's due a major eruption," said James. "Besides, there's a gym there and we haven't had a gym battle in far too long!"

"What's the best route to get there?" Will asked.

"I was going to suggest heading through the Rusturf Tunnel," said James. "Apparently it's clear now."

"Going that way takes us through Verdanturf Town," said Richard. "James seemed to think there was a contest happening there soon."

"Yeah, there is." Mia nodded.

"Are you guys going as well?" Nicola asked, looking at Hannah and Mia.

"I've already won a contest ribbon in Verdanturf," Mia replied.

"And I was planning on heading towards Petalburg City," Hannah said apologetically. "Looks like it'll just be you two at that contest."

"That's a shame," Nicola sighed. "It would have been nice to compete together again…"

"I hope you're not getting cocky since you managed to win this contest!" Hannah cried.

"Don't think that this means you're better than me now," Mia added.

"As lively as ever." Richard grinned as Nicola furiously denied their claims. He patted James on the shoulder. "Still, looks like you've got another contest chance coming up."

"Yeah." James nodded idly.

The group of them continued chatting until they reached the pokémon centre. They all slept soundly that night.

* * *

 **As I was writing this chapter, it suddenly occurred to me that, actually, a contest with a larger expected pool of contestants would probably make allowance for more actually making it through. And that it might take longer than normal to get through all of them. Hopefully my adjustments worked well enough to keep this chapter feeling believable.**

 **I hope that Zaggy's part in the victory didn't feel too samey compared to Nicola's previous contest victory. I promise that I won't keep reusing him in this way the** _ **whole**_ **way through the story! I'm pretty sure that anyone would have difficulty trying to counter Zaggy, even an experienced coordinator. Though, the more often something gets used, the less surprising it is when it comes up, so maybe he isn't a permanent solution to winning contests for Nicola…**

 **A quick note on the upload schedule for next week. My current plan is to upload Chapter 60 on Wednesday and then Chapter 16 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **next Friday. This is partly so that I can get a** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **chapter out for April and also partly because I want a week completely clear of uploads when I take my week off after Chapter 60 goes up.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Harden, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	60. Colour Changer

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James and Nicola both took part in the Gharnot contest. While James failed to make it through the appeals round, Nicola was able to pull through in the battle rounds. She emerged victorious in the final, earning herself her second contest ribbon.**

 **Upload Date: 25** **th** **April 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 60: Colour Changer**

 _Rusturf Tunnel, Hoenn_

 _12:47pm, 20_ _th_ _June 2006_

Rusturf Tunnel was one of the great engineering projects in Hoenn. Devised as a way to shorten the long journey through the mountains that separated Mauville City from Rustboro and Petalburg, it actually referred to two tunnels that ran through the area. The older one was a highway, built so that road traffic wouldn't have to follow the winding mountain roads and could instead charge straight through from Gharnot Town to Verdanturf Town.

The newer one was a footpath which had been engineered in such a way as to still seem quite natural. This was a shortcut for trainers who didn't want to have to climb all the way to the top of the mountain to get through. As such, it wasn't anywhere near as clear and easy as the highway tunnel presumably was. It was still a habitat for wild pokémon, mostly colonies of whismur and zubat if the sign at the entrance to the tunnel was to be believed. Thankfully they tended to hide in the many smaller tunnels and alcoves in the walls of the main passage.

Though the occasional tussle with wild pokémon was inevitable, the real things that got to James, Richard, Nicola and Will as they travelled through the tunnel was the seeming endlessness of it. They'd entered the tunnel around an hour and a half ago and were still walking through it. The main passage was lit by dim overhead lighting, but it was still gloomy and unsettling. The air in the tunnel was thick and unpleasant to breathe and was bitterly cold to the point that they could see their breath every time they exhaled.

"Oh, look!" James suddenly exclaimed, pointing ahead.

"What is it?" Nicola asked, trudging along after him.

"Another sign, huh?" said Richard, looking up at the sign on the tunnel wall. "How much further have we got to go?"

"Four-and-a-half miles," James sighed. "Still, at least this means we're getting closer."

"I really wish we'd taken the longer route instead of coming through here," said Nicola. "It's much nicer being out in the open air."

"Agreed." Will nodded. "There isn't anything interesting to see in here."

"How's it going, Muro?" James asked, looking over at the loudred. "Can you hear anything?"

With the poor lighting and the length of the tunnel, they'd decided to get Muro to listen out for any potential dangers while they travelled.

Muro grunted distractedly in response to James' question. He seemed more intent on focusing on the path ahead. He was taking this task very seriously.

They continued in silence for a while with the only sounds being the echoing of their footsteps on the rocky ground. Drops of water fell from the roof above them every now and again, occasionally causing one or several of them to cry out if they happened to land on them. There wasn't really much they could do beyond continuing to walk forwards. There was no scenery to enjoy and most of their conversation topics had been exhausted relatively early on in the tunnel.

Still, despite all of the issues that had been thrown up by the decision to use the path through Rusturf Tunnel, James was glad that they'd done it. Even if the mountain roads might have been more appealing, the scenery probably wasn't all that different to what they were used to. The tunnel was boring, but it was something different. And, really, he was just glad that he'd be able to say that he'd once travelled through Rusturf Tunnel at some point.

There was a sudden growl from in front of him.

"What is it, Muro?" he asked.

With another low growl, Muro looked around carefully. He could hear something moving softly just further ahead. The sound of something moving on the rock ground. It seemed to be getting closer, but he couldn't make anything out in the gloom. That made him suspicious, but not uneasy. He could still work out where it was based on the sounds.

"Is it a wild pokémon?" Richard asked, looking around cautiously.

"I can't see anything at all," said James. "Whereabout is it, Muro?"

Muro gestured towards where the sound was coming from. Now that it was getting closer, the humans could start to make out the soft scratching sound of feet on the rocky ground.

"What's that?" Will suddenly pointed.

"What?" James followed his finger. "I can't see…"

Then he spotted it.

It looked like a piece of coloured tape that had been stuck to the wall of the tunnel at first, but he quickly realised that the red zigzag line was moving slightly – getting closer to them.

"This is really weird," said Richard. "I'm not dreaming this, am I, guys?"

"I don't think so," said Will. "Want me to pinch you to be sure?"

At that moment, the red zigzag suddenly vanished, and they felt the air in the tunnel move as something leaped through the air towards them.

"Whoa!" James ducked as he felt something coming at him. Whatever it was grabbed hold of his bag and started clawing at it. He started shaking the bag vigorously to try and get it off. "It's after my bag!"

Fortunately, Muro reacted quickly. He fired a blast of sonic energy through the air, knocking James back against the wall but also sending the attacker flying. They heard a reptilian groan as the red zigzag appeared slightly further down the tunnel. Before Muro could do anything else though, it suddenly vanished and the skittering of feet on the rock faded into the background.

"What was that?" Richard gasped, moving over to help James back up.

"No idea," James replied shakily. "Maybe a wild pokémon looking for food?"

"We'll need to keep an eye out," said Richard. "It was really going for you, wasn't it?"

"It's invisible," said Will. "How are you going to keep an eye out for it?"

"That's where our pokémon come in," said Richard.

"Kipa can use his radar to try and track it down if it attacks again," said Nicola, nodding at the marshtomp. She shuddered. "Let's get moving again – the sooner we're out of the tunnel, the better."

* * *

 _2:03pm, 20_ _th_ _June 2006_

After much more walking and occasionally passing trainers coming from the opposite direction, the group could see the natural light that marked the end of the tunnel. Though they'd been on edge ever since being attacked by their invisible foe, there hadn't been any other issues while they were travelling. The other wild pokémon seemed to be keeping their distance as much as possible. James wondered if there was a connection with the attack earlier.

He was familiar with almost all pokémon native to Kanto and most of those native to Johto, but he was aware of the fact that he knew less about pokémon that inhabited Hoenn. Still, there were only so many pokémon that were capable of turning invisible or near-invisible. His instinct told him that their attacker had been a ghost pokémon, but that didn't make sense given that Muro's attacks had worked on it. Maybe it had been a dark-type pokémon instead?

"How far is it to Verdanturf Town after we get out of the tunnel?" Nicola asked.

"A while," James replied, snapping out of his thoughts. "The diagram and all those adverts made it look like we'd fall out of the tunnel and straight into Verdanturf, but it's not going to be like that at all, I'm afraid."

"You were telling me that we still have to cross several mountains before we get there," said Richard.

"Ugh," Nicola groaned. "We're not going to get there in time for dinner, are we?"

"If we get up _really_ early tomorrow and keep walking for the whole day, then we might make it by nightfall," James replied. "But I think we should be more conservative in our aims."

Though they could see the natural light from where they were, the tunnel itself turned sharply to the right beforehand. As they got closer to the turning, they found that the light was getting far harder to look at. After all, they'd been underground for hours now – it was going to take a while for their eyes to readjust to the bright sunlight outside. That was probably going to delay them for a little while as well. It wouldn't be safe to try walking through the mountains when their vision wasn't clear.

"Here we go." Will grimaced and shielded his eyes as he walked around the corner. The light was so bright that he was momentarily unable to see at all.

"Sunglasses!" James called out from behind him. The four of them quickly pulled out their sunglasses and put them on. It didn't completely solve the problem, but it did make it slightly more bearable as they moved closer to the exit.

"What was that?" Nicola suddenly cried, looking around.

"Did something happen?" James asked, immediately on guard.

"I felt like something brushed against me," Nicola replied. She looked around cautiously. Then, suddenly, she yelped as something leapt at her and started clawing at her bag.

"It's that pokémon again!" Richard exclaimed, spotting the red zigzag whipping around as Nicola tried to scramble away. He reached for a poké ball. "Go, Pincer!"

Pincer burst out of the ball and landed on the ground. He quickly spotted what was happening and hurled himself into the chaos, attempting to swipe at their mysterious assailant.

"Watch out! You might hit Nicola!" James called.

"Yeah, careful!" Nicola yelped, swatting at the air to try and fend the pokémon off.

Fortunately, it seemed like the pokémon had been distracted by Pincer's appearance and the two pokémon were now scrapping on the ground. It was a surreal sight – with only the red line to mark his opponent, it looked as if Pincer was just scrambling around and fighting the air around him.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the fight ended. The red zigzag jumped back and vanished into the nearby bushes, leaving Pincer staring after it from near the tunnel entrance. There was silence for a few seconds as everyone registered what had happened and watched to make sure that it wasn't coming back.

"Wh-What is that thing?" Nicola murmured.

"I should have gotten out my Pokédex and scanned it while I had the chance," Will muttered.

"I just wonder if it's going to keep following us," James sighed. "It keeps wanting to get to our backpacks, so maybe it's after our food."

"Whatever it is, it's used to being around people," said Richard, frowning. "Most wild pokémon would leave us alone."

"Well, let's not worry about it too much for now," James said. "We've proven that we can fend it off with our pokémon and it hasn't done any real damage so far. We'll keep an eye out and see what happens."

"Should we get moving again?" Will asked.

"That's a bad idea." Nicola shook her head. "I don't know about you, but it's still a little difficult for me to see."

"We can stop for a little bit," James said, a troubled look on his face. He didn't want to stick around here too long if there was a hostile wild pokémon nearby, but Nicola was right to be cautious of travelling along the mountain paths without being able to see completely.

"Don't worry!" Richard grinned reassuringly. "Pincer and I can keep an eye out while we wait!"

* * *

 _2:57pm, 20_ _th_ _June 2006_

James could appreciate why having a tunnel stretching on for miles and miles under the mountains wouldn't be a good idea. After all the time they'd spent in Rusturf Tunnel, he had been glad to finally get out and back into the fresh air. The idea of stopping for lunch in the tunnel had been appealing at first but soured pretty quickly. Just thinking about the prospect of having to sleep on the rocky ground under there made him shudder. And given how remote the tunnel was, it would be impossible to build and maintain pokémon centres underground like the ones he'd seen in the Underground Path back in Kanto.

Still, the tunnel had brought them out into a remote valley that wasn't especially close to any of the major settlements. It had cut off a substantial part of the journey, yes, but that was a small consolation to them. Especially since they were still worried about the mysterious pokémon front earlier.

For whatever reason, it couldn't turn itself completely invisible – that red zigzag always remained. But it was difficult to use it to detect the pokémon with so many trees and bushes around on the mountain paths. Of course, James hoped, it might have been that they couldn't see it because it had stopped following them.

"Alright, let's get back on the road," Richard said as he finished putting everything away in his bag. His pokémon quickly jumped to attention and got ready to move out.

Despite their worries, everyone had been tired and hungry. A lunchbreak had been long overdue, and it had really helped them perk up a bit after the long journey through the tunnel.

"What's the plan now?" Nicola asked as she got up.

"Keep moving and get as far as we can today," James replied. He wiped sweat from his forehead. Now that they were out of the tunnel again, they were suffering under the summer sun.

"How much longer will that be?" Will asked. "We've already been travelling for hours today."

"Not too long, I hope," James said. "But I want to try and get some distance between us and the tunnel, y'know…"

That was something that they all agreed on.

As they finished packing up, Richard suddenly noticed a rustling nearby, coming from a bush not too far from them. He reacted immediately. "Use Water Gun!"

Pincer, closest to the bush, reacted quickly as well. He fired a blast of water at the bushes, sweeping his aim from side to side to get better coverage. Just like his trainer, he was keeping a careful eye out for any further movement.

"There!" Richard shouted, spotting a flash of red. "Mud Sport!"

"It really is following us!" Will exclaimed as Pincer splashed mud in the direction of the opponent.

"I wonder what it's after," Nicola said thoughtfully as she grabbed Blu, sitting atop her head, before she could shoot off to get involved in the fight.

Pincer managed to score a hit with the mud, covering the pokémon and creating a silhouette of its true form.

"What is it?" James wondered, not recognising the shape. He pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Kecleon, the colour swap pokémon. Kecleon are capable of changing their body colours at will to blend in with their surroundings. There is one exception - these pokémon can't change the zigzag pattern on their bellies. A kecleon reverts to its original colours if it is startled._ "

"It can change colour? That explains a lot," said Richard.

Stunned by Pincer's sudden attack, the kecleon had indeed reverted to its original colours. Eyeing them all carefully for a few seconds, it suddenly lashed out with a long tongue. It struck Pincer and knocked him back briefly.

"Go in close! Use Metal Claw!" Richard called.

Pincer sprang forwards, moving as fast as his body would allow. He slashed at the kecleon, knocking it backwards with a shout. It had done a fair amount of damage.

However, as the kecleon started lashing its tongue around again, Richard decided that they needed to pull back.

"Use Water Gun!"

Pincer put some distance between them and fired a blast of water at the kecleon. After an initial miss, he managed to score a direct hit that forced the kecleon back towards the trees.

"Now use Metal Claw!"

While the kecleon was still stunned, Pincer moved forwards and delivered another slash with metal-coated claws.

"Huh?" Nicola murmured in confusion. Was it just her or did Pincer's attack do less damage this time?

Before Richard could issue another order, the kecleon turned and dived back into the bushes and out of sight. After a brief rustling, the sound of it fleeing faded away.

"I guess that's that then," Will said. "Well-fought, you guys."

"That was some impressive work, Pincer," Richard said, grinning at the anorith.

"Something on you mind, Nicola?" James asked.

"Ah, it's probably nothing," Nicola replied, frowning as she thought back to what she'd seen. "It's just…it looked like Pincer's second Metal Claw wasn't as effective as the first one…"

"You noticed it too, huh?" James nodded. "I was wondering about it as well. Maybe it used a defensive move at the last minute?"

"Maybe," Nicola replied.

"It didn't look like it did anything like that," said Richard. "If anything, it looked like it was just trying to get away."

"I'm kinda interested in learning more about this pokémon," James said thoughtfully. Oddly enough, it felt far less intimidating now that they knew what they were dealing with.

"Same here!" Richard nodded eagerly. "It was trying to escape rather than fight, but didn't it look like it was a tough fighter?"

"Yeah, it looked pretty tough to me," said Will. "But it managed to get away from us pretty quickly. Are you sure we'll be able to find it again?"

"Maybe we'll run into it again?" Nicola suggested. "It's been following us for this long, so it's not unlikely."

"…We should probably focus on getting further though," James sighed, glancing up at the sun. Though slow, it was gradually moving over to the west.

"Yeah, I agree," said Will. "The shorter our journey is tomorrow, the better."

"Let's get moving then," said Nicola, readjusting Blu and grabbing Zaggy as she started walking forwards again.

"…Sure." Richard cast a glance back at the undergrowth before turning to join the others.

* * *

 _3:31pm, 20_ _th_ _June 2006_

Though the valley beyond the southern end of Rusturf Tunnel was remote and had limited access to the rest of Hoenn, that didn't mean that it was completely barren. After walking on for a while, the group started following the path down into the bottom of the valley and spotted a village sat between the slopes. It was small, no more than ten buildings, and seemed very old-fashioned. Though old, the houses didn't look like they were in much disrepair. It was different to the abandoned villages the group had seen while crossing Meteor Falls.

However, it was still just a small farming village. There was no sign of a Poké Mart or a pokémon centre. There wasn't even an inn by the looks of it. There was a part of all four of them that felt sad about that – finding this village hadn't given them an excuse to call it a day.

"We're heading straight through here, right?" Will asked, looking back at James.

"Can do, yeah." James nodded, looking at the guidebook. "I don't know about you guys, but my water's starting to run low. Think it might be a good idea to stop and see if we can get some more?"

"Let's do that," said Nicola. "I've almost run out…"

"Uh-huh." Richard idly acknowledged what the others had said. His mind was still elsewhere.

Though they hadn't seen or heard from that kecleon since it had fled from them earlier, he had found himself continuing to glance around carefully and watch his surroundings for any sign of that distinctive red zigzag. A part of him was really hoping that it would come back to them again so that he could get a better look at it.

As the four trainers walked down into the village, they were spotted by an elderly lady by the side of one of the nearby fields that stretched across the narrow bottom of the valley.

"Oh? More travellers, eh?" she said, looking them up and down sternly. She had a thick accent which made it a little difficult to understand her. "Welcome to our village. Make sure you keep yourselves outta trouble."

"Thank you," James replied. "We're just passing through, so we'll try not to cause any disruption."

"Good to see you got some manners." The lady nodded approvingly, though her expression remained cold. "Far too many young'uns don't have any respect these days."

"Mum! Stop bothering the travellers!" A young man came over from across the field. Though similar, his accent was thankfully easier to understand.

"Just making sure they know to behave themselves," the old lady replied.

"Sorry about her," the young man said as his mother shuffled back across the field. "Once the tunnel opened, it meant things started to change around here. Not everyone's a fan."

"Oh, you mean with more trainers coming out here?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." The man nodded. "My mum's one of the better ones, actually. She doesn't mind the trainers as long as they don't cause trouble. Some of the others want Rusturf Tunnel closed up again so that the village goes back to being out of the way."

"Doesn't having trainers coming through help the village though?" Nicola asked.

"Ah, well, that depends on who you ask," the man said, glancing over at the nearby houses. "Since this is now one of the main routes from Rustboro to Mauville, there's been talk of building a pokémon centre here to serve the trainers who pass through. A number of the villagers don't want that to happen."

"But we'd need to buy food and other things while we're here," said Will. "Doesn't that mean that you can make more money from having us here?"

"You're thinking about it too simply, Will," said James. "Clearly the villagers like the way their village is now and don't want it to change. I don't think that's unfair of them."

"You say that, but if we constantly kept things the way they were then we'd never make any progress. We didn't learn to make poké balls by being content with apricorns."

"There's probably a balance," said Richard. "I'm sure that something will get worked out here."

"Well, I don't think you kids need to worry about the ongoing debate about the pokémon centre," the man said. "That's something we need to settle ourselves. Anyway, since you got here, is there anything I can do to help?"

"We were hoping to get some more water," James said.

"Sure. You can fill them up at that tap over there." The man pointed to a tap by the side of one of the houses.

"I was wondering," Richard began. "We ran into a wild kecleon on our way here. Do you know anything about them?"

"Oh, the kecleon? We normally get a couple of them appear around here at this time of year. They normally live further south, but some come up here in the summer. They're a great help since they tend to eat insects, but they can camouflage themselves which makes them a bit of a hazard at times. I've heard that they're quite a useful pokémon in battle – their type can change just like their colour."

"Its type can change?" Richard cried.

"I guess that must be what we saw when Pincer was battling it," James said to Nicola.

"We kept getting attacked by one when we were in Rusturf Tunnel," said Will. "Is that normal?"

"The kecleon who come here tend to get fed by the villagers and passing trainers," the man explained. "If you've got food in your bag, then they might have been going after that."

"That explains it," James sighed.

"Are they common around here at the moment?" Richard asked.

"I wouldn't say common, but you can find them every now and again if you're looking for them," the man said. "Just keep an eye out for the red zigzag."

"I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled now!" Richard grinned enthusiastically. He turned back to the others. "Right, guys! Let's refill our water bottles and get back on the road!"

* * *

 _4:10pm, 20_ _th_ _June 2006_

Rather than simply keeping an eye out for any kecleon, Richard now seemed to be set on trying to actively track one down. This hadn't been a problem at first, but the afternoon was now starting to quickly vanish, and it was becoming more infuriating for the others. They wanted to cover as much more ground as possible and then find somewhere to set up camp, so they could eat and get to sleep early.

"Look, Richard, I don't think that you're going to find one this way," said Nicola. "I mean, kecleon can camouflage themselves; I don't think they're going to just let you find them."

"Ugh. I know that, but…" Richard mumbled as he pushed through the bushes. Around him, his pokémon were all on the lookout as well. Fortunately, they still had plenty of light to help them, but it was hard to make out anything in the undergrowth.

"How about you just wait until tomorrow?" Will asked. "We're still going to be in the same area…kind of, at least."

"Maybe you're right," Richard sighed. Honestly, he was starting to get worn out as well. He was interested in the kecleon because they seemed like rare and unique pokémon, but there was no point exhausting himself over this. He wasn't even entirely sure what he was going to do if he found one – though he was interested in the species, he hadn't decided if he was going to try and catch one. After all, he already had a full team of pokémon and it seemed a little mean to send one of the current members back to Pewter City.

"Should we get going then?" James asked.

"I guess…" Richard looked around one final time as he prepared to reluctantly tear himself away from the search.

It was at that moment that he spotted a red zigzag passing through the bushes nearby.

"There's one!" he exclaimed, causing his companions to jump. Together with his pokémon, he crashed through the undergrowth as the kecleon, startled by his shout, returned to its normal colour and started trying to run away.

"What do we do?" Nicola asked, turning to look at James.

"After him," James replied. "We don't want to get separated."

Further ahead, Richard and his team had finally managed to corner the kecleon against a rocky outcrop. "Use Metal Claw!" he called to Pincer.

The anorith shot forwards and aimed a couple of slashes at the kecleon. It deftly avoided the attacks and countered with a powerful slash of its own, sending Pincer flying back towards Richard. He quickly recovered, however, and moved forwards again.

"Keep up the pressure, Pincer!" Richard called.

Pincer nodded, choosing to fire a blast of water at the kecleon instead. The blast knocked it back against the rock face and momentarily stunned it. Not wasting a second, Pincer let out a shout and suddenly ripped a cluster of boulders from the ground, a regal blue aura surrounding them.

"Ancient Power!" James exclaimed as he and the others caught up.

"Whoa!" Will gasped.

Pincer hurled the boulders through the air, sending them crashing into the kecleon. It was crushed between the boulders and the rock face.

"That was great, Pincer!" Nicola called enthusiastically. She glanced over at Richard. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm not sure!" Richard replied. He'd been at the point of giving up on finding another kecleon a few minutes before. Now he suddenly had to decide exactly what it was that he wanted to do. Pincer suddenly learning Ancient Power had distracted him as well.

"Ah! Look!" James exclaimed.

The kecleon had recovered from the severe blow and had hastily started climbing up the outcrop. Before Richard and his pokémon could do anything, it had reached the top and seemed poised to jump over.

At that moment, a poké ball suddenly came flying through the air from the other side of the rock. It struck the kecleon and sucked it inside. After dropping to the top of the rock, it rolled a few times before clicking shut.

A figure appeared atop of the rock – a boy maybe a couple of years older than James and Richard. There was a small, blue pokémon perched on his shoulder. He picked up the poké ball and looked down at the scene below.

"Hey! I was fighting that kecleon first!" Richard called.

"I just threw a poké ball at a wild pokémon and it happened to capture it," the boy replied. "If you wanted to catch it then you should have made sure it didn't get away from you."

"What's that pokémon?" Nicola wondered, pulling out her Pokédex and pointing it at the pokémon on the boy's shoulder.

" _Wynaut, the bright pokémon. Wynaut love to eat sweet fruits. They cleverly pick fruits using their earlike arms. They gather in fruit gardens, drawn by the fragrance. Wynaut can always be seen with big, happy smiles on their faces. Look at their tails to determine if they are angry. When angered, these pokémon will be slapping the ground with their tails. Wynaut gather on moonlit nights to play by squeezing up against each other. By being squeezed, these pokémon gain endurance and are trained to dole out powerful counterattacks._ "

"It sounds rare," said Will.

"It's pretty poor taste to do something like this though," said James, going back to the previous exchange between Richard and the newcomer.

"All's fair in love and war." The boy grinned. "And that applies to pokémon training as well. You don't get to be the best by being considerate of others."

"Oh yeah?" Richard called. "How about we have a battle then? One on one – the winner gets the kecleon."

"Err, how about 'no'?" the boy replied, jumping down from the rock. "It's my pokémon now – why should I have to fight to keep it?"

"So, you're scared of losing?"

There was silence for a second.

"Sure, tell yourself that if it makes you feel better." The boy shrugged. "I couldn't care less." As he stepped forwards, he suddenly looked at James curiously. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before…"

Umm…"

Before James could say anything else, the boy spoke again. "That's it – you were at the Kanto League last year, weren't you? James Burton – went and lost to Danny Kent in the Third Round."

"You were there?"

"Course not. I watched it on TV. Still, that idiot getting as far as he did must have been embarrassing for the whole of Kanto, let alone all the other trainers he beat."

"You sound like you don't think that much of Danny," James said stiffly, trying to ignore the indirect insult.

"No, I actually love the guy – sit next to him at school!" The boy grinned. "But he _is_ an idiot. And it takes a special kind of trainer to lose to him."

"In your opinion."

"If that makes you feel better." The boy looked around at them. "The name's Mark, by the way. Finished in the semis at the Hoenn League last year. I'm going for the top this time."

"We'll see about that," said Richard.

"Oh? I look forward to seeing you try when we get to the league then," Mark said, smirking at him. "I hope your performance won't be as dire as it was at the Sevii League, Richard Winter."

"…You saw that as well?"

"A good trainer keeps an eye on the competition. Nothing stopping you guys from doing that." Mark turned and continued walking away. "Make sure you don't get lost trying to get to Verdanturf Town."

There was a lot that both James and Richard wanted to say, but they couldn't find their voices as they watched Mark disappear off into the trees. It was only once he'd vanished from sight that James kicked the ground in anger.

"I don't understand how people get like that," Nicola said, shaking her head as she looked in the direction Mark had gone. "…So, who's this 'Danny Kent'?"

"Another trainer from Hoenn," James replied bitterly. "I lost to him in the Third Round of the Kanto League, just like he said."

"He fought in the Sevii League too," Richard added. "I got knocked out before I could fight him though."

"Is he good?" Nicola asked.

"I'd say so," said James. "I'm kinda hoping that he's competing here in Hoenn this year so I've got a chance to beat him."

"What about that guy?" Will asked. "Have you ever heard of him?"

"Never." Both James and Richard shook their heads.

"Listen, I think that both of you are great trainers," said Nicola. "You've taught me so much over the three months we've been travelling together."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Nicola," James said, sighing. He gave his head a shake. "Alright, Richard – once we've set up camp for tonight, we're training until we run out of sunlight. If we ever get to fight that guy, I want to be the one who wins!"

"Right behind you!" Richard said fiercely. "Especially after he caught that kecleon!"

As the others started walking back towards the path, Nicola thought she spotted a red zigzag out of the corner of her eye. She decided not to say anything though and she ran to catch up to them. It looked like both James and Richard had more important things on their mind now than hunting an invisible pokémon.

She got the feeling that it was going to be a long evening for everyone, but there was a part of her that thought that wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

 **So, I finally got around to giving James and Richard a new rival. The original plan called for Mark to have a battle with Richard, but I thought it better demonstrated his character to have him simply brush off the challenge. I hope that he feels at least somewhat different to the previous rivals the two have had.**

 **Sadly no kecleon capture for the group this chapter, but at least Pincer got a chance to fight and learned a new attack. I kind of feel like there's a lot more potential for kecleon as a species than I tapped into in this chapter, so who knows – maybe we'll have the group encounter a kecleon again in the future?**

 **I didn't spend too much time on Rusturf Tunnel since there isn't that much to say about it. Hopefully the background I gave it was interesting.**

 **So, Chapter 16 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **will be coming on Friday. After that, I'll have my usual tenth-chapter break for a week.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	61. Golem's Quarry

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group attacked by a wild kecleon while passing through Rusturf Tunnel. They then attempted to track down and catch one, only for the one they found to be captured by another trainer named Mark.**

 **Upload Date: 13** **th** **May 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 61: Golem's Quarry**

 _Route 116, Hoenn_

 _1:21pm, 21_ _st_ _June 2006_

"Which direction do we need to head now?"

"Good question. Which way, James?"

"Hold on! Give me a chance!"

The four trainers had reached a fork in the road winding its way through the mountains. Like much of the route between the southern exit of Rusturf Tunnel and Verdanturf Town, this area was remote, and it had come as a surprise to see any proper roads leading off in different directions. It was important that they didn't take a wrong turn – it would be easy to end up in completely the wrong place. That would just mean even more walking to make up for lost time and none of them liked the thought of that.

"I think we need the one of the right," said James.

"Even though it's going west?" Will asked.

"It looks that way now, but it turns south later on," James replied. "And the other one eventually goes east."

"Let's see," Will said, moving over to look at the guidebook.

"The one on the right then," said Richard. He walked over and started looking around. With all the trees and mountains around, it was hard to see any landmarks in the distance, but it made him feel better doing it.

"That's a relief," said Nicola, walking over to join him. "This looks like the easier path."

"What's this here?" Will asked, nudging James and pointing to a mark on the map.

"That?" James took a closer look. "Oh, I think it's an abandoned quarry. They used to cut a lot of stone from around here in the past and this is one of the quarries that got left behind."

"It looks pretty big," said Will. "Think it's the kind of place we could stop for training?"

"We only just stopped for lunch," James sighed. "You want to stop again for training?"

"It's not like we're in a rush today."

"That gives me an idea!" Nicola called, walking back towards them. "Will, I said that we should have a proper battle against each other sometime, right?"

"Yeah." Will nodded. "An abandoned quarry sounds like the best place to go all out against each other."

"I guess I can't deny that," James said, looking between Will and Nicola's enthusiastic faces. "What do you think, Richard?"

"Eeh." Richard shrugged. "If they want to have a battle, then I don't mind stopping for a bit."

"I guess that's settled then," said Will. "Let's get moving."

"Well, I suppose it's good that they're enthusiastic," James said as he moved up to walk alongside Richard. "The more they train, the stronger they'll get."

"And that means we get stronger opponents!" Richard grinned. "Everyone wins."

"Yeah." James nodded. He frowned as he glanced back at the guidebook.

"Something up?"

"No, it's just… Never mind." James put the guidebook away. "We should probably be careful while we're there. An abandoned quarry sounds like it could be dangerous."

"We're not going to be going anywhere near any old machinery or anything though!" Will called back. "It'll just be to use the open space."

"It'll be fine!" Nicola added eagerly. "So, how many pokémon are we using? Full battle?"

"I've only got four pokémon, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry – I got too excited and forgot!"

"I'm good for four-on-four though."

"Sounds good to me!"

The group continued walking along the mountain path. It would still take them a while to get to the quarry.

* * *

 _2:34pm, 21_ _st_ _June 2006_

When they eventually reached the quarry, they quickly discovered that 'abandoned' really was the best word to describe it. Only the shape of the huge pit dug out of the valley and the piles of rocks scattered around it gave any indication that it had been made by humans. Any machinery or other equipment that had once been used here had clearly been taken away when the quarry stopped operating.

Still, there were plenty of open spaces down there and that was what was important!

After walking down the dirt slope into the pit, Will and Nicola quickly found themselves a suitable battleground and dumped their backpacks before taking positions.

"Want me to be the referee or do you want to do it?" Richard asked.

"Be my guest," James replied.

"Let's get started then!" Richard called, moving over to stand between the two other trainers.

"Go, Gulpy!" Will shouted, throwing out a poké ball.

"Go, Kipa!"

Both pokémon materialised on the gravel floor and looked across at each other carefully, listening out for orders from their trainers. Behind Gulpy, Will momentarily frowned as he watched the scene. He'd been hoping for a better matchup to start with, but things didn't always work out that way, he guessed. He knew from previous practice sessions that Nicola preferred to focus on heavy attacks with Kipa. Since they hadn't battled properly since…when was it? Had they even fought a proper battle since the one they'd had shortly after meeting in Petalburg over two months ago? Anyway, she'd probably stick with her normal tactics. That meant…

"Poison Gas!"

At Will's shout, Gulpy expelled a cloud of sickly purple gas. As it wafted over the arena towards Kipa, however, he fired a well-timed blast of water to scatter it. Taken by surprise, Gulpy was struck by the jet and blown backwards.

"Take Down!" Nicola called.

That was unusual, Will mused as Kipa fired himself forwards, grinning confidently as he approached. Nicola also preferred to keep her distance most of the time. A frontal attack like this was rare. Perhaps she was simply trying to catch them off-guard? Well, two could play at that game – Gulpy was more than capable of doing something like this too!

"Pound!"

A small smile tugged at Nicola's lips as Gulpy bounded forwards to meet Kipa. That made Will feel uneasy immediately. What exactly was she planning?

"Mud Shot!"

Kipa skidded to a halt and fired a stream of mud at Gulpy. With a direct hit, Will could only flinch as his pokémon was flung away with a crash. As she got back up again, he contemplated his next move.

Obviously, Kipa was a lot tougher as a marshtomp than he had been as a mudkip. Gulpy was particularly weak to ground-type attacks and probably wouldn't be able to last much longer. Their only hope was to try and inflict some lasting damage before the end.

"Amnesia!" Will called.

A blank look came over Gulpy's face as she forgot the pain from Kipa's previous attack. Having backed up slightly in anticipation of a counter attack, Kipa now charged forwards again. This time, Will had been expecting a powerful charge to finish the job.

"Use Poison Gas!"

Instead of firing out a blast of gas, Gulpy spat a blast of toxic sludge into Kipa's face as he bore down on her. Apparently taking no damage, Kipa smashed into the gulpin. Will could only watch as she landed with a crash.

"Gulpy is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Kipa is the winner!"

So fast! Will frowned as Kipa raised his arms in triumph. He'd been complacent – that was it. He hadn't expected Nicola and Kipa to be quite as fast and tough as they had been. Now that he knew what he was dealing with, he would be able to get back into the swing of things.

"Are you alright, Kipa?" Nicola asked anxiously, noticing that Kipa had started shuddering. He didn't look very well at all, despite not taking any damage from Gulpy's last attack.

"That looks pretty nasty," said Richard, glancing over at James.

"Yeah." James nodded. "It looks like Toxic to me. Kind of a shame that Gulpy only learned it just before going down."

There was a silver lining, at least, Will thought as he recalled Gulpy and pulled out his next poké ball. Toxic was especially poisonous, from what he'd read – the longer the battle dragged out, the harder it would be for Kipa.

"Go, Blue!"

The ball arced through the air and bounced off the ground, popping open to allow the bagon out. She didn't waste any time in launching her first attack, charging head-on at Kipa. Though the marshtomp managed to avoid her, he winced in pain as the poison seeped further through his body.

"Focus Energy!" Will called, attempting to reign in Blue's enthusiasm. Despite their advantages, they still needed to approach this carefully. A series of precise attacks combined with the lingering effects of poison would be enough to bring Kipa down and even out the numbers.

Blue reluctantly jumped back from her opponent and started looking for weak points she could focus all her power onto. Kipa wasn't prepared to just sit back though and fired a blast of water in her direction.

"Now use Mud Shot!" Nicola called as the water hit Blue. Kipa was quick to react, firing a blast of mud at the bagon. His wince of pain didn't go unnoticed.

"Dragon Breath!" Will ordered.

Blue quickly fired a blue-ish beam from her mouth. There was an explosion as the two attacks collided, sending mud flying everywhere. Without waiting for more orders, Blue immediately charged forwards again.

Will watched her go, thinking over the plan. He knew that Blue was tough and could withstand a lot of Kipa's attacks. As they continued exchanging attacks, it was clear that Blue had the upper hand – her attacks were dealing more damage and the pace of her advance was keeping Kipa very much on the backfoot. The poison was draining Kipa's strength. The battle would soon be over.

"Dragon Breath!"

Quickly breaking off from the melee, Blue jumped back and fired a blue beam at Kipa. Caught off-guard, Kipa was hurled backwards. He landed with a thud in front of Nicola.

"Kipa is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Blue is the winner!"

"Wow! Blue is doing much better than I was expecting!" Nicola called as she returned Kipa to his poké ball. "She's even listening to you a lot more now!"

"It's because Turkey listens to me," Will replied. "And Blue listens to him."

"That makes sense!" Nicola laughed. There was a sudden pop and a ball of energy flew out from one of the poké balls at her waist. Blu let out a loud, belligerent chirp as she materialised. "Blu! What are you doing?"

"I guess Blu wanted a chance to fight!" Richard grinned.

"I mean, I don't mind," Nicola sighed. "I'd have preferred to have chosen when she came out…"

"Take notes, guys. Make sure you never do anything like this," said James, turning to look at his team who were watching the battle with him.

"This is going to get really confusing," Will sighed. Blue and Blu? He hoped that both pokémon would be able to stay focused when their (almost) shared names were being thrown around.

Not that this concern lasted too long – Blu didn't wait for an order before charging at Blue. Blue didn't need much incentive to go crazy either and the battle quickly devolved into a chaotic mess.

"No, Blu, I said get back and use Sing!" Nicola called.

"Stop using Headbutt and use Dragon Breath!" Will shouted.

Both pokémon continued smashing into each other for a few more seconds before finally jumping apart. Blu begrudgingly started to sing, but Blue hit her with a blast of energy before she could get much out. Immediately afterwards, Blue charged forwards and slammed into Blu with a headbutt.

"Blu!" Nicola cried in alarm.

Blu was flung backwards and crashed to the ground.

"How disappointing," Richard sighed. "I was hoping this would go on for a little longer. Blu is unable to battle, so the winner is Blue!"

"Blue is unable to battle?" James called with a grin, pointing at the bagon. "But she's standing right there!"

"Very funny!" Nicola groaned sarcastically as she recalled Blu.

"Can the spectators please remain quiet for the rest of the battle?" Richard called back to him.

With all the chaos of the battle with Blu, Will had scarcely had a chance to stop and think since Kipa went down. Not only had he managed to even the odds, he'd even managed to pull ahead in terms of the number of pokémon remaining. Blue was looking worse for wear though. She probably wouldn't be able to last much longer.

"Go, Zaggy!"

Zaggy? That actually made a little bit of sense now that Will thought about it. Nicola had been spending a lot of time working out tactics she could use with Zaggy's erraticism and unpredictability. It was better for contests though, where a pokémon's natural charm was important. In a regular battle, he still needed to be strong enough to overcome Blue.

His unpredictable dodges were good though, Will would begrudgingly admit. "Use Dragon Breath!" he shouted to Blue. This time, they managed to hit. Zaggy quickly got back up again and was soon darting back across the battlefield. It struck Will that the way Nicola was dealing with Zaggy was the way she should really try dealing with Blu – she wasn't giving that many orders and tended to guide Zaggy more, telling him about potential dangers and openings. As he watched Blue getting slowly beaten back, he wondered if he could learn something from this to help control the bagon's impulsive and reckless attacks.

"That's it, Zaggy!" Nicola shouted. "Go for the finish!"

Zaggy bounded forwards, dodging a poorly-aimed counter attack. Blue was worn out after fighting both Kipa and Blu, and she couldn't muster much more of a defence as the zigzagoon closed in. There was a thud as he slammed into her and knocked her back.

"Blue is unable to battle," Richard announced. "Zaggy is the winner!"

"Alright, no more messing around." Will recalled Blue and pulled out his next poké ball. "Go, Toya!"

Toya called out confidently as he burst out of the ball and landed on the ground. At Will's direction, he sprang forwards to launch an attack. Zaggy tried to avoid it by digging into the ground but was too slow. As he knocked him back, Toya followed up by firing a blast of water while Zaggy was still off-balance.

This was the kind of fighting Will loved, and Toya was perfect for it. He responded to directions to the letter and was always prepared to see the bigger picture, taking attacks head-on when necessary to break the opponent's momentum. He was powerful enough to carry out Will's favourite tactics – knocking the opponent off-balance and then pummelling them until they couldn't get up again.

It was exactly the downward spiral that Nicola and Zaggy had fallen into. Will couldn't help but smile proudly as Toya continued to keep up the pressure. With another blast of water, Zaggy was hurled backwards and finally slumped to the ground. It didn't look like he'd been knocked out, but he ignored Nicola's attempts to coax him back up. When he got like this, it was pointless trying to continue.

"Alright, Zaggy is unable to battle," Richard called. "Toya is the winner!"

Will was actually feeling pretty confident. Gulpy and Blue were both decent pokémon, but he hadn't had as long to train and get to know them. His remaining two, Toya and Turkey, were both strong and dependable. Nicola was definitely a lot stronger than the last time they had had a proper battle, but he was starting to feel like he'd gained the upper hand.

"Go, Tricky!"

…He'd forgotten about that.

Actually, this was pretty bad. Like, _really_ bad. Tricky had the advantage against both Toya and Turkey. Forcing himself to stay calm, Will thought things through. Sure, this was going to be tougher than he thought, but his pokémon were still tough. As long as they kept up their usual barrage of attacks, they could pull through.

"Water Gun!"

"Charge!"

Tricky stood his ground and charged up electricity as Toya fired a blast of water his way. After being pushed back, he allowed electricity to spark across his body and charged back towards Toya. It took a last-second dodge to avoid him. Spinning around, he fired himself back again, this time glancing Toya's shoulder and sending a powerful electric shock through his body.

"Hang in there, Toya!" Will called.

Shaking himself as the electricity dissipated, Toya winced and nodded. A short distance away, Tricky let out a loud howl before leaping forwards again with his teeth bared. The exchange of attacks continued, with both pokémon scoring and taking hits. Toya tried to keep Tricky at a distance but was struggling.

Still, Will was prepared to wait out Tricky. If Toya took enough damage, then his Torrent would activate. That would be…

His thought stopped. He remembered being warned about this before – leaving his pokémon in such an exposed condition meant that he risked being knocked out before he could make use of the extra power.

"Rapid Spin!" he suddenly ordered, switching tactics.

Toya jumped up and, spinning like a top, careened towards Tricky. The last-minute change of tactics had come too late though – Tricky finished charging electricity and charged at the approaching wartortle. There was a bright flash of light as electricity erupted from the two of them upon contact. Toya, weakened by Tricky's earlier attacks, collapsed to the ground.

"Toya is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Tricky is the winner!"

"Great work out there, Tricky!" Nicola grinned. She seemed completely at ease – she trusted that Tricky would be able to see her to victory.

Will gritted his teeth as he returned Toya to his poké ball and reached for Turkey's. He could understand how he'd been beaten by James last time, but Nicola was the same age as him and had been a trainer for just as long. How was it that she was so much more powerful? Was it really true that he couldn't grow strong just from training with gym challengers?

"Go, Turkey!" As the swellow burst out of the ball, Will vowed to give it his all regardless. The battle wasn't over until his last pokémon had fallen and there were still tricks he could use.

"Spark!" Nicola called.

Tricky fired himself towards Turkey, his body cloaked in electricity. As he approached, Turkey suddenly vanished, and a series of doubles appeared on Will's side of the battlefield.

"Steel Wing!"

As one, the Turkey doubles dived towards Tricky, their wings cloaked in steel. Amid the chaos, the real Turkey struck Tricky and sent him flying back. The electrike skidded and landed on his feet – the damage was light.

"Charge!"

Tricky started charging up electricity, watching the doubles carefully as he did. With a loud cry, they suddenly dived down towards him again. He tried to avoid them by jumping forwards, but their glowing white wings found their target. He was knocked over and crashed to the ground. As he got back up, the doubles and faded and he spotted his opportunity. Cloaking his body in electricity once more, he fired himself towards the hovering swellow.

"Use Fly!"

With a shout, Turkey suddenly shot high into the air. Tricky could only scramble at the air as he dropped back to the ground. However, he and Nicola had plenty of time to plan. At his trainer's command, he started charging electricity again. Turkey, meanwhile, stopped climbing and started his long dive back to the ground. As he got closer and closer, Tricky tensed up the muscles in his legs. Timing was crucial – he couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

The instant Turkey dropped within range, Tricky fired himself up into the air. He slammed into Turkey's stomach and released the electricity he'd been building up. The force of the shock blew Turkey backwards, but he was able to save himself before he could crash into the ground.

"We're not done yet!" Will shouted. "Turkey, use Steel Wing and Double Team!"

Turkey cried out determinedly, flying back towards Tricky. His wings were already cloaked in steel as a number of doubles appeared around him. Gritting his teeth, Tricky tensed himself up again as the flock approached him. Watching carefully, he jumped and wove around as the flurry of wings shot down at him. One attack came down right next to him – so close that he could almost feel the cold steel against him. He glanced back, a sudden grin on his face. Only the real Turkey would have a physical presence. If the swellow felt anything at having being found out, he didn't show it on his face. His expression remained stoic as his eyes met Tricky's.

There was a bright flash as Tricky discharged electricity, momentarily obscuring the battlefield from the trainers. When the sparks cleared, all the doubles were gone and, smoking, Turkey's unconscious body crashed to the ground.

"T-Turkey is unable to battle!" Richard announced. "Tricky is the winner! Since all four of Will's pokémon are unable to battle, the winner of this match is Nicola!"

"Aww." Will abruptly sat down on the ground with a sad, defeated smile on his face. "I guess there really is a gap between us…"

"Thanks, Tricky," Nicola said as the electrike limped back over to her. She glanced over at Will as he recalled Turkey. "You know, Will, I think you're being a bit hard on yourself."

"Really?" Will asked, looking up at her.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I think you're a good trainer. I was lucky because the type matchups worked in my favour."

"Don't beat yourself up too much, Will," James said, coming over to join them. "You learn more from losing battles anyway."

"I guess," Will sighed, pulling himself back to his feet. "Still stings though. And it makes me wonder if I've actually achieved anything this whole time."

"Again with the melodrama?" James shook his head. "You held your own against a trainer who's taking the gym challenge – you couldn't have done that back when you first arrived in Hoenn."

"If you really feel that way, though, then maybe you should start challenging the gyms as well," said Richard. "It's how we keep getting better."

Will briefly let out a sigh. As he opened his mouth to respond though, he suddenly caught sight of some moving rocks out of the corner of his eye. All of them, pokémon included, spun around as they heard a loud crashing sound from behind them…

* * *

 _2:56pm, 21_ _st_ _June 2006_

"What's up? You hear something, Jam?"

The beautifly trilled anxiously, clearly spooked by something. He fluttered his wings and flew back over towards his trainer.

"Hmm." The trainer frowned. "We're not far from that old quarry. Someone could have disturbed the pokémon that live there…" He glanced down as one of his poké balls rattled in his hand. The graveler inside gave him a determined look. "Ugh, going to have a look sounds like such a pain." He gave a knowing sigh as he held up the poké ball. "But I guess we've got to go there, right?"

This was still a remote part of the region and no one had thought to put any kind of warning around the old quarry in the area yet. But ever since the Rusturf Tunnel had opened, the route had been steadily getting busier. More people were going to be passing that place – people who might not know about the wild pokémon that lived there.

So, the trainer hurried along the path. As he got closer and closer to the quarry, he could hear the sounds of crashing and shouts in the distance. He hoped that he wasn't going to be too late. As he turned the corner and ran towards the slope down into the quarry, he tightened his grip on the poké ball containing his graveler. Now that he could see the situation, he had no choice but to intervene – the four other trainers were under attack from a large group of graveler. Standing atop one of the rock piles and overlooking the scene was the stocky, powerful form of golem.

"Go, Dust!" he shouted, hurling his poké ball through the air.

As the wild graveler bore down on the other trainers, he and Dust threw themselves between them. His four fists turning dark red, Dust threw a series of solid slugs in quick succession. Each one knocked a graveler back and caused the rest to back up. Looking up at the golem, Dust shouted to him, keeping his fists raised and holding his ground. The golem looked back down at him with a distasteful look on his face.

"Are you guys okay?" the trainer asked, turning to look back at the other four.

"Ah!" one of them suddenly exclaimed. "I remember you!"

"You do…?" The trainer, Geoff, gave him a confused look for a split second. Now that he thought about it, he recognised this trainer as well. "Oh! From Dewford Island…"

"You two know each other?" one of his companions asked.

"Now's not the time – get back!" Geoff called to them. He glanced back at Dust. The graveler had all backed off. Instead, the golem had tensed himself. He jumped up and started rolling down the hill. "Use Rock Smash!" Geoff shouted to Dust.

The graveler braced himself and threw a punch at the golem as he reached him. There was a loud crash as the two collided. Dust was forced back but held his ground against the attacker.

" _Graveler, the rock pokémon and the evolved form of geodude. Rocks are a graveler's favourite food. This pokémon will climb a mountain from the base to the summit, crunchingly feasting on rocks all the while. Upon reaching the peak, it rolls back down to the bottom. They are so brutal, they smash aside obstructing trees and massive boulders with thunderous tackles._ "

Geoff tried to ignore the sound of the Pokédex behind him as he directed Dust to charge forwards again, this time slamming the golem with a volley of thrown rocks. He took a step back but threw a powerful punch back at Dust. He blocked determinedly and dug in his heels.

" _Golem, the megaton pokémon and the evolved form of graveler. It is said to live in volcanic craters on mountain peaks. Once a year, it sheds its hide and grows larger. The shed hide crumbles and returns to the soil. Golem is known for rolling down from mountains. To prevent them from rolling into the homes of people downhill, grooves have been dug into the sides of mountains to serve as guideways for diverting this pokémon's course._ "

Holding the golem back with two of his hands, Dust clenched his remaining fists. As they started glowing a dark red colour, he thrust them forwards. As they smashed into the golem, he was hurled backwards. Though he landed on his feet and remained upright, the atmosphere immediately changed. The battle was over – the golem seemed content to leave. As he backed off and led the wild graveler away.

"Phew!" Both Geoff and Dust let out a shared sigh of relief at the end of the fighting. "Great work, Dust." He patted the graveler on the head before turning back to look at the familiar trainer. "I guess it's good to see you again…" He frowned. "What was your name again?"

"That's just what I was going to ask," the boy replied.

* * *

 _3:16pm, 21_ _st_ _June 2006_

"So, you guys met when Will was off exploring on his own that one time on Dewford Island?" James looked between Will and Geoff. "You kept that quiet, Will."

"Didn't think it was important enough to mention," said Will.

"Good to know that our battle meant so much to you," Geoff replied with a sigh. "So, you decided to take the gym challenge yet?"

"No." Will shook his head. "But I guess I've started having more proper battles these days."

"Suit yourself." Geoff shrugged. He turned to James, Richard and Nicola. "You guys are all taking the gym challenge, right?"

"That's right." They all nodded.

"Glad to hear it. I hope we get a chance to battle once we're at the Hoenn League."

"Since you're here, want to have a battle with me?" Will asked.

"With your pokémon in that state?" Geoff asked, looking down at Toya and Turkey, who were both still battered and exhausted after the battle with Nicola. "Show a bit more concern, man."

"He's got a point, you know," said Richard. "Your team really need a chance to rest and recover before they fight again."

"What was up with that golem?" Nicola asked as Will protested to Richard. "It just suddenly appeared all of a sudden…"

"It's the chief of a group of pokémon that live in this quarry," Geoff replied. "They're quite aggressive to people who arrive on their territory – it's been a problem ever since more trainers started using this route."

"You sound like you're quite familiar with all this," said James.

"Well, yeah." Geoff nodded. "I come from around here. My graveler, Dust, used to belong to that golem's group as well."

"Really?" Richard said, coming over to join in. "No wonder I felt like there was more hostility in the air. Did Dust do something that left bad blood between them?"

"I think it might have been a power struggle or something," Geoff said, glancing at Dust. "The golem thought that he was a threat."

"Really?" Nicola looked at Dust sadly.

"These things happen in nature," said Geoff.

Dust grinned up at him reassuringly. Either way, it looked like he was happy with how things were now.

"Anyway…" Geoff turned back to look at the other four. "I wouldn't stick around here. You're heading to Verdanturf Town, right?"

"That's right." James nodded.

"You're on the right path then. Once you get through this valley, you'll be on the final stretch. I'd say you can get there by the end of tomorrow."

"Thanks for your help," said Richard. "Hopefully we'll have time for a battle the next time we meet."

"That'd be nice." Geoff nodded.

"Yeah, same here!" Will said loudly. "I'm much stronger than the last time we fought."

"That's goes for me as well," Geoff replied. "I'm not about to be beaten by someone who isn't taking this seriously. See you around."

Will and the others watched as Geoff turned and started walking back in the direction they'd come from.

"What a day, huh?" James said.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I didn't think it would end up being this intense…"

"It's given me a lot to think about," said Will, continuing to watch Geoff as he walked further and further away. "I hate to admit it, but that graveler was tough. I'm kinda glad that he refused to battle me, actually."

"Well, you'll have plenty of opportunities to improve as well," said Richard. "You did well against Nicola, so you've got something to work with."

"Hmm." Will frowned. A lot had happened, and he'd run into someone he'd never expected to see again. After all he'd been through since Dewford Island, was he really sure that he was on the right course?

Sighing, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he turned to follow the others on the road towards Verdanturf. He had plenty of time to think things through. And he knew he could count on the others, no matter what.

* * *

 **So, this actually turned into quite a hard chapter to write for a number of reasons. To start with, Golem's Quarry was originally planned to be Chapter 76, but I decided at the last minute to bring it forwards to take the place of another chapter I'm now saving for later. This meant that I was adapting from a plan that didn't fit the place in the story (a pokémon that hasn't been caught yet was supposed to learn a new move this chapter according to the original plan). It also had a weak 'filler' plot, much like Chapter 52 did, so I had to find a way to adapt it to be more interesting and relevant.**

 **With that in mind, I decided to make this a Will-focused chapter so that he could have his battle with Nicola. I also wanted to try and delve more into his mind and way of thinking, which hopefully came through during the battle. I'd originally hoped to have a rematch between Will and Geoff as well, but I didn't really have the time and, as Geoff pointed out, Will's team should have been worn out after battling Nicola. So, I guess we'll have to keep waiting for that battle!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	62. The Verdanturf Contest

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Will and Nicola fight a four-on-four battle in an abandoned quarry. No sooner had Nicola won the battle though, the group were attacked by a group of graveler led by a golem and had to be saved by Will's old acquaintance, Geoff.**

 **Upload Date: 18** **th** **May 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 62: The Verdanturf Contest**

 _Route 116, Hoenn_

 _3:03pm, 22_ _nd_ _June 2006_

"Look! Look! I can see it!"

Hearing Nicola's excited cries, James, Richard and Will all followed her up the last stretch of the slope. As they looked out, they quickly came to understand her excitement. In the distance, they could see the buildings of Verdanturf Town.

"We're almost there!" Richard said, his relief clear in his voice. "It feels like it's been ages since we set off from Gharnot Town."

"I know what you mean," said James. "I didn't expect this route to be as desolate as it was. I'm really looking forwards to having a rest once we get to the pokémon centre."

"I think the pokémon would like that as well," Will added, patting Toya and Blue on their heads.

"I've really been looking forwards to getting to Verdanturf Town as well," Nicola said enthusiastically.

"Because of the contest?" Richard asked.

"Well, there's that too," Nicola replied. "But I was thinking more about the air."

"About the air?!" Will exclaimed, looking over at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't I mention this before?" James asked. "About how Verdanturf is supposed to have really clean and good-quality air."

"Did you?" Will frowned.

Richard chuckled. "You probably zoned out, knowing you!"

"Apparently where Verdanturf is located means that ash from the volcanoes tends not to get blow there." James explained as they started walking again. Nulin, who'd been flying overhead for a while, dropped down and settled on his shoulder. "It's away from the big cities as well, so I've heard there's almost no pollution there."

"I guess that sounds kinda nice," said Will.

"I'm just looking forwards to getting a good night's sleep for once!" Richard grinned, glancing around at James and Will. "You know that you guys really like to spread yourselves out in the tent at night, right?"

"Ah, sorry about that," James said, grinning back at him. "I was asleep!"

"Anyway, I guess James and I need to start thinking about the contest," Nicola said, casting her gaze back to the distant town. "Do you remember what day it's supposed to be on?"

"Tomorrow," James replied. "We're really lucky that we were able to keep on time despite everything that's happened over the last couple of days."

"That's a relief," Nicola sighed.

"So, what's your plan then?" Richard asked. "Will it take long to get into Verdanturf from here?"

"About an hour or so, I reckon," James replied. "Once we're there, I guess it's the normal routine – Nicola and I need to head to the contest hall so that we can register, but we can probably do that after we've booked rooms at the pokémon centre."

"I hope you guys aren't going to want any help with training this time," said Will. "Because I'm planning to crash for the next two days."

"I'm sure we'll be able to handle things ourselves," Nicola replied. "I wasn't thinking of making any massive changes from the Gharnot Contest, so…"

"You sure about that?" James asked, grinning at her. "Don't tell me that you're getting complacent after winning your second ribbon."

"Don't worry – we're definitely not going to hold back in this contest!"

"Glad to hear it!"

* * *

 _Verdanturf Town, Hoenn_

 _10:45am, 23_ _rd_ _June 2006_

Nicola took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the pleasant, Verdanturf air.

"You really are enjoying this, aren't you?" James said, smiling at her.

"Got to enjoy it while we're still here," Nicola replied, turning to look at him.

After arriving the previous afternoon, both of them had managed to register at the contest hall before it closed for the night and had quickly drawn up plans for their training. Nicola couldn't think of a nicer place to spend some time training – the entire town was full of colour thanks to the numerous flowers that seemed to be everywhere. The sky had, unfortunately, clouded over today, but the town was still incredibly pretty. It really made Nicola feel like she and her team had to perform as best as they could, as if they were competing with the town itself as well as their fellow competitors.

"Since we've done quite a lot of work on our contest combinations, did you want to work on something new for Zaggy?" James asked.

"Oh, yes." Nicola nodded, glancing over at the zigzagoon, who was dozing in a nearby flowerbed. She'd been pleased with him in the battle with Will, but still felt like there was more room for him to grow.

"So, I've been looking at possible moves we could teach him," said James. "It's a little irregular for a zigzagoon, but we could try teaching him how to use Body Slam."

"That sounds simple enough," Nicola replied. "Is it just a more powerful version of Tackle?"

"Not quite," James said. "Body Slam is more about getting on top of the opponent and crushing them under the user's weight. It has a chance to paralyse as well, so it's more useful than Tackle is. Most zigzagoon don't learn it."

"It sounds useful." Nicola nodded.

"Since it's quite similar to Tackle, I'm hoping that it'll be relatively easy to teach Zaggy it, but…" James glanced around at the zigzagoon.

"…But this is Zaggy we're talking about," Nicola sighed. "Well, there's no harm in trying."

The rest of the pokémon seemed content to playfight or rest up after the earlier training session and didn't pay much attention as Nicola passed them to coax Zaggy into returning to the arena. Still, it would be useful to have one of the others tag along as a sparring partner.

"Kacha, do you mind coming over and helping?" James called.

The pikachu twitched his ears and jumped up with an affirmative squeak. He ran over to take his position on the battlefield.

"How are we doing this?" Nicola asked.

"Have Zaggy focus on trying to attack Kacha from above with all his weight," James replied.

"You get that, Zaggy?" Nicola called. She reached down to tickle his sides to get him back on his feet again. He reluctantly got up and started meandering towards Kacha. As he got closer, he jumped up and crashed into Kacha from the side.

"Oh, that's a pretty good start," said James, nodding. "He's doing fairly well with the motions. We just need to work on the power and accuracy."

"Try again, Zaggy!" Nicola called.

Zaggy duly charged at Kacha again. The attack went much the same way as the previous one. A third attempt landed more squarely on Kacha though. The move itself wasn't complicated to pick up – most of their problems stemmed from Zaggy's lack of motivation. But that just made things slower rather than impossible.

"I'm sure he'll pick it up as soon as he wants to," said Nicola after the fifteenth attempt.

"Yeah." James nodded. "He's definitely capable. Are you planning on using him in the contest today?"

"I was thinking of going with my other pokémon more this time," Nicola replied. "Mia was telling me that it isn't a good idea to use the same tactics too often or it gets easy for people to counter you."

"Sounds like good advice," said James. He glanced over at the other pokémon. "Alright, I guess we should get back to doing our contest training."

* * *

 _3:41pm, 23_ _rd_ _June 2006_

As the summer afternoon wore on, James and Nicola finished their training and regrouped with Richard and Will at the pokémon centre before heading out to the contest hall.

"Only Zaggy would have trouble learning a move as simple as Body Slam!" Richard grinned, glancing over at Nicola as they walked.

"It's not that he can't," Nicola replied. "Just that he won't."

"It won't take him long to get to grips with it," James said. "Besides, there's no need to worry about it right now."

Both James and Nicola were feeling the pressure as the contest approached. The memories of the Gharnot contest were still fresh and, even though there were far fewer competitors here in Verdanturf, it was hard to shake of the same sense of unease and anticipation. Even with all the training they'd done in the morning, both had their reservations – James reflecting on his recent failures and Nicola feeling the need to replicate her victory in Gharnot.

"I guess we'll be heading this way then," said Richard, turning to look at the others as they entered the lobby. "Good luck, guys! We'll be cheering for you!"

"Don't forget to vote!" Nicola called after him as he walked away.

"Yeah, we'll remember," said Will. "Do your best, guys!"

"We'll see you when we get out again!" James called after him.

"Right!" Nicola turned to him, trying to sound confident and decisive. "Let's head over and finish registering."

"Sure." James nodded. As he followed Nicola over to the registration desk, he glanced around the room to see if he could recognise any of the other coordinators around the lobby. It was odd how much he'd come to expect that, even though he'd never thought of it, and still never thought of it, while getting ready for gym battles. Contests really were a different kind of competition after all.

* * *

 _4:33pm, 23_ _rd_ _June 2006_

It had also come as a relief to both Richard and Will that there were far fewer competitors in the Verdanturf contest. With only fifteen coordinators and their pokémon competing for eight places, the appeals round was expected to be over within an hour of the start of the contest. It was a far cry from the long, drawn-out process back in Gharnot Town.

Still, the two of them had had to sit through most of the others before James had finally stepped out over half an hour in to begin his and Kacha's performance.

"Looks like he's up," Richard said, nudging Will as the MC introduced James.

"I was still awake, don't worry," Will muttered in reply, glancing down at the stage.

As Kacha plodded forwards, he smiled around at the audience. Clearly, he was going for a charm offensive this time. His electrical attacks gave off quite a spectacle though, so it wasn't going to be hard for him to impress the crowd. Even Richard could tell that Kacha's sheen was far more impressive than it had been back when James had just started competing in contests.

To start his performance, Kacha rubbed his cheek pouches with his arms to stimulate sparks of electricity. As the charge built up, he suddenly fired a blast of electricity forwards, striking a lightning rod before it could arc into the crowd. He followed this with a couple of weaker electrical pulses, each one shining eerily as it travelled across the stage.

With a shout, he jumped into the air and clenched his fists. As both started to glow a dark red colour, he whirled himself around as he descended. Red streaks moved around him as he built up the speed of his punches. As soon as he'd landed, he swung around and started darting across the arena at high speed thanks to Agility. By combining a small discharge of electricity as he punched, each new red streak was accompanied by a flash of yellow and a loud crack.

Dropping back to the centre of the stage, he fired another small pulse of electricity towards the crowd and judges. A split second later, he fired a full blast of electricity after the slower pulse. Both dissipated as they met, sending smaller arcs of electricity and ionised air scattering in all directions at the front of the stage. The crowd applauded as James and Kacha both bowed and turned to leave the stage.

"That was pretty cool," said Will. "I wasn't sure how all of his planned combinations would go, but it looks like they all worked out well."

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "I always think that electric types do really well in contests. Kacha has gotten much better at this than he was at the start."

There were now only three performances left to go, so they knew that they wouldn't be waiting long before Nicola's team had their chance to perform. Richard wondered which pokémon she was planning on using in the appeal. With the exception of the rather belligerent Blu and, possibly, Zaggy, the rest of her team had all become much more experienced and confident when it came to performances now. He was sure that whatever she'd put together would look impressive.

As the coordinator following James stepped off of the stage at the end of his performance, the MC spoke up to introduce Nicola. The penultimate slot – not a bad one at all. Now that they were more-or-less guaranteed to stick in the audience and judge's minds, they just needed to make sure that their performance was impressive.

Plodding alongside Nicola as she walked out onto the stage was Mule. This didn't come as a much of a surprise to Richard and Will. James and Nicola usually coordinated which pokémon they had perform in the appeal round so that they didn't take away from each other's performances. Since James had led with Kacha, that ruled out Tricky for Nicola. Fire types were also a popular type to use in appeal rounds as well though…

They both focused on the stage as Mule's performance began. While Kacha's had been quite fast-paced and energetic, hers was going to be the exact opposite. She started out by making some slow charges across the stage before spewing out bursts of embers. They glowed prettily as they descended towards the stage, emitting a dull orange light that felt far more appealing than the artificial white light that bathed the stage.

In a contest, finding new ways to interpret moves was as important as the moves themselves. This was especially true in Mule's case, given that she didn't know many techniques that had looked good on stage. Fortunately, she and Nicola had found different ways for her embers to be used. As she moved on, she started spewing embers in larger clumps, forming glowing balls that gently separated out as they dropped lower. They got closer to the ground and Richard could suddenly feel a slight vibration around him. Mule was gently using Magnitude to shake the stage, causing all of the many embers settling on it to jump into the air around her again. Magnitude was a notoriously unpredictable move – for Nicola and Mule to have mastered control over its power like this was seriously impressive.

For her finale, Mule started firing out balls of embers again. This time, though, she concentrated the clusters more and blasted them with a stream of embers. As the heat increased, each ball popped and flashed as trapped pockets of air escaped. Mule spun around as fast as she could to strike each of the balls, the remaining embers settling around her. After the final ball popped and swirled apart, Mule turned back to look at the audience.

There was a round of applause as Nicola and Mule exited the stage and excited chatter filled the air as everyone prepared for the final performance. Though there hadn't been that many coordinators, there had still been plenty of interesting and exciting performances by their pokémon. For most of the spectators, it was going to be tough to decide who to give their vote to at the end of the round.

Still, the decisions were made once the appeals were all finished. It didn't come as a surprise to Richard and Will to see that both James and Nicola had made it to the next round. Less competition in the appeals round made that much easier, at least.

* * *

 _5:59pm, 23_ _rd_ _June 2006_

It was down to the last minute in the battle between James and Nulin and their semi-final opponents, a boy named Dylan and his plusle, Teri. It had been an intense battle, with Nulin hanging in there despite the severe type disadvantage. Teri had been content to stay on the defensive for most of the battle, but every time Nulin had flown forwards, she'd been ready to meet him with a blast of electricity.

"Use Water Pulse!" James ordered. Though Nulin was still in the fight, that didn't mean that it was going their way. They'd need quite the turnaround to pull off the victory.

Nulin swept up into the air and fired a ball of water down towards Teri. However, she rapidly charged electricity and fired a shock wave to intercept it. There was a bang as they met, sending water flying everywhere. Electricity sparked between the drops of water as both sides threw more attacks at each other.

Nulin made a final effort, sweeping low and blasting the stage with Ice Beam. However, as the ground froze, Teri retaliated by charging electricity through her body again. She pressed her hands against the ice as it reached her and, concentrating a surge of electricity, caused it to shatter and jump into the air in front of her.

The buzzer sounded as the timer ticked down to zero. The battle was over, and James and Nulin were still behind.

"So, the winner of this match is Dylan!" the MC called enthusiastically. "Who will he face in the final? We'll find out soon enough!"

James and Dylan met in the middle of the stage and shook hands.

"Good luck in the final," James said, politely but to the point.

"Thanks," Dylan replied, his tone similar.

As he left the stage, James let out a sigh. For some reason, he and his team just weren't performing that well lately. Frankly, they'd been lucky to make it through the first battle at all. But it was still demoralising to lose, even if they managed to get further than they really deserved. It really was winner take all in the contest world. With that in mind, he hoped that Nicola would be able to win her own semi-final battle.

* * *

James hadn't needed to worry. Nicola and Tricky cleaned up in their battle without much difficulty. The electrike was perhaps her strongest when it came to contests. Plenty of appeal and an enthusiasm that seemed to pull the crowd along for the ride – the perfect combination to win the hearts of potential supporters.

It had therefore been a surprise for both Richard and Will to see her going into the final using a different pokémon. Kipa wasn't the most attractive pokémon, even with all the pokéblocks she'd been feeding him. Of course, Richard could see her reasoning: Dylan had been using Teri ever since the battle rounds started and, even though Kipa's ground typing protected him from electrical attacks, there was a certain thrill to a water-type pokémon going up against an electric type.

So, of course Dylan had thrown a wrench into those plans by sending out a different pokémon altogether as well. It was similar to a volbeat – clearly a bug pokémon and quite an appealing one at that.

" _Illumise, the firefly pokémon. Illumise attract a swarm of volbeat using a sweet fragrance. Once the volbeat have gathered, this pokémon leads the lit-up swarm in drawing geometric designs on the canvas of the night sky._ "

The Pokédex hadn't exactly given Richard and Will much more hope for Nicola. But then again, this was the final after all. It was always going to be a tough battle.

"Use Mud Shot!" Nicola called as soon as the timer started ticking.

With a shout, Kipa fired a blast of mud towards Dylan's illumise. The speed of the attack caught her unawares and she was hit directly, the mud spattering over her and clinging to her. She and Dylan immediately started losing points.

"Ria, use Quick Attack!" Dylan called.

Ria shot forwards, knocking into Kipa. Rather than strike back, the marshtomp simply hunkered down, watching his opponent carefully. Though Mud Shot hadn't been an attractive attack, the audience seemed to care more about the impact it had on Ria's appearance rather than the fact Kipa had fired it. He and Nicola had the advantage, even with the success of Ria's last attack.

"Again!" Dylan called.

Perhaps he was trying to provoke Kipa into firing back with a water-type attack? That would wash all of the mud off Ria. Well, Nicola and Kipa weren't going to fall for it. Not yet, at least. Instead, Kipa simply held his ground, tensing himself up to absorb the impact of the light attacks.

Suddenly, as Ria approached for yet another attack, Kipa suddenly swung to the side. As Ria sailed right past him, he stretched out one of his flipper-like hands and used the energy he'd absorbed and her momentum to knock her off-course. She smashed into the ground – the seemingly effortless action drawing a cheer from the crowd.

Still, Nicola knew that she needed to do something more interesting or she risked the crowd growing bored. Perhaps it was time to give Ria the shower she probably wanted…

"Water Gun!"

Kipa spun around and blasted a jet of water into the air. As it arced overhead, he fired a second, quicker jet that caught up with and collided with the first. A cascade of water tumbled down upon Ria, unceremoniously drenching her. Her points ticked down even further, but at least the mud had been washed off.

Dylan didn't waste any time. "Use Moonlight!" he called.

Ria was quick to obey, leaping back into the air and calling down a magnificent moon beam. The silver light stood out and shone naturally among the artificial, white beams from the stage lights. Ria simply bathed in it, feeling it heal the injuries she'd suffered earlier in the battle.

Kipa, meanwhile, wasn't prepared to sit still. He fired another jet of water into the air, hoping that the moonlight would glint off of the water even as it knocked Ria backwards. However, the illumise was quick to dodge. In an instant, the moonlight vanished, and a sweet-smelling scent filled the air. Though he wanted to attack again, Kipa quickly found himself feeling lethargic. He was vaguely aware that his own points had started ticking down, but he couldn't work up any sense of urgency.

"Charm!" Dylan called.

Ria swept down towards Kipa. She smiled at him warmly and cutely, all the while flying to-and-fro in an endearing way.

"Snap out of it, Kipa!" Nicola shouted. "Pay more attention!"

The firmness of her voice cut through the haze that had covered Kipa's mind. Shaking his head, Kipa narrowed his eyes. He was running out of time and points – he needed something to turn the tide back against Ria. A part of him regretted following the order to drench her and wash the mud off.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola called, noticing his hesitation. "Go with _that_ tactic!"

 _That_ tactic? Well, it was as good as any other, Kipa supposed. Taking a deep breath, he fired a jet of water at the stage itself. Spinning around, he spread water all across the surface, wetting both Nicola and Dylan's shoes. Then, he started to run.

The stage was slippery now. He was able to use it to slide along, twirling and firing out more water – it was a bit like he was dancing. After a bemused couple of seconds, Ria returned to fluttering about endearingly, apparently believing that Kipa's approach was of little concern. However, as he reached one end of the stage, he spun around and slid back towards her. This time, he let himself slide onto his back. He fired a blast of water upwards just as he passed underneath Ria.

The force of the impact pushed her up until she crashed into the overhead lights with a cry. Water scattered everywhere, refracting the light as it fell. Despite being dazed, Ria tried to take advantage of the situation as she floated back down towards the stage, making exaggerated and melodramatic movements. She also tried to watch out for further attacks from Kipa.

Much to her surprise, however, no such attack came. Instead, the marshtomp made a show of reaching out to catch her as she descended. He moved with her until she dropped down into his waiting arms. The slimy film that covered his skin made her shudder.

There was a buzz as the timer ran out. Both pokémon and their coordinators spun around to look at the scoreboard.

It was close – so close that every time Nicola looked at it, it seemed like a different side had slightly more points. Dylan seemed just as confused and both of them turned to look at the MC for confirmation.

"After a magnificent performance, the two teams' scores seem almost matched!" she announced dramatically, looking out at the audience. "We're just getting everything confirmed with the judges…"

Murmurs broke out among the crowd while the judges quietly spoke amongst themselves. The discussion couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity for those standing on the stage.

Finally, the head judge stood up. "By a two-point lead, the winner of this Verdanturf contest is…Nicola Hewitt!"

As relief flooded over her, Nicola felt as though the energy was simultaneously draining from her body. Suddenly, everything seemed a little unreal – the cheers of the crowd, Dylan's polite congratulations, the announcement by the MC, everything. The only thing that felt disturbingly real was the sensation of Kipa hugging her leg. Shortly afterwards, it was joined by the feeling of the small, green ribbon the head judge was pushing into her hand.

* * *

 _6:37pm, 23_ _rd_ _June 2006_

"What an evening!" Richard exclaimed tiredly as he and Will walked out into the upper level of the lobby, carried along by the stream of people leaving the room. "I'm telling you – if you'd told me two months ago that I'd one day be on the edge of my seat watching a contest, I'd have laughed at you!"

"Same here." Will nodded. "Why'd do you think Nicola and Kipa were the ones who came out on top?"

"Besides being better?" Richard grinned. "I think that Ria was trying to reduce Kipa's points by improvising with the situation. But then Kipa improvised as well and, you know – it was an extra level of adapting to the situation. That face Ria made at the very end probably helped tip the balance as well."

"To be honest, I could understand her disgust," said Will.

"Made her look ungrateful to Kipa for catching her though," said Richard. "Keeping your composure is important during a contest."

"…I find it really depressing how much we know about contests now," Will said, sighing. "Anyway, where are Nicola and James?"

"Well, I don't think we're going to be getting to Nicola any time soon," said Richard, glancing down into the lower lobby. Much of the crowd had moved over to cluster by the competitors' entrance. He couldn't imagine them waiting for anyone other than the victor or, possibly, the runner-up.

"Wow. They seem pretty enthusiastic this time," said Will. "I guess the close finish really got them excited."

"It must be pretty weird." Richard leaned against the railing at the side of the upper level as he looked down. "You'd almost never see this kind of reaction to winning a gym battle."

"Feeling jealous?" Will grinned. "Maybe you should take up contests as well!"

"I'll pass on that," Richard replied, turning to look at him.

Before he could say anything else, though, there was a sudden cheer from the crowd below. Nicola bashfully emerged from the lower entrance to face her new admirers. Much to her alarm, a couple of the people at the front seemed to have cameras and microphones with them – members of the press, maybe?

As Nicola was accosted by the crowd, the defeated coordinators slunk out and made their way towards the exit without much attention. James was among them, stopping briefly once he was out of the way to look back at Nicola. He let out a sigh. Though avoiding being mobbed by the crowd was a benefit to losing the contest, it was never one that he could appreciate. He didn't think anyone could.

* * *

 **What's this? Nicola winning a contest without using Zaggy? You heard it here first, everyone!**

 **Seriously though, I wanted to change things up a little for this particular contest since I don't want people getting bored of Zaggy's antics. It also feels a little bit cheap to have her constantly winning in that way as well – I wanted to show that Nicola has grown as a coordinator as well.**

 **So, in what may be good news or bad news depending on your opinion, this is the final dedicated contest chapter for quite a while (I think the next one is in about twenty chapters' time – something like that). This means that we can get back on with the gym battling scene for a little while at least.**

 **Finally, I'm unfortunately going to have to put off writing Chapter 63 for a week since I've got a job interview next Saturday that I need to prepare for. I'll instead aim to get it out for the Friday after next, though all the usual disclaimers apply.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	63. Steel Determination

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola win her third contest ribbon in Verdanturf Town after a hard-fought battle. With the contest scene behind them for the moment, the group now turns their attention to the next gym battle.**

 **Upload Date: 1** **st** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 63: Steel Determination**

 _Route 117, Hoenn_

 _11:49am, 24_ _th_ _June 2006_

Louds cries filled the air as Kacha, Mule, Zaggy, Chena and Blue rushed along one of the many paths leading south from Verdanturf Town. As they pounced on each other and scrambled to continue moving, they almost didn't notice the crossroads that they'd reached. Kacha and Chena, the more sensible of the two, quickly stopped and glanced around. Unsure about which way to go, they stopped their more erratic companions and turned back to look out for their trainers.

"You guys don't know which way to go?" Richard called with a grin as he and the others approached the crossroads. "We need to head that way, remember?" He pointed to the left with his free hand – Pincer was laying across his shoulder and the top of his backpack and needed to be held in place by Richard's other hand to avoid falling off.

"We're not heading to Mauville City?" Will asked as the pokémon started charging up the road to the left.

"Don't you remember what we were talking about yesterday evening?" Nicola gave him a confused look, as did Blu, who was perched comfortably on her head. "James said that there's a gym in Lavaridge Town at the foot of Mt. Chimney, so we're going to head there next."

"You must have been half-asleep," James said. "It was a late night, after all!"

"I remember that part of the discussion!" Will snapped irritably. "I meant why are we turning off now? You said that we had to go via Mauville City in order to get to Mt. Chimney."

"Oh yeah, I did say that." James frowned. "And you weren't there for the discussion over breakfast."

"That's kinda his fault though," Nicola said. "He slept in, after all."

Will sighed with exasperation. "Just tell me why we're heading this way."

"There's a shorter route to Lavaridge Town," said Richard. "There's a valley between Verdanturf Town and Mt. Chimney called the Valley of Steel – apparently, it's a place that's full of tough pokémon but it'll cut days off our journey!"

"Tough pokémon?" Will perked up a bit. "Steel types, I guess?"

"Mostly," James replied. "But it sounds like there are all kinds of different pokémon in there."

"You thinking of catching anything?" Richard asked, turning to look at James and Will.

"No can do, I'm afraid," James replied. "The Valley of Steel is a protected pokémon reserve. No catching allowed."

"Aww. That's no fun," Will said, sighing in disappointment.

"I'm sure it'll be plenty of fun tangling with those tough pokémon though," said Richard. "No rules against defending yourself, right?"

"As long as you don't excessively injure the wild pokémon."

"That sounds like a pain," said Will, sighing. "Might as well not bother."

"Well, we can worry about that once we're in the valley!" Nicola called, picking up her pace as they moved forwards. "Nothing's going to stand between me and my next gym battle!"

"Oh, you're enthusiastic?" Richard grinned. "That's good to hear – I can't wait to get back in action either!"

Ahead of the group, the pokémon cheered. They, too, were eager for an opportunity to have a serious battle again.

* * *

 _Valley of Steel, Hoenn_

 _1:50pm, 24_ _th_ _June 2006_

The Valley of Steel had earned its name in many ways. Although home to numerous steel-type pokémon, the brown, dusty canyons hid another, less obvious reason. It was only thanks to the guidebook that the group had known anything about it – the iron ore that still lay buried in the walls and underfoot in the valley. There used to be lots of mining in the area before it had been declared a pokémon reserve.

Still, they'd been in the valley for quite a while now and they hadn't seen any pokémon yet. James knew that there were some pokémon that disliked being active during the middle of the day, but he didn't think it was something especially tied to steel-type pokémon. Perhaps they were off attacking someone else somewhere in the valley? He was trying to lead everyone along what he thought was the safest route, but this was the kind of place where it was impossible to predict what could happen next.

"Look out!"

James snapped back to reality as he heard Richard shout. "What is it?"

"Up there!" Richard pointed to the sky above them. There was the shadow of a bird flying overhead. It seemed to be circling and looking down at them.

Ahead of them, Blue was getting very excited, jumping up and down as if trying to reach the flying pokémon. James and Richard, however, were filled with a sense of unease.

"Don't you think that looks like a…"

"I agree."

Nicola looked at them curiously as Will walked over to calm Blue down. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"I think that's a skarmory," James replied. "We had a run-in with one last year – it wasn't pleasant."

"Are they…aggressive, then?" Nicola asked cautiously.

"We're in the Valley of Steel," Richard said.

There was a loud screech from overhead. Suddenly, the shadowy figure tucked in its wings and started diving down towards the group.

"It's really coming for us!" Nicola yelped.

"Recall the smaller pokémon!" Richard shouted, reaching for Pincer and Vortex's balls.

As the small pokémon vanished back into the balls, the skarmory shifted targets and flew towards Will.

"Watch out!" James shouted.

There was a flash of orange flame and Charka hurled himself forwards. His claws turning to steel, he slashed viciously at the skarmory's flank. The tough hide fended off the attack, but the skarmory was thrown off enough to give Will a chance to get clear.

"So, that's a skarmory?" Nicola mused, pulling out her Pokédex as the bird circled around.

" _Skarmory, the armour bird pokémon. A pokémon that has a body and wings of steel. People in the past used feathers fallen from skarmory to make swords and knives. Its sturdy wings look heavy, but its bones are hollow and light, allowing it to fly freely in the sky_."

"No time for that!" Richard called. "Let's get out of here!"

"Are we even going to be able to outrun it?" Will asked as he started running after him, the others right behind him.

"How did you deal with it last time?" Nicola gasped.

"Beat it in battle, I think!" Richard panted.

"We can't do it this time!" James added. "We can't hurt the pokémon here too much!"

"Well, what are we going to do?" Will demanded.

"There's a cave there!" Richard shouted, veering to the right. He dashed into the entrance, quickly followed by Will, Nicola and the remaining pokémon.

James and Charka paused by the entrance. The charmeleon turned his claws to steel again and leapt up to slash at the skarmory as it dived close. Once again, however, the attack simply glanced off the armour covering its body. This time, it barrelled into Charka and knocked him backwards into James. The two of them tumbled into the cave and landed with a thud.

"Are you guys okay?" Will called, running over.

"We're fine…I think," James said, wincing as he pulled himself up. He reached out and grabbed Charka's arm to pull him to his feet as well.

"Now what?" Nicola asked, listening to the screeching sound from outside the cave.

"I guess we have to just wait for it to get bored and fly away again," Richard murmured. "At least it doesn't seem to want to come in here."

Nodding in agreement, the group all sat down in the shadows, listening to their pursuer and waiting.

* * *

 _2:26pm, 24_ _th_ _June 2006_

Footsteps echoed as the group walked through the dark interior of the cave. The ceiling was low enough that the skarmory didn't dare enter after them, but it had still been circling above the cave entrance each time that one of them had poked their heads out to see if the coast was clear. For whatever reason, this skarmory had decided that it had it in for them and, with no way of fighting it off, they had no choice but to look for other options.

They hadn't expected to find anything deeper in the cave, but James hoped that it would turn out to actually be a tunnel they could use to get away from the skarmory. The increasing darkness as they got deeper was putting paid to that idea, but at least it could give them somewhere safe to hide. That skarmory would surely give up and move along eventually, right? If it meant avoiding a confrontation, perhaps it was worth hiding out in the cave overnight…

Ahead of the group, Charka suddenly looked around sharply and tensed himself. His tail, their main source of light, swung about, causing the shadows to dance about.

"What is it, Charka?" James asked.

Charka grunted as he continued looking about. Whatever it was seemed to not be important.

"How far are we going?" Richard asked, shivering.

"I don't know," James replied.

"Why don't we just camp out here for now?" Will suggested. "We already know that it's not gonna turn out to be a tunnel…"

"He's got a point," Nicola said, turning to look at James.

"I guess so." James frowned. He didn't particularly care about whether it was a tunnel or not, so he didn't mind stopping now. But there was something that didn't quite feel right…

There was a surprised shout from just ahead.

"What is…it…" James trailed off as he looked over in Charka's direction. Looming out of the darkness, illuminated by Charka's flame, was a steel, blue-green…face?

"Wh-What is it?" Nicola yelped, jumping backwards and almost tripping.

"I've never seen something like this before," Will mumbled.

"I think I know what this is," said Richard.

"You do?" The other three all looked at him.

"I read something about a species of pokémon they discovered in the far north that looked like this," Richard said. "A bronzong."

"Bronzong?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

" _Entry not found._ "

"Huh?"

"I guess it's not a pokémon registered in the Hoenn Pokédex," said James. He pulled out his own.

" _Bronzong, the bronze bell pokémon and the evolved form of bronzor. Ancient people believed that petitioning a bronzong for rain was a sure way to make crops grow thanks to its ability to summon rain clouds. They can be incredibly old – one was recently discovered at a construction site that had been buried for over 2,000 years._ "

"Wow!" Will gasped as James put his Pokédex away. "It sounds like an incredible pokémon! I wonder what it's doing here…"

There was a sudden rumble and a mechanical groan. The bronzong had started shifting.

The group instinctively pulled back as the bell-shaped pokémon suddenly lifted itself into the air. It hovered eerily using psychokinesis as its red eyes surveyed them. The mechanical groans continued occasionally, but it didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack them. Maybe it was friendly?

"We're sorry for disturbing you," Richard said cautiously, moving slightly closer to it. "We were being attacked by a wild skarmory outside and needed to find shelter."

"Does it even know what a skarmory is?" Nicola murmured. "It might not have been outside for thousands of years."

The bronzong let out another groan and briefly raised both of its arms.

An image suddenly flashed through James' mind, so clear that it seemed to cut through his thoughts. It was of the valley outside with skarmory circling overhead. They suddenly dived down towards him and he felt a brief, dull pain as they slammed into a metal body.

"W-Was that…?" Will groaned, clutching his head.

"I think it was the bronzong's memories," Richard replied, wincing. "Psychic pokémon can use telepathy to communicate ideas to others."

"So, it was trapped in here by the skarmory as well?" Nicola asked.

"I guess so," James said. "But I wonder how it escaped them."

"Aside from its tough body?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

Listening to their exchange, the bronzong shook its body slightly, as if disputing it. Another image flashed through their minds – this time of leaving the cave on a bright and sunny day. There were no skarmory in sight. A second image a split second later showed them arriving back at the cave. Again, there were no skarmory in sight.

Finally, a third image appeared. A pair of skarmory were diving down to attack again, but a large, steel, bar-like arm suddenly appeared from beyond their line of vision and struck the first skarmory in a precise way. The skarmory was spooked by the attack, as if it had come close to badly injuring it, and turned tail and fled into the sky…

* * *

 _2:49pm, 24_ _th_ _June 2006_

"…I still can't believe that James is actually doing this," Nicola sighed.

"It's not like we've got any better ideas," Will replied, shrugging.

The images the bronzong had shown them suggested that it actually lived in the cave and hadn't been trapped in here by the skarmory. Further down in the cave, James and Charka were working together to practise attacks. It looked like Charka was just slashing viciously at the air, but the bronzong was apparently using telepathy to create an image of a skarmory for him to practise against. They'd quickly worked out from the final vision that the bronzong was showing them a particular weak point in the skarmory's armour that they could strike to make it turn tail and flee – apparently without much actual damage to the armour bird itself.

Still, Richard, Nicola and Will were all feeling pretty sceptical of it. The bronzong had been able to withstand the skarmory's attacks and that had given it time to launch its counter attack. With Charka, he was probably going to simply get knocked aside before he could launch an unwieldy blow with his metal-coated claws. Fire attacks were a no-go, given how much it would injure the skarmory. It seemed like a better idea to have him work together with another pokémon like Arro in order to carry out the strike, but James seemed to have set his heart on handling the situation with just Charka.

Still, although he'd been pretty worried at first, Richard thought that he was noticing Charka's slashes getting faster and more precise. He shuddered at the thought of being hit by it and made a mental note to remember it for the next time the two of them had a battle.

"Whoa! That was actually pretty fast!" Will gasped, also noticing the increased speed. "He might be able to beat off the skarmory if he can pull something like that off!"

"How is he getting that fast?" Nicola wondered.

"That's it, Charka!" James called, his voice echoing around the cave. "One final strike!"

Charka gritted his teeth and swung his arm with ferocious force. He slashed so fast and forcefully that Richard, Nicola and Will could feel the displaced air hitting them.

The bronzong bobbed its body approvingly. It seemed to think that they were ready.

"How did you manage that?" Richard asked, wandering over to join James and Charka. "I've never seen Charka slash that fast!"

"I've gotten him out of the habit of creating a steel-coating for his claws," James replied. "Without the extra weight, he can really swing his claws fast!"

"So, what now?" Nicola asked. "Are you planning on taking out that skarmory?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," James replied. "We're just going to persuade it that it isn't worth attacking us anymore."

"I guess we need to get going then," said Richard. He turned to the bronzong. "Sorry for barging in on you, and thanks for helping my friends."

"Yeah, I'm really grateful for your help," said James.

Charka grunted in appreciation as well.

The bronzong let out a mechanical groan in acknowledgement before softly dropping back to the ground to resume its slumber. As it landed on the rocky floor, James and Charka shared a nod. They turned and started walking back towards the cave entrance.

* * *

 _3:03pm, 24_ _th_ _June 2006_

Even after everything that had happened, there was still a part of James that really hoped that they'd arrive back at the cave entrance to find that the skarmory had finally given up and gone somewhere else. Charka had really improved his speed while training with the bronzong, but it was still going to be a difficult strike to make.

His heart sank as he spotted the shadow of the skarmory circling outside the cave. He took a deep breath and nodded at Charka. He nodded back – even if he had reservations, he knew what they needed to do.

"Good luck, Charka!"

The others were keeping their distance and didn't seem to want to venture any further out. James and Charka supposed that that was reasonable.

As they stepped out of the cave entrance, they heard a loud screech from overhead. Looking up, they instantly spotted the skarmory diving towards them.

"We've got more than one shot at this, so don't feel too under pressure," James said quietly, trying to reassure Charka. "It doesn't matter if we mess up the first strike, but let's do our best."

Charka nodded, his eyes fixed on the approaching foe. He was more than a match for the skarmory under normal circumstances. Even if he understood what James was saying, having such a handicap against his opponent was a bitter pill to swallow.

"I'll watch for an opening," James said. "Get ready to attack and strike when I say so."

Charka nodded again. They both fell silent as they watched the skarmory getting closer. Now that it had realised that they weren't going to run back into the cave, it had sped up. It dived more purposefully, readying its talons as it plunged towards them. James knew where the weak spot was now. He just needed to time his order so that Charka could strike at just the right moment.

As the wild pokémon entered its final approach, James opened his mouth and shouted, "Now, Charka – use Slash!"

There wasn't even a split second of hesitation on Charka's part. His arm had already begun to move before James had finished giving the order. As the skarmory's underside drew level with the top of his head, he struck out with a wide slash. There was a chinking sound as his sharp claws collided with the steel armour. The skarmory instantly seemed to topple slightly in response to the attack.

Watching the skarmory flail as it sailed over Charka's head, James could already tell that they'd done what they needed to. He had no doubt that it would soon be flying away as fast as it could.

There was a crash as it collided with the nearby rockface.

For a second, there was silence apart from the sound of the skarmory thrashing around in pain. Finally, it flew off as James had predicted, only with a noticeable angle – apparently one of the wings had been injured when it crashed.

"Now what?" Will called as he and the others burst out of the cave. "You said that we're not allowed to injure the pokémon here!"

"Well, I mean, it flew into the cliff by itself, right? That was what injured it," James said awkwardly.

"I'm sure that the pokémon rangers will agree with you," Nicola said, raising an eyebrow.

"In that case, let's just get out of here!" Richard grinned, running past them. "Nothing they can do if they don't have a suspect!"

The others ran after him. As they processed what had happened, they couldn't help but laugh. All that effort, and the skarmory had managed to injure itself!

"It flew off in the opposite direction," Will said as they stopped running. "I don't think…they'll know we had anything…to do with it."

"Yeah!" Nicola gasped.

"It would have been a bit of a downer if you'd been arrested by the rangers after all that!" Richard grinned at James. "It's not the way I'd want to spend my birthday!"

"Well, I don't know about that," said James, shrugging modestly. "I got to spend it hanging out with you guys – that doesn't seem all that bad to me."

"Aww! You're going to make me blush!" Nicola grinned.

"Yeah, you better appreciate me being here!" Will added.

"Not like you had much of a choice!" James retorted. "Anyway, let's get moving again. The less time we have to spend in the Valley of Steel, the better!"

"Right behind you, James!" Richard called.

"Next stop: Mt Chimney!" Nicola cheered as they started walking again, continuing their journey through the dusty canyon.

* * *

 **A slightly shorter chapter this time. I once again apologise for delaying this chapter by a week, but I feel anything I'd written last week would have been of poorer quality, given all that I had on.**

 **Anyway, I figured that the Valley of Steel would have one or two hidden secrets, so I decided to have the group encounter a wild bronzong – a pokémon that seems like a perfect fit for something old and venerable. No captures, unfortunately, but I trust that you were warned well in advance.**

 **I based the skarmory in this chapter off of swans in the UK – they can be potentially aggressive, and I once heard a story about a man who drowned in a lake when a swan kept attacking him whenever he tried to swim to shore. But, at the same time, they're all the property of the queen, so injuring a swan is a criminal offence. Presents quite a dilemma, doesn't it?**

 **Anyway, we can look forwards to the final approach towards Lavaridge Town next chapter. After a very long break, it'll soon be time for James, Richard and Nicola to resume their gym challenges.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.


	64. Jagged Pass

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group passed through the pokémon reserve known as the Valley of Steel, where James and Charka tangled with a particularly aggressive wild skarmory and the group met an ancient pokémon hiding in a cave.**

 **Upload Date: 8** **th** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 64: Jagged Pass**

 _Mt. Chimney, Hoenn_

 _4:10pm, 25_ _th_ _June 2006_

"We're finally here!" Nicola cheered loudly as the door to the cable car slid open. She immediately jumped out and started running across the rocky ground at the summit of Mt. Chimney.

"Wait for me!" Richard yelled cheerfully, running after her.

"I was expecting there to be more ash falling up here," Will said as he and James stepped off of the cable car and walked calmly after their friends. "Y'know, a bit like Route 113."

"I think that most of it gets blown over Route 113," James replied with a grin.

Mt. Chimney presented a bizarre sight in many ways. The sight of the plume of ash and smoke rising from the crater less than 200 metres up from where they were standing was both awe-inspiring and intimidating. Yet countless tourists were milling around on the slope leading up to it, some on their way down towards the cable car, while others, like Richard and Nicola, were heading up to the crater to get a look at the volcano's power up close.

Despite the eruption of ash, there was a distinct lack of alarm among the many people here to see the volcano.

"I guess we should follow them," said Will, nudging James' arm. "It's not every day that you get to look at a volcano like this."

"As long as it isn't our last day," James sighed. He was trying to put aside his unease at being so close to an active volcano, but it was difficult. He knew that, realistically, a volcano as well-monitored as Mt. Chimney would have been evacuated at once if there was any sign of a more powerful eruption. But even that couldn't completely set him at ease.

Passing through the throng of tourists, James and Will caught up with Nicola and Richard as they pushed forwards towards the wooden railing that separated the crowd from the edge of the volcano's crater.

"Wow!" Nicola exclaimed, leaning forwards on the railing and gazing down with sparkling eyes at the cloud of ash spewing from the centre of the crater. "I can't believe I'm actually looking at a _real_ volcano!"

"Lots of the mountains we've seen have been volcanoes though," Richard said. Despite this, he looked pretty excited as well.

"You know what I meant!"

"I'm glad that we didn't have to walk the whole way up here," James said. The cable car had been a massive relief – the mountain was still high, and it wouldn't have been easy slogging all the way up on foot.

"We were lucky that we came up on the right side of the mountain," Will said. "Didn't you say that this is the only cable car up Mt. Chimney?"

"That's right." James nodded. "It also means that we'll definitely be on foot if we want to get to Lavaridge Town."

"It's better going down than going up," Nicola said, not taking her eyes off the crater.

They remained in place for several minutes, watching the ash rise into the sky and drift off to the east in the direction of Fallarbor Town and Route 113.

"What now?" Richard asked. As fascinating as it was to be next to the volcano like this, it wasn't exactly something that continued being fun after a while.

"I guess we can head over to the pokémon centre," said James. "I hope there'll be enough space for us…"

"Are you done watching the volcano, Nicola?" Will asked.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded, continuing to watch the smoke. She finally turned away from it and stepped back to join the others.

As they started walking back down the path towards the pokémon centre by the cable car station, they were accosted by an old lady carrying a basket. "Hello there, young man! Can I interest you in Mt. Chimney's speciality – Lava Cookies?"

"Lava Cookies?" James glanced down at the basket. It was full of dark brown, unappealing cookies that looked like they'd been cooked irregularly. Several of them looked burned.

"We might as well since we're here, right?" Nicola said, looking around at the others.

"I guess so," said Richard. "How much do they cost?"

"200 poké each," the old lady replied, smiling widely at them.

The four of them duly turned over 200 poké each and pulled four cookies out of the basket. The old lady shuffled off to find more customers as they resumed their walk down the slope. All four of them bit into their cookies at the same time.

"Urgh," James groaned. It was far crunchier than he'd expected and there were definitely some burned bits. He wasn't even sure if it had a flavour beyond a hint of charcoal. The way the tough crumbs rolled over his tongue made his skin crawl. He forced himself to swallow.

Glancing to his right, he noticed that Richard and Nicola were similarly wincing. That came as an odd relief – at least this way it wasn't just that he ended up with a particularly bad cookie.

"Are you guys not eating yours?" Will asked, licking the crumbs off his fingers.

"You actually ate yours?!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Why wouldn't I?" Will asked, giving them an odd look. "It was delicious."

"Really?" Richard had a confused look on his face.

"Here." James handed over his cookie. A part of him wanted to see if Will really did like them or if he'd been lucky enough to end up with a really good one.

"Thanks!" Will immediately took a big bite and started chewing up the crunchy cookie. It was all gone in another two bites.

"Wow. He really ate it," Nicola gasped.

"Do you guys seriously not like them?" Will exclaimed. "They taste great!"

"I'm pretty sure that they've been burned," Richard replied.

"Do they even have a taste?" James wondered aloud.

"There must be something wrong with you," Will said, shaking his head.

"I'm more worried about you…" said Nicola.

Still, she and Richard both turned over their cookies to him. No sense in wasting them after all.

* * *

 _7:10pm, 25_ _th_ _June 2006_

The biggest worry the group had had while walking back down to the pokémon centre was that it might be full of tourists staying the night up here. Fortunately, they'd quickly discovered that there was still plenty of room. The tourists generally came and went – it was only the trainers who really wanted to spend more time on Mt. Chimney. And in any case, this pokémon centre was far larger than the ones they were used to seeing on the less remote valley roads elsewhere in Hoenn.

"We need to think about the plan for tomorrow," James said as he sat down at one of the tables in the restaurant and placed his tray in front of him.

"Well, you're the map man," Richard replied as he sat down next to him.

"What are our options?" Nicola asked. She'd already started tucking into her plate of curry.

"There are more roads than you'd think leading down Mt. Chimney," James replied. He resisted the urge to pull out his guidebook and instead started eating his own meal.

"Don't leave us on a cliff-hanger!" said Will.

"Sorry!" James covered his mouth as he replied and quickly swallowed his mouthful. "I know that most of the roads kind of circle around a bit, so I was thinking of trying to find a more direct path."

"That suits me," Richard replied. "The sooner we get down into Lavaridge Town, the better."

"Will that be okay though?" Will asked. "We're talking about walking down the side of a volcano, after all."

"We're talking about established paths, Will," said James. "It'll only be dangerous if we start wandering around aimlessly on the mountainside."

"He has a point though," said Nicola, putting her spoon down and looking at them seriously. "Isn't the slope facing Lavaridge Town the steepest on Mt. Chimney?"

"Well, yeah." James nodded. "But, again, we're sticking to the paths." After taking and finishing another mouthful, he finally pulled out the guidebook. "We're here at the moment." He pointed at the summit of Mt. Chimney. "The path I'm thinking of is this one here."

Richard, Nicola and Will all looked at where he was pointing. It was a steep path labelled 'Jagged Pass'.

"That sounds pretty dangerous to me," said Nicola.

"It _does_ say that it's a tough walk," Richard added, examining it more closely.

"Well, yeah," James replied. "But it's also the fastest." He pointed to a small information box next to the map.

"Whoa!" Will suddenly exclaimed, grabbing the guidebook and leaning close to it. "I didn't know that there were wild spoink in this area!"

"Spoink?" Nicola gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a pokémon that bounces around on mountain slopes using its spring-like tail," Will explained. "It evolves into a pokémon called grumpig – I saw one in a book before coming to Hoenn and thought it looked pretty cool."

"I guess you're all for going down Jagged Pass then?" Richard asked.

"That sounds good to me!" Will nodded eagerly. "Just let me keep an eye out for any spoink."

"I guess I can't stop you when you're this enthusiastic," Nicola sighed. "I'm fine with it as well."

"Great!" James grinned, taking the guidebook back. "We'll head for Jagged Pass tomorrow morning then!"

* * *

 _Jagged Pass, Hoenn_

 _10:24am, 26_ _th_ _June 2006_

The pictures in the guidebook weren't enough to really prepare the group for what was to come. The upper levels of Jagged Pass were covered in ash that was falling from the plume above them and most of it was narrow and treacherous. It was difficult enough walking through the rocks and avoiding steep drop-offs, but it had been raining when they'd set off from the pokémon centre at the summit earlier that morning. That made things much, much harder.

"Are you still sure you want to do this?" Nicola asked James, peering out from under the hood of her anorak.

"We can make it," James replied. Ever the optimist.

Still, Nicola was aware that Will was so hyped up on the idea of finding a spoink that it would be cruel to pull him away now. Jagged Pass was supposed to be a good place to see them and they didn't really want to have to make any return trips up the mountain.

That, and Nicola didn't really feel like climbing back up to join one of the main paths would be that much easier than continuing down.

"Watch out – there's a slippery bit there!" Richard called as he led the way down.

"Got it!" James called back. He cautiously stepped down, making sure that his feet avoided the slippery stones underfoot. They were lucky that the rain hadn't been accompanied by heavy cloud – at least they could see where they were going for now.

As they continued slowly making their way down the path, Will was continually scanning the trees and boulders scattered around the pass. Occasionally, he spotted some movement, only for a zigzagoon or a geodude to briefly emerge to watch them curiously. Even here, it seemed like spoink were an elusive pokémon.

"How about a rest?" Nicola gasped as she dropped down from a boulder after the others.

"There's not really much shelter…" James replied.

"I don't care," Nicola replied. "Just let me get my breath back."

"How far down do you think we are?" Richard asked.

"Dunno," James replied. "We've been going for a little while, but…"

"Guys, shh!" Will hissed.

The others looked round at him. He had his eyes fixed on a spot nearby.

There was a slight rustling in the long, ash-choked grass. Suddenly, a grey pokémon leapt out of the bushes and landed atop a boulder. It continued bouncing on a spring as it surveyed its surroundings.

"Is that…?" Richard murmured.

"It is." Will nodded confidently.

"So, that's a spoink?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Spoink, the bounce pokémon. A spoink keeps a pearl on top of its head. The pearl functions to amplify this pokémon's psychokinetic powers. It is therefore on a constant search for a bigger pearl. It doesn't stop bouncing even when it is asleep. It loves eating mushrooms that grow underground._ "

"Stay right there…" Will mumbled as he reached for a poké ball. He threw it out quickly.

With a loud shout, Blue materialised on the ground. Her sudden appearance spooked the spoink, who immediately bounced back into the foliage.

"Wait!" Will shouted. He started running forwards. "Let's get it, Blue!"

"Will, don't go too far!" Richard yelled as Will rushed after the wild spoink.

"This sort of thing happens to us a lot, doesn't it?" Nicola said, chuckling.

"That's the life of a pokémon trainer, I guess," James sighed. "Let's get after him!"

* * *

 _11:07am, 26_ _th_ _June 2006_

Fortunately, the spoink seemed to be retreating down the mountain rather than across the side. It was difficult trying to follow it, but it was better than ending up out on the open mountain side with no idea where they were.

"Hold on, Blue!" Will called as he and Blue dropped down from a higher level. The bagon ignored him and kept charging, which didn't surprise him. He pulled out a poké ball and threw it at the spoink anyway.

He was lucky – it just managed to glance off it as it tried to jump down to the next level. The poké ball dropped down and started shaking. Unsurprisingly, the spoink quickly burst back out again, but the brief delay it caused gave Blue enough time to bear down upon it.

"That's it – great work, Blue!" Will cheered as Blue smashed head first into the spoink.

The spoink squeaked in pain as it was thrown backwards. Narrowing its eyes, it fired a multi-coloured beam from the pearl on its head. Blue was caught off-guard and was hurled back into the cliff behind her. As she dropped forwards, she quickly recovered, and a grin appeared on her face. This was going to be fun!

"Use Dragon Breath!"

At Will's command, Blue fired a light blue blast towards the spoink. However, it suddenly cloaked itself in a golden aura. Blue's attack struck it, but it bounced right back at her.

"Whoa!" Will exclaimed as Blue was just barely able to dodge it. Maybe he'd underestimated this spoink. On the plus side, now that it thought it had the advantage, it looked like it was going to stand and fight them off instead of running further. "Use Headbutt!"

Interestingly, the spoink made no attempt to bounce back Blue's attack as she hurled herself towards it. There was a crash as the two pokémon tumbled down the nearby ledge and landed in a heap on the ground.

"There they are!" Richard gasped as he jumped down to the level above Will. "You're really getting too far ahead of us, Will!"

Will ignored him and jumped down to give Blue her next orders.

"Where is the spoink?" Nicola asked as she jumped down next to Richard.

"It looks like Will knows where it is," James said. He jumped down to join them as well.

"Use Dragon Breath!" Will called.

As the other three jumped down to join him, the two pokémon separated from each other and pulled back slightly. Blue took a deep breath and fired another blast of energy at the spoink. Once again, it cloaked itself in a golden aura and bounced the attack right back at her. This time, there wasn't a chance to dodge.

She cried out as the energy engulfed her. She felt the force of it lifting her off her feet. The burning sensation against her scales distracted her from the feeling of being thrown back through the air. The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground on her back. The adrenaline was still pumping though, and she hauled herself back to her feet – this really was a fun battle!

As she stood up, however, the spoink fired a swirling cluster of yellow orbs at her. They circled around her, dazzling her with their hypnotic patterns. She staggered about as she tried to reorient herself.

"Stay calm, Blue!" Will called. "Use Headbutt!"

Instead, Blue started thrashing about wildly – if she couldn't make sense of the situation, then it was better to just try and attack in every direction. Unfortunately, she tripped over and crashed to the ground. Seconds later, she was hit by another beam of psychic energy from the spoink.

"Stick it out, Blue – use Headbutt!" Will called.

Pulling herself up, Blue looked around in a daze. She spotted movement – the spoink bouncing as it watched her. Summoning up her energy, she threw herself forwards in a final effort. There was a crash as she tumbled into the spoink and knocked it back.

"Great work, Blue!" Will shouted. He already had a second poké ball at the ready.

This time, the ball's shaking wasn't interrupted. It sealed with a click, causing Will and Blue to cheer loudly.

"Wow! You caught it!" James said, grinning as he jumped down to join Will.

"Nice work, Will!" Nicola said, patting him on the back.

"You decided on a name for it?" Richard asked.

"I'm going to call her 'Grum'," Will replied. "Since she'll evolve into a grumpig." He grinned as he held up the poké ball. "I'm looking forward to travelling with you, Grum!"

* * *

 _12:53pm, 26_ _th_ _June 2006_

Amid the tough ledges and terrain on Jagged Pass, Grum bounced between boulders and rocks with precise accuracy. She travelled across the difficult ground seamlessly.

"Thanks, Grum!" Will called as she paused and looked back at them. He started following the route that she'd taken, while she waited for them to catch up. As he took another step, he suddenly slipped on a wet patch. "Whoa!"

"Look out!" Richard and James managed to reach out and grab him before he could fall.

"That was a close one," Nicola sighed.

Further down, Grum giggled in amusement, flashing a mischievous look at Will.

"She's been doing this quite a bit, hasn't she?" James said as he resumed following the path down the pass.

"Yeah. What do you think is up with her?" Richard asked.

"What are you talking about?" Will gave them a confused look. "Grum's being a great help!" He moved forwards and almost slipped on another wet patch that Grum had led him across.

"I guess that he just can't see it," Richard said, shaking his head.

"I reckon she's just annoyed at the fact that Will and Blue beat her," said James. He nodded in their direction. Sure enough, whenever Blue got close behind Grum, she was flicking her tail up to strike Blue's chin and knock her ever so slightly off-balance. It seemed pretty petty…

"Now that you mention it, she did seem pretty annoyed after the battle," said Nicola. "And it explains why she didn't just run away when Will was chasing her. She's been getting through here so easily that I'm sure she could have gotten away easily if she'd wanted."

"I hope that she forgives Will and Blue!" Richard grinned. "Though it could be pretty funny to watch…"

James smiled. He knew that Grum wasn't going to be much of a problem though. However she felt towards Will right now, she was still leading them down an easier and safer route than they'd been following before. They were making much faster progress now – there was no sign of all the ash that covered the upper levels of the pass. She wanted to get them down safely.

"Hey, guys! Look!" Will called from further down.

"What?" Richard called back as he carefully climbed down towards him.

"Down there!" Will pointed through a gap in the trees overhead.

As they got closer, James, Richard and Nicola followed his direction. Through the trees and the steadily falling rain, they could make out the distant sight of buildings nestled by the base of the volcano.

"Is that…?" Richard murmured.

"I think it is." Nicola nodded.

"It's Lavaridge Town," James said, pulling out his guidebook. "We're finally getting close!"

"I guess we all have Grum to thank for that!" Will grinned proudly.

James, Richard and Nicola all shared a look.

"…Yeah, sure!" James said, a tired smile on his face. Well, it was true after all, even if Grum seemed to be really enjoying causing trouble for Will. He couldn't help but admire his brother's obvious pride in her though. Maybe once they got to know each other better, they'd make a truly great team?

"What are we waiting for?" Nicola asked. "Let's get moving again!"

"Sure!" Will nodded. "Lead on, Grum!"

"By the way, did I mention the fact that there are loads of hot springs in Lavaridge Town?" James said as they started following Grum again.

"There are?!" Richard exclaimed. "Then I'm looking forwards to getting there even more than before!"

"Are we going to get any training done?" Nicola murmured, smiling to herself as she followed the others down. Well, there was no harm in taking a bit of time to relax, was there?

* * *

 **Another capture to keep you guys occupied for a while (and don't take that phrase lightly). Just like Nicola, Will seems to attract a load of pokémon that like causing trouble for him in some way or another. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like Grum is all that interested in stealing his food!**

 **Anyway, we're finally within grasping distance of Lavaridge Town. I hope that you're ready for the first gym battles in** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **since 2018 started!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	65. Cameruption! (Part 1)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group made their way up Mt. Chimney and then down Jagged Pass, where Will caught a wild spoink which he called 'Grum'.**

 **Upload Date: 15** **th** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 65: Cameruption! (Part 1)**

 _Lavaridge Town, Hoenn_

 _3:02pm, 26_ _th_ _June 2006_

Despite how close it was to Mt. Chimney and the fact that the ash plume rising from the volcano was very clearly visible above it, Lavaridge Town felt refreshingly calm and relaxed. With views out across the surrounding valley, it was probably a beautiful place when the weather wasn't so bad.

The rain had continued as the group had trekked wearily in from Jagged Pass. Even so, the fantastic feeling of just reaching their destination had been enough to keep their spirits up, and they'd walked into Lavaridge Town chatting cheerfully about their plans for taking down the Lavaridge gym.

They'd passed the gym itself on their way to the pokémon centre. It hadn't been as imposing as they'd been expecting, though it still stuck out like a sore thumb as a more modern building amid an otherwise pretty traditional and old-fashioned town. It also looked like it was having some work done to it – perhaps some renovations or repairs to the outside? In any case, they'd briefly passed the entrance to check and found that it was indeed open for business. They didn't have to feel rushed at all.

After getting to the pokémon centre, all four of them had turned over their pokémon so that they could rest up in preparation for what Nicola assumed would be a tough and intense series of training sessions to get themselves ready for their next gym battle. After booking rooms, she had left the boys so that she could dump her stuff and get ready to head on down to the indoor practice arena.

"I hope no one else is trying to train at the moment," she sighed as she glanced out of the window. The rain was still coming down. She didn't like the idea of going out and training in this weather. Still, if there was no other option, then they would just have to grit their teeth and bare it.

Nicola wasn't the same trainer she'd been back when she'd first stepped into the Rustboro gym over two months ago. She knew what needed to be done to make sure that she won her next gym badge, or at least to make sure that her battle wasn't a humiliation. She remembered scoffing at James and Richard the first time they'd gone out into the rain to practise with their pokémon – how silly she'd thought they were back then. But it was that dedication that had led them to victory in gym battles when she'd failed. She'd quickly learned not to underestimate the effort she needed to put in if she wanted to succeed.

After about twenty minutes of looking out at the rain and formulating training plans for each of her pokémon, Nicola finally pulled herself to her feet. Their pokémon would most likely be ready to be picked up now. It was time to begin training.

She left her room and briefly knocked on the boys' door as she passed. There was no response, but she'd been expecting that. They were probably already down there training.

She went down into the lobby and stopped off at the reception desk to take back her pokémon. They were all fighting fit, the nurse told her as she handed them back. That was just what Nicola wanted to hear. She felt oddly enthusiastic about the prospect of taking on the Lavaridge gym. Perhaps it was because she'd spent so much time preparing for contests that she was relieved to have the opportunity to just fight?

She finally reached the door to the indoor arena and pushed it open. Pausing in the entrance, she looked out over the two arenas within the room.

There was no one there.

"Huh?" she mumbled in surprise. "They aren't here?"

That was odd. Had she beaten them down? Maybe she should've waited for longer after knocking on their door…

She shook her head. They would have responded if they were in and she'd have run into them in the lobby if they'd come down after her. She frowned as she thought. Maybe they'd decided to go and train outside after all. She shuddered at the thought, but there was a part of it that made sense. The others preferred training outside anyway, so it wouldn't surprise her if they'd decided to go outside even in this weather.

Silently grumbling about them heading out without telling her, Nicola left the indoor arena and started walking back towards the entrance.

* * *

 _3:47pm, 26_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Ahhh! I could really get used to this," Richard sighed as he stretched his arms above his head, his shoulders soaking in the hot spring.

"This is exactly what I needed after that long trek down Jagged Pass," James said lazily, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back to immerse as much of himself in the warm water as possible.

Lavaridge was the town of hot springs, but the two of them had been surprised by exactly how many there were here. No less than five natural hot spring pools lay around the pokémon centre, with two of them having a large, straw roof built overhead to keep the rain off. The weather had made it quite cold outside, but the water was more than warm enough to counter that, as long as they kept themselves low in the pool.

"I can't believe that Will didn't want to come with us," said Richard. "Is he the kind of person who doesn't like hot springs?"

"Don't know," James replied. "But then he said he had something else that he wanted to do, right? Maybe he'll come and join us later?"

"There you are!"

James and Richard looked around at the sound of a voice.

Nicola was stood by the side of the hot springs, her clothes drenched and a thoroughly displeased look on her face.

Richard laughed. "What have you been up to?" he asked.

"What do you mean, 'what have I been up to'?" Nicola demanded. "I thought we were going to start training for the Lavaridge gym battle! I couldn't find you inside, so I tried looking for you at the public arenas!"

"How…long have you been looking?" James asked, blinking in surprise.

"About twenty minutes," Nicola replied bitterly. "Why are you two lazing about here instead of getting on with our training?"

"Ah, well," James replied awkwardly.

"Let me handle this, James!" Richard grinned. He turned back to look at Nicola. "You see, Nicola, we figured that everyone would be worn out after getting down Jagged Pass. There's no point in training when you're exhausted since that just means you're doing it for the sake of it instead of to actually improve."

"I-Is that how it works?" Nicola asked, frowning.

"Kinda," James said. "Training is definitely important and it's great to see that you're revved up for it, but I think it'll help all of us if we can relax for a bit. We can definitely do some more training tomorrow, when the weather might be better."

"You sure that you're not just saying that because you want to stay in the hot spring?" Nicola asked.

"Would we lie?" Richard asked with a grin.

"Probably," Nicola mumbled. She suddenly sneezed and shivered as a cold breeze blew against her soaked clothes.

"Why don't you go inside and get changed?" James said. "Go and get your swimsuit and you can come and join us."

"I guess you've got a point," Nicola sighed. She duly went back into the pokémon centre and returned about ten minutes later wearing her swimsuit.

"You don't want to be too tense going into a gym battle," Richard said as she stepped into the pool and dropped down into the water.

"It _is_ nice," Nicola said as she let herself soak. "But why didn't you guys tell me that this is what you were doing?"

"I guess we forgot!" James said, smiling guiltily at her. "Sorry about that."

"So, when _are_ we going to start training?" Nicola asked, looking between the two of them.

"Sometime tomorrow, I guess," Richard replied. "I'm too tired to do anything else today."

"Couldn't we at least do a bit of practising?" Nicola asked.

"You're still on edge!" James said. "I know that we're almost always training normally, but it isn't every day that you run into a town full of hot springs. Let's focus on relaxing for now and we'll worry about training tomorrow."

"If you say so…" Nicola let herself relax back against the side of the pool. Now that she wasn't talking, she noticed the sound of the rain pouring down around them. When she wasn't out in it, it was actually quite a relaxing sound. The warmth of the water was really seeping into her bones.

"Reminds me of those hot springs in the Sevii Islands," said Richard, looking over at James.

"Yeah…" James replied idly, not really paying much attention.

"Hey." Nicola looked around. "Where's Will?"

"Oh, he didn't come with us," Richard replied.

"Why not?"

"Dunno. Ask him when we get out."

"He said he had something else he wanted to do," said James. "Not sure what, but he went out just before we came in here. He might be back in the room for all we know."

"Not that it really matters to us…" Richard mumbled.

Well, he had a point there. Nicola settled back down and tried to turn her mind away from training and the upcoming gym battle. It felt nice not to have to worry for a change.

* * *

 _4:32pm, 26_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Whew! I feel well-rested!" Richard said loudly as he and James stood in the corridor outside the changing rooms. "We should come to places like this more often!"

"I'm glad that you're feeling better," James replied, a frown crossing his face. He always felt more drained after leaving a hot spring, as nice as it was. It was strange how exhausting it could be when he was just relaxing.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Nicola emerged from the women's changing room, her hair still slightly damp. Like James and Richard, her face was pink from the heat of the hot spring. "Are we heading back up now?"

"I thought so," said James. "I kinda feel like having a nap right now, honestly."

"Same," Nicola sighed. "I'm glad that you said we wouldn't do any more training today."

"We did plenty before we got here," Richard said as they started walking back to their rooms.

The training session earlier in the day hadn't been quite what they normally did. After clearing the bottom of Jagged Pass, Richard and Will had stopped for a quick bout between Chena and Blue. Hardly a regular training session, though both had learned how to use Crunch in the process.

"Hey, guys!"

As they walked through the lobby, they spotted Will coming back through the entrance.

"You're back?" James asked. "Did you get done what you wanted to get done?"

"Of course, I did," Will replied. He held up the plastic bag he was carrying. "I stopped off at one of the local shops and bought these…"

"What are they?" Richard asked.

"Lava cookies," Will replied enthusiastically.

"You still want to eat more of those?" Nicola screwed up her face in disgust. "Just keep them away from me, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" Will said angrily. "These aren't like those ones up the mountain – these are proper, professionally cooked Lava Cookies."

"Whatever, Will," James replied as he and the others turned back to walk towards the staircase.

"Hey, wait for me!" Will ran to catch up to them.

They made their way back to the boys' room and went inside.

"I'll head back to my room in a bit," said Nicola. "I just want to watch Will eat these 'superior' Lava Cookies."

"You sure you don't want to try them yourself?" Will asked, pulling out the packet of Lava Cookies he'd bought.

"We're fine." The three of them waved their hands dismissively.

"Your loss." Will shrugged. He opened the packet and pulled out a cookie. He took a big bite out of it. A strange look came over his face – a mixture of horror and disgust. "Ugh," he groaned after swallowing.

"Wait, it's _worse_ than the ones up on Mt. Chimney?!" Nicola exclaimed.

"They're horrible!" Will cried. "Nothing at all like the ones from yesterday!"

"Wow! I didn't think Lava Cookies could get any worse," Richard sighed.

"Here! You try it!" Will thrust the rest of his cookie towards James.

"I'm fine, thanks," James said, immediately recoiling.

"Seriously." Will kept coming. "Just a bite!"

"Ugh." James reluctantly took the cookie and cautiously bit into it. Much to his surprise, there was no trace of the dry, crumbly texture of the cookie he'd tried the previous day. This one was soft, almost gooey, and it seemed to melt as he chewed it. The cookie wasn't burnt at all and instead had a pleasant sweet flavour – strong enough to get his attention, but not overpowering. So, this was a properly-made Lava Cookie?

"H-How is it?" Richard asked cautiously, watching James' reaction.

"It's…actually really nice," James murmured, stunned at the words coming from his own mouth.

"No way!" Will exclaimed in genuine shock. "It's nothing like that cookie from yesterday!"

"That's what's good about it!" James retorted. He took another bite of the cookie.

"You'd better not be pulling my leg," Richard said, gingerly reaching for a cookie himself. The doubt disappeared from his face as he took a bite. "Wow! They really are good!"

"Seriously?!" Nicola cried. She took a cookie herself and tried it.

"How do you _not_ like these?" Richard asked, turning back to Will.

"Yeah," James added. "How can you tolerate those awful ones from up the mountain, but not these ones?"

"Are you kidding?" Will demanded. "They taste weird and aren't crunchy at all!"

"That's why they're good!" Nicola replied. She eagerly ate up the rest of her cookie and took a second one from the packet. "You don't mind if we eat these, do you?"

"Be my guest," Will muttered, shaking his head. "That was such a disappointment."

"You're weird," James, Richard and Nicola all said, looking at him.

* * *

 _12:57pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

As tempting as the hot springs had been, James, Richard and Nicola had been able to force themselves away and out to the gym to book slots for later in the day. Much to their frustration, it had still been raining and they'd decided to stick to the indoor arena all morning while they trained. It was a sharp return to the usual routine after an afternoon of blissful detachment.

As they walked back into the lobby of the Lavaridge gym, the atmosphere fully returned to the normal pressure of the gym challenge. After such a long gap since their last gym battles, it somehow felt like there was even more pressure than normal as well.

"Well, I guess we'll see you in a bit," said Richard, turning back as he reached the stairs up to the stands.

"Sure." Nicola nodded. Even the training and her nerves hadn't truly dampened her enthusiasm. She and her team were all warmed up from their training session and she wanted to take advantage of that before her nerves could truly return and take over.

"Give it your best shot," said James. "Remember that you haven't fought a gym battle in a while – it doesn't matter how this goes."

"You're saying that like I'm about to lose," Nicola said, frowning.

"It's always good to prepare for any situation," James replied with a grin. "I'm sure you'll be fine!"

"Yeah, good luck," Will added. "I'm looking forward to seeing you back in action after all this time."

"It's not like I haven't been doing anything all this time," Nicola replied. She sighed. "Still, thanks." She waved to the three of them as they climbed the stairs. "Right!" Turning to face the corridor, she started walking towards the arena.

* * *

 _1:01pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

The inside of the Lavaridge gym was swelteringly hot and it only seemed to get worse as Nicola stepped out into the arena itself. Steam hung heavily in the air, drenching her with condensation as she moved, and it was so hot that she momentarily found her vision going funny. She definitely wanted to make sure that this battle didn't last any longer than it had too.

Still, it was a pretty clear signal of what to expect from the battle: only fire-type pokémon would be at home in this heat. Even if the steam was making the room muggy, humid and, above all, wet, this still felt very much like the domain of the kinds of pokémon who'd happily live on the slopes of a volcano.

As she took her position at the edge of the arena, Nicola looked across and noticed her opponent appear from the hazy steam. A young woman with wild hair and, sensibly, dressed lightly stepped up to the gym leader's corner and opened her mouth.

"Hi…urk…I-I mean, welcome to the famous Lavaridge gym!" she called, stumbling over her words a little. "I-I'm Flannery, the gym leader here. I hope you're ready for a fiery battle!"

"Th-Thanks," Nicola replied. "I'm Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town."

The referee stood at the side of the arena glanced between the two before starting to speak. "This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Lavaridge gym leader, Flannery, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town! This battle will be fought using a three-on-three single format and will be over when all of one side's pokémon are unable to battle! In addition, only the challenger may substitute pokémon! Are you both ready!"

Nicola and Flannery both nodded as they reached for their first poké balls.

"Begin!"

"Go, Slugma!" Flannery called, throwing out her ball.

"Go, Mule!" Nicola shouted.

Both pokémon called out as they burst from the balls and materialised on the ground. Both seemed perfectly content to fight in these conditions.

"Slugma, huh?" Nicola murmured, pulling out her Pokédex and pointing it at Flannery's pokémon.

" _Slugma, the lava pokémon. Slugma do not have any blood in their bodies. Instead, intensely hot magma circulates throughout these pokémon's bodies, carrying essential nutrients and oxygen to their organs. They can decrease the temperature of the surface of their bodies but doing so for an extended period causes them to harden and become brittle_."

"Use Sunny Day!" Flannery called.

With a shout, Slugma fired a burning orb into the air above the arena, illuminating everything and instantly raising the temperature even further.

"So hot…" Nicola gasped. She glanced over at Mule. "Use Take Down!"

Mule nodded and charged forwards at a modest pace. Slugma skirted to the side as she approached before suddenly firing a rock from the ground. Mule grunted in surprise and pain as the attack hit her and knocked her to the side.

"Overheat!" Flannery called.

Slugma nodded and fired an intense, white flame at Mule as she struggled to regain her balance. The attack engulfed her and forced her back towards Nicola.

"Are you okay, Mule?" Nicola cried in alarm. She was taken aback by the ferocity of the gym leader's attacks. Maybe she was rusty after so long away, but the battle really did feel like it was more intense than what she'd experienced before.

"Use Rock Throw again!" Flannery called, apparently not intending to let up even a tiny bit.

Nicola gritted her teeth. "Use Ember!" she called.

As Slugma threw another rock at Mule, she responded with a stream of embers. It did little other than slow down the attack, but it gave her the chance to sidestep and get out of the way.

Slugma quickly responded with another rock, this time scoring a direct hit and knocking Mule backwards. Battered and bruised, Mule gave herself a shake as she stepped forwards again.

"Use Amnesia!" Nicola called.

Mule nodded, a blank look coming over her face. She instantly forgot the pain of the previous attacks.

"Wow! This is pretty intense," Richard said, looking down at the battlefield as Slugma and Mule started exchanging attacks again. "I wasn't expecting Slugma to have a rock-type move."

"It's a bit of an odd one," James said, nodding. "I could definitely understand wanting a move that's effective against types fire pokémon are weak to, but one that's effective against other fire types?"

"Well, it's working," said Will, nodding at the arena.

Mule had smashed into Slugma with a powerful tackle, but the lava pokémon had recovered and, though grimacing in pain, flung another rock at the numel. Mule cried out in pain as she was hit and stumbled backwards to absorb the impact. She was starting to look exhausted after the constant barrage of attacks.

"Finish this up with another Rock Throw!" Flannery called.

Slugma hurled another rock towards Mule, aiming for the final knockout.

"Jump back!" Nicola called. As Mule pulled back just enough to avoid the attack, she added, "use Magnitude!"

Mule let out a shout and slammed her forelegs into the ground as hard as she could.

"Whoa!" Flannery exclaimed in surprise as the arena started shaking intensely.

Slugma wobbled around as the ground cracked around her. She was finally thrown into the air by the force of the shaking and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Slugma is unable to battle!" the referee called out through the steam. "Numel is the winner!"

"Whew!" Nicola wiped the sweat and condensation from her forehead. "Great work, Mule!"

Mule grunted happily and nodded at her before turning back to face Flannery as she recalled her fallen pokémon.

"Alright!" Flannery put Slugma's poké ball away and pulled out her next ball. "Go, Torkoal!"

"Torkoal?" Nicola reached for her Pokédex again as Torkoal materialised on the arena floor.

" _Torkoal, the coal pokémon. A torkoal digs through mountains in search of coal. If it finds some, it fills hollow spaces on its shell with the coal and burns it. If it is attacked, this pokémon spouts thick black smoke to beat a retreat. When loosing smoke from its nostrils, it lets off a sound that is similar to a locomotive's horn._ "

"Use Body Slam!" Flannery ordered.

Torkoal immediately stormed forwards, moving faster than Nicola had been expecting. She slammed into Mule with a heavy blow, knocking her back and pushing her onto the defensive.

"Now use Overheat!"

Just as Mule regained her composure, she was struck by an intense blast of white-hot flames. Even as a fire type herself, it was unbearably hot, and she staggered backwards before hunkering down to try and withstand it.

As Torkoal lifted the attack, she grabbed a small, white leaf that was edged in her shell and ate it. The momentary fatigue from using such an intense attack quickly vanished and she seemed reenergised.

Nicola could already tell what was coming next and immediately raised Mule's poké ball. "Return!"

Mule was hit by the recall and was returned to her ball. Silence briefly fell on the arena as Flannery and Torkoal waited for Nicola to make her next move.

"She's doing pretty well," said Richard. "Things are about even at the moment and she's still got Kipa she can call on."

"Will Kipa be able to help in this heat though?" Will wondered.

"I don't think that his skin would dry out," James replied. "It's humid in here as well as hot…"

"Go, Zaggy!"

Much to their surprise, it was Zaggy's ball that Nicola had thrown out. He landed on the battlefield, making a face as he felt the heat hit him.

"Use Body Slam!" Nicola called.

Zaggy reluctantly started charging towards Torkoal, weaving and zigzagging as he did.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

Torkoal took a deep breath and expressed another blast of white-hot flames with all the power of her previous attack against Mule.

"Dig!" Nicola yelled.

At the last moment, Zaggy scrapped at the arena floor and disappeared from sight. The intense flames passed overhead before fizzling out. Torkoal looked around in a daze for a couple of seconds before the ground next to her suddenly erupted. Zaggy burst from the hole and smashed into her side, knocking her over onto her back.

"Body Slam!" Nicola called.

Zaggy threw himself towards Torkoal and slammed himself down on her exposed underbelly. Torkoal cried out in pain and tried to rock herself upright as Zaggy continued crashing into her.

"Overheat!" Flannery yelled.

With a nod, Torkoal fired another intense blast of flames at Zaggy. It was at such a close range that he had no chance to dodge and was quickly engulfed with a yelp. It wasn't as powerful as the last one, but it was still a dangerous attack.

As Zaggy tumbled off of her and started writhing around on the ground, Torkoal heaved herself to the side and managed to get back on her feet.

"Use Body Slam!"

As Zaggy finally shook off the last of the flames, he and Torkoal charged at each other. At the last moment, he spotted Nicola making a tiny gesture and immediately started digging again. He disappeared into the hole just before Torkoal could hit him.

"Use Overheat in the hole!" Flannery yelled.

Torkoal stopped and fired another blast of flames into the opening Zaggy had created. As she did, though, Zaggy erupted from the ground behind her. The flames caught up as he leaped out, singing his tail. He slammed into Torkoal from behind, sending her tumbling forwards.

However, she managed to stay on her feet and spun around to charge back. There was a crash as she collided with Zaggy and sent him smashing into the ground with a loud thud.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Torkoal is the winner!"

"You did great out there, Zaggy," Nicola said as she recalled him to his poké ball. She found herself shaking slightly, partly from nerves and partly from the exhilaration. Mule technically hadn't been defeated, but realistically there was no way she'd be returning to the battlefield. She was down to her last pokémon.

Fortunately, Zaggy had managed to weaken Torkoal a lot. She didn't think that there'd be much trouble defeating her. It was just whatever pokémon Flannery was still holding back in reserve that worried her.

"Go, Kipa!" she called, hurling out her final poké ball.

Kipa called out eagerly as he emerged from the ball and landed on the arena floor. He quickly adopted a battle stance and waited for his orders.

"Use Body Slam!" Flannery called to Torkoal.

Torkoal nodded and started charging forwards. She was moving much slower now – the speed from the previous round was long gone.

"Mud Shot!" Nicola shouted.

Kipa didn't hesitate. He fired a blast of mud towards Torkoal as she approached. She attempted to dodge, but he was easily able to keep up with her. There was a cry as the attack hit and Torkoal was blasted back.

"Finish up with Water Gun!" Nicola called.

Kipa fired a blast of water, striking Torkoal and drenching her completely. She staggered backwards and finally collapsed to the floor.

"Torkoal is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Marshtomp is the winner!"

"Keep it up, Kipa!" Nicola called urgently as Flannery recalled Torkoal. Just because they had momentum didn't mean that they were in the clear.

"Go, Camerupt!" Flannery shouted, throwing her final poké ball.

Camerupt roared as she burst from the ball and materialised on the arena floor.

"Camerupt?" Nicola whipped out her Pokédex again.

" _Camerupt, the eruption pokémon and the evolved form of numel. The humps on a camerupt's back are formed by a transformation of its bones. They sometimes blast out molten magma. This pokémon apparently erupts often when it is enraged._ "

"Use Tackle!" Flannery called.

With a grunt, Camerupt stormed forwards, the ground vibrating slightly with each step.

"Water Gun!" Nicola shouted, keeping her voice as calm as she could.

Kipa was quick to fire a blast of water towards his approaching foe. However, Camerupt suddenly fired a powerful blast of white-hot flames at him. The jet of water evaporated in the face of the intense attack.

"Go defensive!" Nicola just managed to shout out before the flames engulfed Kipa. They swirled around for a few seconds before dissipating. As soon as they had vanished, Camerupt careened into Kipa, knocking him backwards.

"Now use Tackle again!" Flannery called.

With another grunt, Camerupt threw herself towards Kipa again. She smashed into him a second time, knocking him onto his back. He still staggered back to his feet though, dazed and with his skin blistered and peeling.

Camerupt prepared to hit him a third time, but Kipa suddenly let out a shout. Unleashing all the energy he'd stored up withstanding the attacks, he slammed into Camerupt in a furious counter-attack. There was enough force that he was briefly able to lift the immensely heavy pokémon off the ground.

"Whoa!" Flannery gasped as Camerupt crashed to the ground. "That was much stronger than I was expecting!"

"Don't underestimate us!" Nicola gasped, wiping the moisture from her face. "We trained hard for this and we don't give up just because the opponent is bigger than us!"

"Then let's continue!" Flannery called enthusiastically. "Camerupt loves being able to let loose."

To answer her, Camerupt lifted herself back up and spat another intense burst of flames towards Kipa. This time, he skilfully dodged it and returned fire with a blast of mud. The two continued exchanging attacks, with both sides growing steadily more and more exhausted. Kipa had the advantage for manoeuvrability, but Camerupt's endurance in the face of his water-type attacks was incredible.

"Use Water Gun!" Nicola shouted.

Finishing another dodge, Kipa started charging towards Camerupt while firing a blast of water from his mouth.

"Earthquake!" Flannery shouted.

The arena shook violently as Camerupt stamped the ground. For a brief few moments, nothing seemed to make sense as everyone, already suffering in the heat, was flung about. Kipa was flung back, landing with a crash.

As he hauled himself painfully up again, Camerupt charged forwards to finish him off with one final blow.

"Mud Shot!" Nicola yelled. "Aim for the legs!"

Kipa aimed low and spat a stream of mud at his opponent. As Camerupt ran forwards, her hooves slipped on the wet mud. She slammed down on her front with a loud bang.

"Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

"Water Gun!" Nicola yelled.

Kipa tried to summon up a blast of water but no longer had any water left to fire. As he watched Camerupt building up flames in her mouth, he hurled himself forwards in a final, reckless charge. He slammed hard into Camerupt just before she could fire.

Both pokémon stumbled and slumped to the ground, Kipa face-first next to Camerupt. Both pokémon lay still, exhausted by the fighting.

"Both pokémon are unable to battle, so this round is a draw!" the referee called. "All three of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"Whew!" Nicola had to take a step back as the reality of her victory hit her. Her face, tense for so long while her pokémon had fought in the intense heat, finally broke into a smile.

"I guess we've still got a way to go before we're a proper gym team!" Flannery said, laughing awkwardly as she recalled Camerupt. "That battle was loads of fun – I'm glad that I got to fight you!"

"Thanks," Nicola replied, recalling Kipa to his poké ball to keep his injuries from getting worse. "You were pretty tough yourself – I wasn't sure that I'd be able to win at some points!"

"You're being too hard on yourself!" Flannery said as she walked over. She pulled out a small, orange badge shaped like a flame. "This is the Heat Badge. Congrats on your victory!"

Nicola thanked her again as she took the badge.

Up in the stands, James got to his feet. "I guess it's time for me to head on down."

"Go get 'em!" Richard grinned back. "Since Nicola won, I'm sure you won't have much trouble."

"Well, yeah," James replied. "But it always pays to be careful!"

With a farewell nod, he turned and started walking back towards the lobby.

* * *

 **One down, two to go.**

 **I haven't had a chance to give this chapter a proper proofread, so if you find any mistakes please let me know. I don't really have much else I want to say apart from how excited I am about the prospect of putting out the milestone chapter, Chapter 66, next week. Hope to see you again then!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	66. Cameruption! (Part 2)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of a story in which 60% of current chapters** _ **don't**_ **have a focus on Nicola (and a further 12% only partially focus on her)!**

 **Last time, Nicola fought her gym battle against Flannery. It ended in a victory for Nicola, earning her the Heat Badge. Now, it's James' turn to step forward and battle the Lavaridge gym leader.**

 **Upload Date: 19** **th** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 66: Cameruption! (Part 2)**

 _Lavaridge Town, Hoenn_

 _1:21pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

James wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stepped out of the door to the stands and back into the much more comfortable temperature of the lobby. He felt his clothes as he started walking down the stairs towards the passage to the arena. They weren't soaked, but there was a layer of water condensation that had built up on them. Wiping his hand across his T-shirt left water dripping from his fingers.

Now that he was back in the cool air, the fuzziness that had surrounded his brain in the murky, humid atmosphere of the arena was starting to disappear. It was annoying that it would soon be back again once he was down in the arena itself. Still, he was confident that he'd be able to direct his team's battle without any problems. The gym leader's strategy had been simple and blunt. Not at all like the more refined fighting styles he was used to seeing in pokémon gyms.

"Hey!"

He snapped out of his thoughts as he spotted Nicola appear from the entrance to the passage and heard her call out to him. "Nice work in that battle, Nicola," he said. "You really have become a strong trainer!"

"Thanks," Nicola replied, smiling proudly at him. "It means a lot coming from you, James."

"So, got any advice for those still to go?"

"Hmm." Nicola paused for a second to think. "Her attacks are really powerful, so make sure that you're paying attention to when your pokémon need to dodge them."

"Hey, you're getting better at giving advice as well!" James grinned. He high-fived her as he walked past her. "I'll see you in a bit!"

"Yeah!" Nicola called back as she started climbing the stairs. "Good luck, James!"

* * *

 _1:23pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Great work out there, Nicola," Richard said as Nicola made her way down the aisle towards him and Will. "You're up to four badges now."

"Yeah!" Nicola nodded eagerly as she sat down next to him. "For now, I've got the same number of badges as you!"

"We'll soon see about that!" Richard grinned back.

"Yeah," Nicola replied idly. It was much hotter up here than it had been down in the arena. She was starting to wonder how the others had been able to stand it for so long.

"Begin!"

Down below, the referee had finished giving his pre-battle announcement. Both Flannery and James had reached for their first poké balls.

"Go, Torkoal!" Flannery shouted as she threw her ball.

"I choose you, Muro!" James called.

Both pokémon burst out of the balls and materialised on the arena floor, Muro hopping uncomfortably on the hot rock beneath his feet. His opponent, Torkoal, quickly adopted a battle stance and faced him confidently.

"Use Body Slam!" Flannery called.

Torkoal immediately stormed forwards. As she attempted to smash into Muro, he quickly dodged to the side and spun around. With a shout, he charged at Torkoal's exposed flank and smashed his foot down hard.

There was a dull thud as Torkoal crashed to the ground, but it looked as though it was Muro who had come off worst. He limped back, clutching his throbbing foot. That shell was far harder than it looked.

"Attract!" Flannery ordered.

At once, Torkoal hauled herself back to her feet and shot an alluring look at Muro. He immediately forgot about the pain in his foot, but only so that he could start gazing at Torkoal with a besotted look in his eyes.

"Come on, Muro! Snap out of it!" James shouted out in irritation.

However, Muro continued swaying about, unwilling to attack his new crush. Unfortunately, Torkoal was unwilling to return the favour and charged towards him. She smashed into him with a heavy blow, knocking him backwards with a loud thud. He gasped in pain.

"Use Uproar!" James shouted.

Muro managed to stagger back to his feet as Torkoal got off him. After looking around in a daze for several crucial seconds, he finally emitted a series of deafening shouts. He stamped his feet as the move took over his mind and temporarily cleared his infatuation. It was going to be a while before he calmed down again.

Torkoal hissed in pain as the soundwaves hit her. She held her ground and prepared to move forwards again. Detecting a momentary lapse in Muro's attack, she charged forwards and slammed into him. Though he was knocked back, Muro quickly pulled himself up again and continued shouting.

"Use Stomp!" James yelled, noticing that Torkoal was preparing another attack.

Muro's mind was still somewhat clear as he raised his foot and slammed it down hard on Torkoal as she approached. Again, he recoiled clutching his foot, but it seemed like the shock of the impact had had an effect on Torkoal.

"Use Body Slam again!" Flannery called as Torkoal staggered back to her feet.

"Use Screech!" James shouted.

As Torkoal started charging forwards again, Muro emitted a loud screech from his speaker-like ears. The intense soundwave blasted Torkoal directly, causing her to stumble backwards in shock. As he started to move forwards to attack, however, Muro was suddenly seized by his infatuation again. He came to a stop, gazing at Torkoal as if shocked that he'd just been attacking her.

"Come on, Muro!" James yelled. "We don't have time for this!"

"Now's your chance, Torkoal!" Flannery shouted. "Use Overheat!"

With a shout, Torkoal pulled herself together and fired an intense blast of flames at Muro. Despite James' shouts, the loudred just stood there in a daze as the inferno approached him. The arena lit up as the flames engulfed him, swirling around and sending blasts of intensely hot flames flying in all directions.

"Ouch! That's hot!" Richard exclaimed as one of the heatwaves hit him, Will, and Nicola.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "I don't think that Muro will be able to hold out much longer…"

"You think he'll be able to survive that attack?" Will asked.

"Maybe," Richard replied. "But Flannery probably won't stop here."

Sure enough, Torkoal charged forwards as soon as she'd run out of flames.

As they dissipated, James could see that Muro was still standing, but he was staggering slightly, and his body was badly burned. James didn't think that he'd ever seen flames this powerful before.

"Muro, you've got to pull back!" he shouted.

Muro looked about in a daze as he tried to register what was happening. Seconds later, Torkoal ploughed into him, sending him crashing to the hot arena floor with a loud thud.

"Loudred is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Torkoal is the winner!"

"Good work, Muro," James said, frowning as he recalled him to his poké ball. He'd clearly underestimated Torkoal, not to mention the impact of Attract. He couldn't afford to hold anything back now – he had to power through as best as he could.

Up in the stands, the other three watched patiently.

"Losing Muro will be a tough blow," Nicola said. "He's a good, all-round pokémon for James to rely on."

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "Only Charka has as much endurance as him. Kacha and Nulin have to rely more on their dodging."

"Charka and Nulin would both be good choices here though," said Will. "Water-type attacks are strong against fire-type pokémon, and Charka can resist fire-type attacks as well."

"Don't forget about Kacha," said Richard. "He's got some pretty powerful moves he can use now."

Down in the arena, James had finally pulled out his second poké ball. "Go, Nulin!"

The wingull cried out as he materialised above the arena. Like Muro, he was taken aback by the heat of the arena and flapped his wings uncomfortably.

"Use Body Slam!" Flannery immediately ordered.

Torkoal was quick to respond, charging forwards towards the wingull. Nulin, however, wasn't going to just sit around and wait to be hit. He quickly gained height and flew over Torkoal.

"Use Water Pulse!" James shouted.

Nulin didn't hesitate. He fired an orb of water towards Torkoal as she struggled to turn herself around. It burst in the air and sent a shockwave and blast of water tumbling down onto his opponent. Torkoal cried out in pain as she was flung back with a crash. Combined with the damage she'd taken during the fight with Muro, she was starting to really flag. She still pulled herself back up though and started plodding back towards Nulin, who hung in the air as he waited for his next orders.

"Water Pulse again!" James shouted.

"Overheat!" Flannery ordered.

Nulin fired another orb of water just as Torkoal expelled a blast of flames towards him. The water quickly evaporated as the flames hit it, but the shockwave still went off. The flames scattered outwards with the blast, giving Nulin a chance to fly out of danger.

"And again!" James yelled.

The wingull fired another ball of water down at Torkoal. Though she first tried to counter-attack and then attempted to dodge, she wasn't able to escape. As the ball burst, the shockwave hit her and forced her to the ground. It disoriented and stunned her. A second later, the water smashed into her, sending her flying. She crashed hard to the ground and lay still.

"Torkoal is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Wingull is the winner!"

"Yes!" James grinned. He gave Nulin a thumbs-up as he circled back round to his side of the field.

"You put up a good fight, Torkoal," Flannery said, smiling as she recalled the fallen pokémon to her ball. Reaching for her belt, she pulled off her second ball. "Go, Slugma!"

Slugma burst from the ball and materialised on the ground. She gave Nulin a determined look – he might have been a water type, but that didn't mean that she was going to be afraid of him.

James could respect that attitude in many ways. He'd always thought that it must be hard trying to train a team that was entirely one type. But then he supposed that doing so meant becoming even more familiar with that type's weaknesses and how to counter them.

Coming out of his thoughts, he looked up at Nulin and nodded. "Use Water Pulse!"

Nulin quickly dove into action. With a shout, he dived towards Slugma and fired a ball of water towards him. Slugma was quick to move as well, however. As the ball burst, she was already moving quickly to the side. Some of the water splashed her, but she managed to escape the worst of the attack.

"Get closer and use Water Pulse again!" James ordered.

Nulin cried out in agreement and dived in again, this time aiming straight at Slugma, as if he were going for a physical attack instead. This time, Slugma seemed content to hold her ground, watching him closely as he drew closer.

"Use Rock Throw!" Flannery shouted.

Just as Nulin opened his beak to fire his attack, Slugma hurled a large rock towards him. The suddenness and speed of the attack was too much for him to react to in time. He made a last-second attempt at dodging but was still struck hard by the flying rock.

"Nulin!" James shouted in alarm as the wingull was thrown back by the force of the attack. He crashed to the ground, the rock landing on top of him and shattering into countless pieces. Still, he struggled up and started flapping his wings to take flight again.

"Once more!" Flannery called, not wasting a moment.

With a shout, Slugma hurled another rock. As it tumbled through the air, Nulin desperately tried to get airborne. At the last moment, he tried firing a blast of water at the rock, only for it to do nothing.

There was a crash as the second rock smashed into Nulin and split apart. The wingull lay on the ground, bruised, battered, and finally beaten.

"Wingull is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Slugma is the winner!"

"Great job, Slugma!" Flannery called, sharing a confident grin with her slugma, who grinned back at her.

James gritted his teeth as he recalled Nulin. Things were going wrong – Nulin should have been able to crush Slugma without much difficulty. He'd known that Slugma could use rock-type attacks, but he hadn't expected them to come so quickly that Nulin wouldn't be able to dodge. Well, he wasn't going to underestimate the problem now. He pulled out his final poké ball. "Go, Kacha!"

Kacha cried out as he emerged from the ball and landed on the arena floor. He started hopping frantically due to the heat.

"Use Thunderbolt!" James called. Unlike Charka, Kacha wouldn't be vulnerable to rock-type attacks – he'd be able to finish off Slugma without much difficulty.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery called.

Slugma started moving but started her attack too late. Kacha's attack struck her and sent powerful bolts of electricity racing through her body. She cried out in pain, her muscles twitching as Kacha lifted his attack.

"Now use Brick Break!" James ordered, not wanting to give up their momentum. "And Agility!" he quickly added as Kacha started running.

As Slugma pulled herself back up, she tried to fire a blast of white-hot flames towards Kacha, only for him to suddenly vanish from sight. He reappeared behind her and slugged her with a powerful punch, his fist glowing a dark red colour.

"Now use Thunderbolt again!" James shouted.

As he leapt back from Slugma, Kacha charged up and fired another blast of electricity. Slugma screamed out as she was electrocuted a second time. She moved back away from Kacha, trying to get some space.

"Use Thunderbolt once more!" James yelled.

"Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

Slugma fired a blast of white-hot flames towards Kacha, managing to strike him before he could fire his attack. Though the flames were much weaker than they had been earlier on, the pikachu still shouted in pain as he was engulfed.

A second later, he tore through the flames and dived towards Slugma. His fist glowing dark red, he slammed into her with a powerful punch. Slugma fell backwards and slumped down to the ground.

"Slugma is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Pikachu is the winner!"

"You okay, Kacha?" James asked as the pikachu quickly scampered back over to him. "You didn't get burned by that last attack, did you?"

Kacha squeaked cheerfully and gave him a grin – he was still in good shape. Though there were countless scorch marks on his fur, there didn't seem to be any particularly painful burns that might hurt when he continued fighting.

James had been a little scared by that last attack, but it seemed like Kacha was going into the final round in almost as good a condition as he had the previous one. That was a relief – the last thing they needed was to be at a significant disadvantage at this crucial stage of the battle. He felt much more confident now.

"Go, Numel!" Flannery called as she threw out her final poké ball.

James' heart sank again. Numel – the pre-evolved form of camerupt and the very same pokémon that Nicola had on her team. He was familiar with Mule, how she fought, and what her strengths and weaknesses were. It was a bad matchup for Kacha.

He took a deep breath. "Use Agility and then Brick Break!"

Kacha reacted instantly, charging forwards so quickly that he briefly became a blur. He slowed down as he reached Numel's flank and threw a powerful punch at her. Numel grunted in pain and stumbled slightly to the side. A heavy pokémon like that wasn't going to be pushed around that easily, but James and Kacha hoped that they could wear her down slowly through continual attacks.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery called.

Numel immediately turned and fired an intense blast of flames at Kacha, who only just managed to jump out of the way in time. As he skidded to a halt to Numel's right, she turned and started charging towards him.

"Brick Break!" James yelled, knowing that that was their only choice.

His fist glowing a dark red colour, Kacha pulled his arm back and then threw another punch at Numel as she careened towards him. He managed to land a blow on the base of her neck, causing her to cry out in pain. It wasn't enough to stop her advance, though, and she smashed into him, sending him flying back.

"You okay, Kacha?" James called anxiously as Kacha landed with a soft thud.

Kacha cried out reassuringly to him as he pulled himself back up.

"Alright, use Brick Break again!"

"Overheat!"

As Kacha charged towards Numel, he was met by a blast of intense flames heading back in his direction. However, he reacted quickly and dodged around to keep himself from harm. The more dull-witted Numel couldn't react fast enough to change the direction of her attack. Kacha slammed into her side with another powerful punch. Though she stood her ground once more, it looked like she was starting to feel the effects of the repeated attacks.

"Use Brick Break again!" James yelled as Kacha dodged another clumsy tackle from Numel.

Kacha nodded and threw another punch, this time striking the side of Numel's face. She cried out in pain and staggered to the left slightly.

"Use Magnitude!" Flannery shouted.

With a nod, Numel stamped the ground aggressively.

"Watch out, Kacha!" James yelled in alarm.

Kacha yelped as he was thrown into the air by the shockwave that passed around the room. He crashed back to the ground painfully and was thrown around again by the continuing aftershocks.

"Sunny Day!" Flannery yelled. "Then use Overheat!"

Numel fired a glowing, fiery orb into the air above the battlefield, covering the arena with bright light that made it even more difficult to see in the steam. She fired another blast of white-hot flames, the flames growing stronger as if fed by the light above. Kacha, still struggling to pull himself back to his feet after the earthquake, was hit directly and blasted back by the intense flames. He came to rest a short distance away, still struggling to get up, but with his body now covered in nasty burns. Whether he had any energy left or not made no difference.

"That's enough," said James, raising a hand to signal to the referee. "We admit defeat."

The referee nodded approvingly before making the announcement: "The challenger has forfeited the battle, so this match goes to the gym leader, Flannery!"

James' heart sank as he heard those words. He suddenly felt very weak, as if all his strength had drained out of him. He recalled Kacha to his poké ball and clenched his fist in frustration. Already, there was a voice in the back of his head chastising him for all the mistakes he'd made in that battle. Mistakes that he shouldn't have made.

"Hey, bad luck out there!" Flannery called over cheerfully. "I can tell that you and your team are really tough though, so I hope we'll get to battle again some time!"

"Yeah, sure." James nodded, working hard to regulate his tone and the words he used. He was irritated by the light-hearted way Flannery was speaking, but he didn't want to show it. If there was anything he hated more than losing, it was looking like a sore loser.

Up in the stands, Richard, Nicola and Will had watched the end of the battle in silence.

"Flannery is much tougher than I thought she was after your battle," Richard mumbled, glancing at Nicola.

"She made me work for that victory," Nicola replied seriously, looking him dead in the eye. "If you think that someone is easy to beat because I could win against them, then you're in for a shock."

Richard laughed hollowly. "Of course. Sorry."

"Well, I guess you're up next, Richard," Will said, turning to look at him. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Richard replied, frowning as he got to his feet. "I feel like I might need it."

Nicola and Will watched him walk away. Down in the arena, James had also left the room.

"Is he worried?" Will asked. "He's got a great team to use against fire types though…"

"How so?"

"I mean, any pokémon on his team that has a type weakness to fire has another type that resists it," Will replied. "Dish is grass-, but also water-type. Arro is steel-, but also rock-type."

"If you look at it another way, all his pokémon who have strengths against fire types also have a weakness to them," Nicola replied. She frowned as she watched Richard leave the stands. "I mean, his team is still tough and all, but I feel a bit like…I don't know."

"Like it won't be that simple?" Will asked.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. She sighed and turned back to look at him. "Well, he's won battles against other tough trainers. Flannery might be strong, but that doesn't mean Richard is suddenly weak."

"He's still got that going for him, at least!" Will laughed. "I guess we'll see how it goes!"

* * *

 **So, we're finally here at the landmark chapter I've been anticipating for a long time now. With this chapter complete,** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **now has 66 chapters written and 64 chapters still to go. We're finally at the point where we have fewer chapter left to go than have already been published!**

 **Another milestone is, of course, that the addition of this chapter means that** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **has become my largest story by chapter count. It already became my largest story by number of words back when Chapter 62 was published (though** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **has lost some words since then, so the exact point where the changeover happens is anyone's guess now)!**

 **Anyway, now that we've dealt with my excitement at this achievement, the chapter itself: I've been kind of looking forward to and kind of dreading the Lavaridge Arc for some time now for reasons that I'll go into when the arc is over, but James losing to Flannery is one of the key aspects. I spent a long time trying to think of ways in which what should have been a comparatively easy battle for James could go wrong for him. I hope that his defeat seems plausible, even if his mistakes might be frustrating!**

 **I'm currently attempting a writing spree that will hopefully end with Chapter 70 being uploaded on Sunday 1** **st** **July. Since I've got a lot of work to do, I don't think I'll have the time to respond to PMs or do edits based on feedback until I've finished the current spree. Please don't be discouraged from finding my mistakes though – I'll definitely come back to it once July rolls around!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	67. Cameruption! (Part 3)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James fought his gym battle against Flannery, but was defeated by her overwhelming attacks. As James and his team limp away from the battlefield, it's now Richard's turn to face the surprisingly strong Lavaridge gym leader.**

 **Upload Date: 21** **st** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 67: Cameruption! (Part 3)**

 _Lavaridge Town, Hoenn_

 _1:42pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

The reality of his defeat finally started to really hit James when he stepped out of the steam-filled passage from the arena and back into the cool lobby of the Lavaridge gym. Through the windows, he could see the rain still pouring down outside. How fitting.

He resisted the urge to go back to the pokémon centre and instead turned right to walk up the stairs. After briefly screwing up his face, he tried his best to put on an encouraging expression. It would be unfair to do anything that might throw Richard off just before his gym battle. Even if he felt awful, he'd just need to laugh it off for now. He could get frustrated and upset later.

"Yo." Richard had appeared from the doorway to the stands and started walking down towards them.

"Hey," James replied. "Guess that could have gone a bit better!"

"Guess so," Richard said awkwardly. "I didn't think that Flannery would be that tough. I'm starting to wonder if I'll be alright…"

"Don't worry about it," said James. "I underestimated her and lost. You know what she's capable of now, so I'm sure you'll do much better."

"Thanks," Richard sighed. They both briefly paused as they reached each other. There was silence for a couple of seconds as they tried to think of what to say to each other.

"Well, good luck then," James said finally.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks." Richard nodded.

There wasn't much more for them to say, really. Both of them had their own problems weighing on their minds – there wasn't time to worry too much about other people.

They high-fived as they passed each other and returned to their own thoughts. As long as they'd known each other, there were still many things that they didn't know about the other. They didn't want to accidentally offend the other by saying the wrong things in this kind of situation.

They'd see each other again once the battle was over, one way or another. They could jointly worry about their issues once they reached that point. All that was left was for them to focus on what was to come.

Taking a deep breath, Richard turned into the passage. He grimaced as he felt the hit air hit him as he stepped through. As if just the stress of a gym battle wasn't enough – they had to deal with the hot air as well. He walked on, briefly thinking about the possibility that it might all be part of Flannery's plan.

* * *

 _1:44pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Begin!"

At the referee's shout, both Richard and Flannery threw out their first poké balls, starting the match.

Arro and Slugma both burst out of their balls and materialised on the ground. They watched each other carefully as they listened out for their first orders.

"Use Rock Throw!" Flannery called.

Slugma immediately threw a boulder towards Arro. The attack smashed into him, the boulder itself cracking and splitting into pieces against his hard body. He grunted, more in irritation than anything else – the steel armour on his body protected him from attacks like that.

"Use Take Down!" Richard shouted.

Arro started charging forwards as fast as his heavy body would allow. Slugma jumped clear at the last moment, easily managing to dodge him.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery yelled.

Slugma immediately fired a blast of white-hot flames at Arro, quickly engulfing him. However, the lairon stomped forwards through the flames and slammed into his opponent, slamming her lava-like body into the ground beneath his feet.

"Use Iron Tail!" Richard ordered.

Arro kicked Slugma forwards to get her out from under his feet and, coating his tail with steel, swung it viciously at her. Slugma let out a cry but it didn't seem like there had been much damage. She pulled back, watching for Arro's next move and awaiting her next orders.

"Go with Overheat again!" Flannery called.

With a nod, Slugma fired another blast of flames at Arro. Though weaker, it still scorched his body and he winced in pain as he struggled through it. With a roar, he descended on Slugma again, slamming into her with a powerful tackle.

"Keep it up!" Richard shouted desperately. "Keep using Take Down!"

Arro let out another roar as he stormed forwards again. Slugma fired off another rock at the last minute, but it simply bounced off of Arro's armoured body. He crashed into her once again, this time, flicking his head to send her flying backwards. She fell to the ground with a splat, but managed to haul her body back up again.

"Use Sunny Day!" Flannery called out.

Slugma fired a fiery ball into the air. Just like the previous times it had been used that day, it lit up the room and emitted heat that reached Slugma and made her fiery body burn more intensely.

"Now use Overheat once more!" Flannery ordered, pointing forwards confidently.

With a shout, Slugma spat out another burst of white-hot flames. Though the previous attacks had really taken a lot out of her, the boost from the intense light flooding the room kept the flames burning hotly enough for Richard to flinch as the blast hit Arro. For a few seconds, the arena was so bright and hot that it was impossible to tell what was happening on it.

However, as the flames started to dissipate, Richard heard a loud roar coming from the centre of the inferno. His body scorched, Arro took a step forward. His gaze was fixed on Slugma as he held himself steady. He was far from finished.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Richard finally grinned confidently as he gave his next order. "Finish them off with Take Down!"

Nodding, Arro charged forwards once again, building up momentum as the exhausted Slugma attempted to dodge him. He managed to catch up and smashed into her one last time. She finally fell to the ground with a soft thud and lay still.

"Slugma is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Lairon is the winner!"

"Yes!" Richard cheered. "Great work, Arro!"

Arro grunted indifferently as he plodded back over to Richard's half of the battlefield. Behind him, Slugma was recalled to her poké ball, Flannery murmuring some words of encouragement before returning the ball to her belt.

"He's started well," said Will, gazing down at the scene before him. "Arro really is a tough pokémon."

"Yeah, he is." Nicola nodded. "It's good that he's been able to hold out against all that fire."

Down in the arena, Richard wiped his forehead. With the intensity of the battle, it had become something he did almost unconsciously so that he could focus entirely on what was happening in front of him. Arro had put up a tough fight against Slugma, but he knew that Flannery's remaining pokémon would be able to bring even more punishment. Overheat was a powerful move, but it took a lot of power and energy to use. That made the user much weaker after each attack. In short, as long as they could survive the initial wave of attacks, the battle would be in his and Arro's favour.

"Go, Camerupt!" Flannery called, throwing out her next poké ball.

With a roar to rival Arro's, Camerupt burst out of the ball and landed on the ground with a loud thud. She looked across the battlefield at Arro and Richard, a calm and confident look on her face. This wasn't going to be easy…

"Use Take Down!" Richard ordered.

Arro grunted in acknowledgement and started charging forwards. Unlike Slugma, who was a small and relatively light pokémon, Camerupt was a bulky and extremely heavy opponent. Not only would she be able to resist the powerful tackle more, but the force of impact would also hurt Arro more severely. He knew that this was going to be an entirely different kind of battle to the one he'd just had with Slugma and, as he charged forwards, he wondered if Richard had thought of some alternative ways for him to strike at their opponent.

"Use Earthquake!" Flannery called.

With a nod, Camerupt lifted her front legs off the ground. There was a loud crash as she slammed them back down onto the arena floor. The room immediately started shaking violently as a powerful shockwave passed through it, far more powerful than the one Numel had used against Kacha scarcely fifteen minutes before.

Arro immediately ground to a halt as the shockwave hit him. He shouted in pain as the vibrations ran through him. The arena floor violently ruptured, hurling him up into the air. The earthquake calmed and then stopped as suddenly as it had begun. There was a loud crash as Arro's heavy body smashed to the ground again.

"Lairon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Camerupt is the winner!"

"No way!" Richard gasped, staring in shock at his defeated pokémon. A tough pokémon like Arro had been swept aside like he was nothing! Sure, he'd been weakened a bit by the fighting with Slugma, but it was still shocking just how easily Camerupt had been able to deal with him. Without even taking a scratch herself, as well.

Different thoughts raced around Richard's head like a thousand voices all shouting to him at the same time as he recalled Arro to his poké ball. He needed to make a decision – who was he going to send out next? Could any of his pokémon stand up to something as powerful as that camerupt? If he was in a tough spot, then which team member would be able to get them out of it?

Trying to shake the clashing thoughts from his head, Richard instinctively reached for Naro's poké ball. The two of them had been through a lot together and Naro was one of his toughest pokémon. He could count on him when the battle looked grim.

Naro roared as he emerged from the ball and landed on the ground. He fixed Camerupt with a fierce expression, though the mostly blank look on her face hardly changed.

"Use Double Kick!" Richard shouted.

With a nod, Naro started charging forwards. The ground shook as he gained pace and got closer to his target.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

Camerupt nodded and fired an intense blast of white-hot flames at the approaching nidoking. He made a valiant attempt to dodge, but his large size made it impossible. He roared in pain as the flames engulfed him, creating a rippling heat haze across the arena.

Richard had to shield his face as the heat wave hit him, lightly scalding his hands and ears as it went by. The steam was blown away to the sides of the room, leaving only the intense flames of Camerupt's attack. Through the shifting heat haze and the dancing flames, he could just make out the silhouette of Naro, writhing in agony as he tried get the flames away from him.

After what felt like an eternity, the flames finally started fading and Naro stumbled forwards again. His body was covered in burns, but he was still good to go. He resumed his charge towards Camerupt and kicked her twice. The first kick caught her jaw with enough force that it temporarily lifted her upright. The second kick struck her now-exposed underbelly and knocked her backwards. She landed again with a loud crash.

"Use Earthquake!" Flannery ordered.

Pulling herself back to her feet, Camerupt lifted her front legs and slammed into the ground once again.

"Use Thrash!" Richard shouted desperately as he felt the shockwave building.

Naro threw himself forwards, managing to score a glancing hit before he was knocked off balance by the earthquake. As he stumbled about in panic, Camerupt rushed forwards and slammed into his stomach with a heavy tackle and hurled him back. He crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Despite the heavy damage, he still managed to haul himself back to his feet.

"You can do it, Naro!" Richard shouted.

"Finish this off with Earthquake!" Flannery yelled.

As Naro charged forwards once again, Camerupt slammed her feet into the ground. An intense shockwave tore up the arena, catching Naro as he rushed towards Camerupt and sending him flying backwards. There was a colossal thud as he slammed back to the ground again.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Camerupt is the winner!"

"Urk." A troubled look crossed Richard's face as he recalled Naro to his poké ball. This had gotten serious. First Arro, and now Naro had gone down. Was this camerupt even beatable? Was there anyone left on his team who could beat her?

Dish would probably be too vulnerable to the heat, while Vortex and Pincer were still too inexperienced when it came to fighting gym battles. Perhaps if the situation weren't as serious, then he could have given them a go. But he needed a team member he knew he could rely on if he wanted to stand a chance at turning this battle around.

"Go, Chena!" he shouted, hurling out his final poké ball.

Chena growled as he burst from the ball and landed on the arena floor. He winced slightly as the heat sank into his paws. Across from him, Camerupt's expression hadn't really changed since the battle began. She really did seem like she was immovable.

"Use Crunch!" Richard yelled.

Chena immediately sprang into action. He charged at Camerupt, far faster than Arro and Naro had been able to. She responded with a blast of intense white flames, which Chena leapt sideways to avoid. As the slow-moving Camerupt attempted to change the direction of her attack, Chena darted around her flank and charged in close, sinking his teeth into her side.

Camerupt grunted in pain and shook herself to get Chena to let go. As he jumped back, however, he let out a loud howl to raise his fighting spirit. He charged back in and slammed into Camerupt with a powerful tackle.

"Use Swagger!" Richard yelled.

Chena jumped back and sauntered along cockily, as if daring Camerupt to try and attack him. It seemed to work, with the fire-ground type huffing in irritation and attempting to charge towards him. As she got closer, however, she tripped over her own feet and crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

"Now use Crunch again!" Richard shouted.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery ordered.

Camerupt reacted quickly, managing to fire a blast of white-hot flames as Chena charged towards her. As the flames struck the mightyena, Richard noticed belatedly that the fiery orb Slugma had fired into the air back at the start of the battle had faded away without him noticing. Still, even with reduced power, the attack was really causing some damage.

As Chena finally raced clear of the flames, his singed and burning fur trailing thin, black smoke, he leapt at Camerupt and sank his teeth into her once more. Camerupt grunted in pain as she shook herself to once again throw him off.

"Use Earthquake!" Flannery ordered, wiping her forehead.

With a loud shout, Camerupt managed to throw Chena off and immediately slammed the ground with a powerful stomp. A shockwave travelled outwards, striking Chena just after he'd landed on the ground. He was hurled back and crashed to the ground a second time.

"Chena!" Richard cried.

Snarling, Chena fought his way back to his feet, his legs shaking under him as he prepared for another attack. He howled loudly before starting to charge towards Camerupt again.

"Tackle!" Flannery called.

Camerupt responded instantly, but it took a little while to build up her speed. The two pokémon smashed into each other at the centre of the arena, but it was Chena who was thrown back. He crashed to the ground and finally collapsed in exhaustion, his body covered in bumps and burns from the intense fighting.

"Mightyena is unable to battle! Camerupt is the winner!" the referee announced. "All three of the challenger's pokémon are unable to battle, so this match goes to the gym leader, Flannery!"

"Phew!" Flannery sighed with relief as she walked forwards to Camerupt. "Great work out there. You really did everything, Camerupt!"

Camerupt grunted back at her, pressing her snout into Flannery's palm.

Across the field, Richard recalled Chena to his poké ball and gazed across the battlefield. Despite his best efforts, his team had been beaten down. Was there really no way for him to defeat Flannery?

A sigh escaped his lips as Flannery walked over to talk to him.

"That was a good battle, but I think you ended up losing focus a couple of times out there. Remember that you need to provide your team with leadership when things aren't going smoothly."

"Got it," Richard mumbled weakly.

Flannery frowned, concern showing on her face. But she stepped back to return to her half of the field.

Still holding Chena's poké ball, Richard turned and trudged back towards the passage back to the lobby.

* * *

 **So, the first wave of Lavaridge gym battles come to a close with defeats for experienced trainers, James and Richard, and a victory for Nicola.**

 **I was keen to give both James and Richard some character development this arc and it seemed fitting for Richard to suffer his first major setback of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **as part of it. Of course, this left me with the challenge of finding a way for him to be convincingly beaten despite his team being, on paper at least, more than capable of handling Flannery's.**

 **In the end, I settled with relying on him being shaken by the fact that James lost and not really thinking about what he was doing. Hence why he relied on Arro, a big and tough pokémon, to start with, and his two oldest pokémon when that failed. In his panic, he failed to use either of the two pokémon he has that actually have good offensive moves against fire types. I do hope that some of the mistakes Richard made in this chapter seem frustrating, but that the flawed logic behind them is clear. Just as you might be groaning at his mistakes, I'm sure Richard will be soon as well!**

 **Anyway, that's about it for this chapter. Now I just need to get Chapter 68 ready in time for Saturday.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	68. The Will to Fight

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Richard was also defeated in his attempt to earn the Heat Badge from Flannery, leaving Nicola as the only victorious trainer of the three.**

 **Upload Date: 23** **rd** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 68: The Will to Fight**

 _Lavaridge Town, Hoenn_

 _2:27pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

It had been a silent, sombre trip back to the pokémon centre.

After dropping off all of the pokémon who'd fought at the Lavaridge gym, the four trainers had gone straight to the restaurant to get some lunch. Aside from basic suggestions and answers, James and Richard barely said anything.

Nicola was starting to worry about them. They seemed to be getting hung up on this one defeat and there wasn't any trace of their usual enthusiasm to train when things didn't go as well as they'd hoped. She desperately wanted to say something but wasn't sure exactly what that something should be.

"So, you guys going to head out and train after this?" Will asked, beating her to the punch.

James and Richard both looked at each other wearily.

"What's the point?" Richard mumbled. "Didn't you see how I was crushed out there?"

"I think I need some time first," James sighed.

"C-Come on guys," Nicola said hesitantly. "You're always trying to train as often as you can. That's the best way to get better, isn't it?"

"Yeah, we always train," Richard said. "Look where it's got us."

Nicola and Will looked at each other cautiously.

"You know, I reckon it would feel even better beating Flannery after being beaten by her before," said Will. "She seemed like a new gym leader to me, but she really knows her stuff!"

"I know what you're trying to say," James replied irritably. "It's just…"

"I really don't think that she's as big an obstacle as you think she is," Nicola said. "If we work on some new tactics, then I'm sure you'll have no problem beating her next time!"

"Yeah? Well, that's easy for you to say!" James snapped. "Things might be going well for you at the moment, but that doesn't mean we all have it as easy as you! It's hard to pick yourself up after you keep losing…"

"James!" Will said sharply.

James stopped abruptly and glanced up at Nicola. She was shaking, blinking back tears.

"How can you say that?" She managed, finally. "I know that losing is hard! I know that it's hard to get up again after getting crushed! I've been a step behind you guys since we started travelling together – how do you think I felt when I lost to Norman, and Brawly?" She turned away from them. "If you can tell me to get up after losing, then why can't I do the same to you?"

She ran from the room, not looking back.

"Great work, James," said Will, standing up. "Really showed what a great trainer you are, there."

James opened his mouth briefly, but then shut it again. He'd made a mistake. He had to be careful that he didn't make another one.

Will left the restaurant behind and chased after Nicola, catching up to her in the stairwell leading up to the rooms.

"It's me," he said as he grabbed her shoulder.

Nicola turned to him, her face streaked with tears "Sorry," she mumbled. "I shouldn't have run away."

"Nah, you're fine," Will replied. "James was the one who was in the wrong."

"I just don't get it," Nicola said. She wiped her eyes. "I don't get why they're acting like this is the end of the world!"

"Who knows," Will sighed.

The two of them fell into an awkward silence.

"I'm…I'm going to head up to my room," said Nicola. "I don't think I can face them again just yet."

"Ah, sure." Will nodded.

He stood at the bottom of the stairs as she climbed up and then disappeared from sight. There probably wasn't anything he could say to her anyway. Sighing, he turned back and looked out at the lobby.

He always knew that success or failure in gym battles weighed heavily on trainers. This was the first time that he'd seen it with James and Richard though. Frankly, it had shocked him to see how badly affected they were, even though they were good trainers who'd fought in other leagues before. He hadn't thought that someone could lose confidence in this way…

No. That was wrong.

It was simply something that he'd never wanted to believe was possible. After all, wasn't the reason why he wasn't taking the gym challenge now all down to him wanting to be an experienced and strong trainer when he did take it? He'd thought that learning to be as strong as James and Richard would prepare him to win any gym battle he fought. If experience wasn't enough to guarantee victory, then…

Not for the first time, Will felt as though there was something stopping him from fully understanding his companions. Maybe if he could understand them and their experiences, then he'd be able to grow stronger that way…

* * *

 _2:54pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

James and Richard hadn't stayed in the restaurant for very long. Neither had they really spoken since Nicola and Will had left. Instead, they went their separate ways, both lost in their own thoughts.

And there was a lot to think about.

As James walked idly along the street in Lavaridge Town, he thought back to his brief exchange with Nicola. He'd realised that he'd made a mistake almost immediately, the ache at having wronged his companion weighing on him alongside the painful sting of defeat. Even leaving aside the fact that he'd upset Nicola, he'd ended up just piling an extra problem onto himself – the group of them always supported each other after defeats and worked together to learn from them. Creating a rift in the group was just going to make it more difficult to come up with a way to beat Flannery.

When he tried to put Nicola out of his mind again, he came back to his real issue – it wasn't that she didn't understand his position. It was the fact that he'd gone from defeat to defeat. He'd lost contest after contest ever since leaving Fallarbor Town, and this new defeat at the Lavaridge gym was the crowning defeat atop a pile of failure. He felt as though he was losing his edge – everything had been going pretty well, both here and in Kanto last year. Sure, he'd suffered some losses, but he'd always recovered quickly and moved on to victory. He wasn't sure what he was doing wrong, and what he should do in order to improve.

Letting out a sigh, he continued walking. As much as he tried to think, he just kept spinning in circles. There was so much that he had to think about that it was difficult to keep it all straight. He had no answers anyway. He was just exhausting himself over it.

"Um, excuse me!"

James suddenly heard someone call out to him as he walked past a house. He turned to see a little boy walking over towards him, an awe-struck look in his eyes. "Can I help you?" he asked, forcing a smile and trying to adopt a neutral tone.

"A-Are you James Burton?" the boy asked. "The coordinator from Pallet Town?"

"Huh?" James replied, surprised by the sudden question. "Yeah, I am. How did you know?"

"I saw some of your performances on TV," the boy said enthusiastically. He stopped as he reached James. "Wow! I can't believe I get to see you in real life! Thank you for all your hard work!"

"You like my performances?" James asked, feeling a little stunned.

"Of course, I do!" The boy nodded eagerly. "Your pokémon always look really awesome and they always try their hardest when they're performing! It's really great to see!"

"Doesn't it bother you?" James asked hesitantly. "That I haven't been winning anything lately?"

The boy paused and frowned for a few seconds as he thought about what his answer was. "I mean, I want to see you and your pokémon win," he said. "But even if you lose, your performances are still great to watch." He laughed awkwardly. "Besides, I know that you'll win something again soon – your performances are just that great!"

James had never really thought about how people reacted to his performances. He'd always gone through the whole thought process of what was _theoretically_ good for a performance and worked from there. Hearing that someone, a real person rather than just a faceless audience, enjoyed what he and his pokémon was doing felt good.

"Oh! And you're taking the gym challenge as well, aren't you?" the boy said. "That's really impressive – I haven't heard of many people who compete in both contests and gym battles at the same time!"

James smiled. He squatted down so that his face was level with the little boy's. "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Sam," the boy replied.

"Thanks, Sam," said James. "I'll make sure my next performance is as great as I can make it." He stood up again and looked over in the direction of the Lavaridge gym. "And I'm going to give it my all in my gym battles as well."

"I can't wait to see it!" Sam nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you for always putting on such great performances until now!"

As James waved goodbye to him, he turned and started walking back to the pokémon centre. The elation of meeting an enthusiastic fan started to wear off as he walked back through the rain and the reality of his difficulties sank back in again. Still, he felt more able to have a serious think about where he was going wrong and how he could improve. And, perhaps, he'd able to have a conversation with the others about what to do next.

* * *

 _3:17pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

While James had been out walking in the town, Richard had also left the pokémon centre. He'd found a small covered area that was sheltered from the rain further up the slope the previous evening while out exploring. There was bench there and the view probably wouldn't have been that bad on a good day. Still, he couldn't help but feel like the miserable weather made for a perfect reflection of his mood.

Looking back at his gym battle with Flannery, all he could see were his mistakes. The more he thought about it, the more he cursed himself for making some of the choices he had. He'd neglected Vortex and Pincer when both of them would have stood a good chance at winning against Flannery's team. Vortex would have been the perfect counter to Camerupt – it could levitate off the ground and avoid the devastating earthquakes that she used to fight off Naro and Chena.

He really had managed to mess up in almost every way, hadn't he? He was starting to wonder if he'd even be able to make it all the way to the Hoenn League at all. He'd only needed six gym badges to compete in the Sevii League, which made it much easier to get to. And he wasn't sure if he was fully capable of getting the most out of his pokémon's potential…

"Ah, there you are!"

He looked around to see Nicola cautiously approaching him. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to find you," Nicola replied, coming up and sitting down next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"So-so," Richard said, shrugging. "You know what it's like losing gym battles."

"Thanks for reminding me," Nicola said bitterly.

"Sorry," Richard mumbled. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Well, you're not wrong," said Nicola.

The two of them fell silent for a couple of seconds and gazed out at the rain, listening to it hammering on the roof of the shelter.

"Can I ask a question?" Nicola turned back to him.

"What?"

"Why does this bother you so much?"

"Huh?"

"Hmm." Nicola paused and pondered what to say next. "It's like, you're a really good trainer and you've won loads of battles both in gyms and other times we've been travelling. I don't get why you've suddenly got so depressed over this one battle."

"Yeah, good question," Richard replied. He let out a sigh. "Maybe it's…pressure? I don't know."

"Pressure?" Nicola gave him a confused look.

Richard could remember feeling a bit like this before, back when he was participating in the Sevii League. Back then, the pressure of needing to perform at a high level that he didn't himself feel he was capable of caused him to panic. He seemed to recall getting into an argument with James because of it.

He'd thought that he'd managed to deal with the issue by convincing himself that he had indeed managed to get stronger, with the help of his friends, but maybe that had only been a temporarily solution. He knew that he shouldn't, but he felt as though he wasn't capable of succeeding at the gym challenge here in Hoenn. This was based off one defeat – the first gym he'd lost at. When he thought about it objectively, it was absolutely laughable that he was getting so bothered by this.

But that was just it – as ridiculous as it was, he was still losing confidence over things that were really quite small. Was the problem still just him – that he didn't have that much confidence to begin with?

"I guess…" he began. "I just always see my weakness." After a brief pause, he continued. "I guess I never had a reason to tell you before, but I have a reason why I'm training and battling pokémon."

"Hmm?" Nicola looked at him expectantly.

"You see, there was this guy I looked up to when I was younger," Richard said. "His name's Adam – we were best friends." He sighed. "But I got scared of the thought of dragging him down, so I didn't go with him when he started his pokémon journey, even though I'd promised him that I would. I feel like I can't face him again until I become a strong trainer…"

"I don't think that you need to do all of that," said Nicola. "I'm sure that your friend wouldn't look down on you just because you were weak."

"I guess so," Richard replied. "But it still feels like I owe it to him to get better than I am now."

"So, what about this reaction to losing your gym battle?" Nicola asked gently.

Richard let out a long sigh. "Well, I don't know really."

There was silence for another couple of seconds.

"Well, don't worry about it," Nicola said, standing up. "You guys helped me recover from defeat and encouraged me so that I would get better, so I'll do the same for you." She offered him her hand.

"Thanks, Nicola," Richard sighed as he let her pull him to his feet. "Sorry that James and I have been all over the place since then."

"No problem," said Nicola. "Let's head back to the pokémon centre and track down Will and James. Then we can start putting together a plan for your rematches."

* * *

 _3:33pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

After arriving back at the pokémon centre, Nicola and Richard had quickly discovered that neither Will nor James were still there. They'd decided to split up, with Richard staying at the pokémon centre to wait in case they showed up and Nicola heading out to look around the town for them.

After about ten minutes or so of waiting, Richard finally spotted James entering the lobby and got up to go and greet him.

"You've been out as well?" he asked.

"Yeah." James nodded. "Wanted a chance to clear my head after everything that happened. Is Nicola around?"

"She's out looking for you and Will," said Richard. "I'm sure she'll be back soon."

The two of them walked back into the trainers' lounge and sat down to wait.

"How are you feeling?" James asked. "Do you feel better now, or do you still feel down?"

"Still down," Richard sighed. "You?"

"Yeah."

"I just don't get it – I feel like I should be getting better and better, but then something like this happens," Richard said. "It's like I'll always be a hopeless trainer."

"I think you're bigging it up too much," said James. "Your problem is that you don't have much confidence to begin with, and that it's fragile. You were fine until you suffered that defeat, and now you don't have any confidence at all."

"How are you able to stay confident?" Richard asked.

"Maybe it's because I'm only doing this for fun?" James said, frowning as he thought about it. "Sure, I want to win and do really well, but I don't have anything else riding on pokémon training. I think you've tied pokémon training together with proving yourself to Adam."

"Maybe you're right," Richard sighed.

"Look, I don't really know that much about your friendship with him, but if you were always in his shadow, then of course you're going to have a low opinion of yourself," said James. "See if you can compare yourself to how you used to be instead of to someone else." He briefly laughed. "I guess that's not very convincing coming from someone else who got beaten though…"

"No, I think you're right," Richard said. "Last year, I thought I'd managed to overcome my weakness at the Sevii League. But I was…am still weak. I need to think about how I can get over this and boost my confidence."

"Maybe as long as you're aware of it for now?" James said. "That way you can stop yourself when you start feeling unsure of yourself."

"Sure." Richard nodded. "And you need to work hard as well."

"Yeah." James smiled. "I let my frustration get the better of me this time when I shouldn't have."

"I think your problem is that you don't _really_ try that hard in your battles," said Richard.

"Really?" James exclaimed, looking at him. Though, now that he thought about it, Richard may have a point.

"You've always done really well in pokémon battles when other people, like me and Dean, have struggled. Maybe you just got overconfident and can't handle the fact that things aren't all going smoothly anymore?"

"The opposite problem to you then?" James sighed. He frowned. He'd never really thought about it this way. Maybe that was understandable – no one ever wanted to admit that they were relying solely on talent and not doing any hard work.

But then, he'd never been truly committed to pokémon training – he was doing it so that he could travel and…find out more about himself! Of course! Maybe this was the first major lesson that he needed to learn – that he couldn't get through life by relying on talent alone.

"I'm feeling a bit better now," he said. "Let's work together to overcome our weaknesses and win our rematches!"

"Yeah." Richard nodded.

They both high-fived.

At that moment, they heard the automatic doors in the lobby open and looked around in time to see Nicola come running into the trainers' lounge.

"Wh-What's up?" Richard exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"You've got to come quickly!" Nicola gasped, out of breath. Apparently, she'd been running for a while.

"What's happening?" James asked.

"It's Will!" Nicola replied. "He's fighting the gym leader!"

* * *

 _3:43pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

James, Richard and Nicola had hurried over to the Lavaridge gym as quickly as they could. When Nicola had first learned that Will was challenging the gym leader, his battle had already started. They needed to be quick if they wanted to be there in time to actually see anything.

Fortunately, the receptionist told them that the battle was still in progress when they arrived in the lobby and directed them up to the stands.

"I never thought there'd be a time when the three of us would all be heading this way at the same time," said James.

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "This is the only time we're here to watch another person's battle instead of each other's."

They stepped through the entrance to the stands, the steam and heat of the interior hitting them. It was so thick that they briefly wondered how they'd managed to survive when they'd been in earlier in the day.

Down in the arena, they could make out Will and Flannery in the gloom. Their pokémon were still fighting – Slugma against Blue. There was no way of telling how many pokémon each trainer had left.

As they found some good seats, Blue charged forwards to smash into Slugma with a headbutt. However, the fire type made an impressive slide to the side to avoid the attack at the last moment.

"Use Rock Throw!" Flannery ordered.

Slugma immediately threw a boulder at the exposed Blue, scoring a direct hit. The bagon cried out in pain as she was thrown back and landed with a crash.

"Use Crunch!" Will yelled.

Blue jumped back to her feet and nodded. She charged forwards, baring her teeth as she got closer. Slugma, however, was ready for her. She suddenly fired an intense blast of white flames, which immediately engulfed Blue.

Blue managed to break through the flames though – perhaps the flames had been weakened by overuse earlier in the battle. She continued charging and slammed hard into Slugma, sinking her teeth into her opponent's fiery body.

"Now use Dragon Breath!" Will shouted.

Blue immediately fired a light blue blast of energy towards Slugma, scoring another direct hit. As she fell backwards from the force of the impact, Blue started charging forwards for yet another close-quarter attack. She rushed closer and closer, preparing to deal a powerful blow.

However, Slugma suddenly let out a shout and sent a small shockwave through the ground around her. There was a crash as a whole cluster of boulders suddenly flew up and tumbled down towards Blue. Caught off-guard, she was crushed beneath the falling debris. She managed to dig herself out from the rubble before collapsing on top of it.

"Bagon is unable to battle! Slugma is the winner!" the referee announced. "All three of the challenger's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the gym leader, Flannery!"

"Aww," Nicola sighed. "Looks like it's over."

"Come back, Blue," Will said as he returned her to her poké ball. "Thanks."

Over on the other side of the arena, there was a sudden commotion as Slugma was enveloped by a bright light.

"Whoa! She's evolving!" Richard exclaimed.

"Looks like it," said James.

After a couple of seconds, the light faded. Slugma was no longer there – instead, a magcargo stood proudly on the battlefield.

"Wow! Congrats, Slug- I mean, Magcargo!" Flannery called eagerly, running over to her newly-evolved pokémon.

"Magcargo, huh?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at Magcargo.

" _Magcargo, the lava pokémon and the evolved form of slugma. A magcargo's shell is actually its skin that hardened as a result of cooling. Its shell is very brittle and fragile - just touching it causes it to crumble apart. This pokémon returns to its original size by dipping itself in magma. Water is vaporized on contact with its extremely hot body. If this pokémon is caught in the rain, the raindrops instantly turn into steam, cloaking the area in a thick fog._ "

"That sounds like it could be a tough opponent," said James. "Though I guess that shell isn't a much of a threat as I first thought…"

"We'll think of something," said Richard.

Down in the arena, Flannery approached Will. "That was a fun battle – I didn't expect you to put up as much of a fight as you did!"

"Glad to hear it," Will sighed. "I'm just frustrated that we couldn't make it the whole way."

"Well, success is built from failure," said Flannery. "When I was younger, I was constantly losing battles. When my grandfather told me that he wanted me to take over the gym, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to do a good job. I think I'm doing okay now, but that's only because of the mistakes I made right when I first became a gym leader!"

"I guess you're right," said Will. He shook her hand. "Thanks for agreeing to battle me even though I turned up so suddenly."

"Don't worry about it!" Flannery grinned. "I hope we can have a rematch soon!"

* * *

 _8:38pm, 27_ _th_ _June 2006_

With all the gym battles and post-defeat drama, everyone was thoroughly exhausted by the time they arrived back at the pokémon centre in the late afternoon. They'd had dinner not long after that before deciding to spend some time relaxing in the hot spring to try get rid of all the tension that had built up. It really had been a long day.

"How are you guys feeling now?" Nicola asked as she joined James, Richard, and Will in the hot spring.

"Rested!" Richard replied with a grin. "I'm looking forward to giving it my all in training tomorrow. I think my pokémon feel the same way!"

"We're going to need to have a proper think about how we can do things differently," said James. "We both made mistakes when it came to choosing team members to fight against Flannery."

"What are you going to do?" Will asked. "Train tomorrow morning and then challenge Flannery in the afternoon?"

"We'll probably wait until the day after that," said James. "Got to make sure that we're as prepared as possible."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," said Nicola. She lowered herself into the warm water. "Ah! This is great!"

"By the way, Nicola," James began. "I'm sorry I got angry at you earlier today, and sorry that it's taken me this long to say it. I know that you haven't had it easy either and I should have known better than to take my frustrations out on you. I'm sorry."

Nicola smiled softly at him. "It's fine. I got that it was your frustration. Let's make sure we keep working together so that we can all reach the Hoenn League together!"

"On that subject…" Richard turned to Will. "I was surprised that you suddenly decided to challenge Flannery! Does this mean you're planning on aiming for the Hoenn League as well, Will?"

"Honestly, I just kinda did that without thinking," Will replied. "I always thought that I'd get better if only I could get to be as strong as you and James. After you got beaten, I guess I thought that I needed to try and find my own strength, maybe?"

"It's a shame that you lost," said Nicola. "But I'm surprised that you didn't still have Toya out…"

"I tried to rely on Toya for everything," Will said. "We managed to beat Camerupt in the first round, but then I think we both got overconfident and Slugma was able to beat us. She did the same to Turkey."

"Your pokémon have gotten pretty strong, Will," said James. "It's not too late to take the gym challenge if you wanted – we're in a good position to go back to some of the gyms we've already visited."

"I still don't think I'm ready," Will said, shaking his head. "We might be stronger, but I need to work more on getting to know my team and learning how to work together with them properly. I don't want to hold you guys up either…"

James, Richard, and Nicola all looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, it's your choice," said Richard.

"If you don't feel up to it yet, then that's for you to decide," James added.

"If you change your mind, then just let us know!" Nicola grinned at him. "In the meantime, let's train together as much as we can so that we both get stronger!"

"Sure!" Will nodded. "I guess we're going to have a busy day tomorrow!"

The four of them laughed before turning back to look out over the valley. The rain had finally cleared up earlier in the evening and the rumoured views were back for them to enjoy. A lot had happened and there was a lot to feel down about. But there was plenty for them to feel hopeful about. Defeat didn't have to be the end – they would use it as a springboard to their next victories!

* * *

 **So, no rematches this chapter since I wanted to focus on going over James and Richard's characters, since they haven't really been developed since the end of** _ **Sevii Islands**_ **. The same core themes, but hopefully this will serve to kickstart them in a new direction as both try to improve as trainers.**

 **Also, I saw an opportunity to give Will somewhat more of the spotlight, including his own attempt at fighting a gym battle. Sadly, not a full gym battle, but you never know what may lay in store for the future…**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	69. A Fiery Rematch!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, James and Richard came to terms with their losses and had a long think about how to go about preparing for rematches with the Lavaridge Town gym leader, Flannery.**

 **Upload Date: 28** **th** **June 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 69: A Fiery Rematch!**

 _Lavaridge Town, Hoenn_

 _2:46pm, 28_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Alright, try using Water Gun!" Richard called.

Pincer nodded and fired a blast of water towards Charka. However, he quickly dodged the attack and responded with a swift charge towards his opponent and a vicious slash. Pincer jumped backwards, more in shock rather than in pain.

"You still need to work on the speed of the attack!" James called over. "Charka didn't have any problems with that!"

"How about this, then!" Richard grinned. "Ancient Power!"

With a cry, Pincer levitated several boulders and quickly hurled them towards Charka.

"Whoa! Nice!" James exclaimed, as Charka was caught by the sudden counter attack and was thrown back.

"Pincer's looking pretty good," said Nicola, wandering over from a practice round between Mule and Arro. "I'm sure he'll do great against Flannery."

"I'm feeling a bit more confident now," said Richard, glancing around at his team, scattered as they were doing their own training. "Since Vortex can levitate, it seems like a good choice to go up against Camerupt. Pincer should be good all-round."

"What about your last pokémon?" Will asked.

"Probably Chena," Richard replied. "He's quick and powerful – hopefully we can keep out of the line of fire a bit more often next time!"

"So, it's just speed that you need to work on now, huh?" Nicola glanced down at Pincer.

The anorith clicked enthusiastically at her. He'd spent much of the morning training by himself or with the other pokémon while Richard had focused on Vortex. Even if he seemed to be struggling a bit with the training, he looked delighted to be getting the attention. Though Vortex was a bit more enigmatic and harder to read, it was obvious that Pincer was brimming with excitement at the thought of fighting in his first gym battle.

"What about you, James?" Will asked, turning to his brother. "Going to make any changes?"

"I'll probably use Charka instead of Kacha this time," James replied. "I hadn't realised that Flannery was going to have so many ground types, so…"

"What about Nulin?" Richard asked. "How's he been doing?"

"Yeah, good question," James replied. He turned to Nicola. "How's it been going?"

"Well, so far," Nicola said. "I've been getting him to train with Tricky and Blu to try and improve his agility. There's still a little bit more that he could work on though. It's probably better if you handle it though."

"Got it." James nodded. "I think that Charka is in good shape anyway."

Charka grinned confidently at him. After watching his team mates lose to Flannery's team, he was literally fired up at the prospect of getting to fight those same, tough pokémon. After his recent battles, he was confident in his abilities.

Across the arena, his team mates all seemed to be largely thinking the same thing. Disappointment at losing, but enthusiasm about the rematch. Nulin had been flying around as much as possible since this morning, trying his hardest to improve his ability to predict and avoid incoming attacks.

Muro had been getting frustrated with himself and had needed James to reassure him several times already, but he was getting into the groove with his training now. As well as his powerful stomps, he was getting better at holding his nerve under pressure.

Though not faced with the same obligations as his three companions, Kacha had been hard at work as well. In particular, he was throwing as many punches as he could in an attempt to improve his power. He didn't want to be in a position where he was helplessly unable to use his electrical attacks again.

Richard's pokémon had all been hard at work as well. That was simply the way it always was while preparing for a rematch. Lessons had to be learned and the pokémon and their trainers had to put in extra effort as they strove to ensure that their abilities were up to the task of beating an opponent who had already defeated them before. It was always a collective experience and never confined to just those trainers and pokémon who had been defeated. And the drive to improve affected everyone, even if they weren't expected to take part in the rematch.

Still, after all the effort that they'd been putting in today, there was a renewed confidence in both James and Richard, and their teams. The bright sunshine that had replaced the miserable weather of the previous day helped as well. Even if no one liked to lose, there was ultimately something refreshing about it as well.

* * *

 _9:23am, 29_ _th_ _June 2006_

The following morning, with as much training crammed in as possible and as many different tactics discussed as the group knew of, it was finally time for James and Richard to return to the Lavaridge gym for their rematches.

"Do you want to go first?" Richard asked James as the four of them stepped through the automatic doors to the lobby.

"You can go first. I don't mind," James replied, noticing that his friend seemed antsy. Truthfully, much of the confidence he'd felt after training yesterday had been replaced with nerves. He didn't want to throw Richard off by losing, like he had two days ago in the first battle.

"Good to see you again," the receptionist said as they approached the desk. "We've got slots available right away."

"I'll go first then," said Richard.

"Gotcha!" the receptionist tapped some keys on her keyboard. "Head on in – Flannery's expecting you!"

"I'll be going after him," James said as Richard stepped away rom the desk with a brief 'thank you'.

"No problem," the receptionist replied. "I'll book you in. Just come on down once Richard's battle is over."

"Thanks." James walked away from the desk and wandered over to join the others, who were loitering by the passage down to the arena.

"Isn't it weird that this is the first arena that all four of us have walked down to?" Nicola said.

"Of course." Richard nodded. "Will hasn't been down to any of the others, has he?"

"Since I've done it myself, I'm glad it's you and not me heading down there," Will said, sighing.

"Are you sure about not challenging Flannery again?" James asked. "We wouldn't mind going back to some of the other gyms if you wanted…"

"No." Will shook his head. "There's still too much that I need to work on for now. I don't want to hold you back."

"Right!" Richard said loudly before James could respond. "I guess it's time for me to head in!" Though he was trying his best to sound confident again, James could tell that he was suffering from nerves just as badly.

"Good luck," he said. "Remember all that training and make sure you keep your head on this time!"

"Stay strong!" Will added. "You can do this!"

"Don't feel under pressure!" Nicola said, even though she knew it would be in vain. "You and your team can only do what you can do, and it's not the end of the world even if you did lose again!"

"Thanks, guys," Richard replied, smiling nervously at them. "I'm heading in." Waving to them, he turned and started walking down into the passage to the main arena.

* * *

 _9:27am, 29_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

Richard and Flannery wasted no time in beginning their second battle. They both immediately threw out their first poké balls.

Chena and Torkoal both cried out as they materialised on the battlefield and watched each other carefully. The memories of the previous battle were still very fresh and the tension filled the air between the two of them.

"Use Howl!" Richard shouted.

Chena immediately started howling loudly, raising his snout to face the ceiling. His opponent watched him for a moment before suddenly charging forwards. She was slow, but Richard and Chena both knew that she would pack a hell of a punch if she managed to hit.

"Use Take Down!" Richard yelled as Chena darted sideways to avoid Torkoal's attack.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery ordered.

As Chena started charging towards Torkoal, he was met with a sudden blast of intense, white-hot flames. He howled in pain as he attempted to press on, but quickly found the heat overpowering. He stumbled backwards and got away from the raging flames.

"Use Crunch!" Richard shouted.

"Body Slam!" Flannery yelled.

Both pokémon charged at each other again. Torkoal struck Chena first. The mightyena was still partly blinded by the intense flames he'd tried to fight through. However, he reacted quickly and snapped downwards as he was pushed back, managing to grab Torkoal's neck.

The two pokémon tumbled to the ground together and scuffled around as they both desperately tried to gain the advantage. The close melee was exhausting for both of them, but it was Chena who was at a disadvantage – Richard's strategy for him was based on agility and evasion, while Torkoal could just rely on her shell for defence.

"Use Swagger!" Richard shouted.

Chena pulled back from Torkoal and started strutting about as if all the burns and bruises were nothing. It was a good act – he was barely letting any of the pain show on his face as he smirked at Torkoal.

Incensed by him, Torkoal immediately started charging towards him. In her anger, she caught her foot on the ground and stumbled. Chena spotted the opportunity and shot forwards. He slammed into Torkoal and knocked her back. Without wasting a second, he bounded forwards again, this time sinking his teeth into her.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

As she thrashed around and tangled with Chena, Torkoal managed to briefly knock him back and fired a second, less powerful blast of flames at him. Chena roared in pain, the fire singing his fur. He flailed backwards in pain. Seconds later, Torkoal stormed forwards as he tried to recover. She slammed into him with all her might, striking his exposed flank.

With a howl of pain, Chena toppled to the side. He collapsed to the ground with a loud thud and finally lay still. It had been a savage opening to the battle.

"Mightyena is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Torkoal is the winner!"

"Chena, return!" Richard called, pulling out Chena's poké ball. As the mightyena returned to the ball, he gritted his teeth and tried to steady himself. Despite all the training, he and Chena still hadn't been able to pull through against Torkoal. He was filled by a sense of dread that he fought to keep under control. He wanted to call upon Naro and rely on his power as he'd done on so many occasions before.

But he had to stay strong. He needed to rely on his new pokémon, otherwise he was just going to fall apart again. He reached for his next poké ball and threw it out. "Go, Vortex!"

Vortex clicked, making some odd noises as it materialised on the battlefield. It started spinning slowly as soon as it landed.

"Use Psybeam!" Richard shouted.

"Body Slam!" Flannery called.

Torkoal pulled herself around and started charging towards Vortex, only to trip up once again and crash to the ground. Vortex fired a multi-coloured beam of psychic energy towards her, scoring a direct hit.

As Torkoal was thrown back, she managed to control herself and landed comparatively softly. However, it was clear to both trainers that she was starting to really flag after all the hard fighting she'd endured against Chena.

"Use Ancient Power!" Richard shouted. He wasn't going to let this opportunity to regain the initiative slip away from him.

With a lazy nod, Vortex summoned up a cluster of boulders and hurled them through the air with a mysterious power. The weary Torkoal managed to pull herself up to her feet and started charging forwards to avoid the attack. She was able to dodge the first one but was too slow to escape the rest. As they slammed into her, she was lifted into the air and hurled back one final time. There was a crash as she hit the floor.

"Torkoal is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Baltoy is the winner!"

"Great work, Vortex!" Richard called as Flannery recalled Torkoal to her poké ball. He received silence in response. That was normal for the baltoy though and Richard knew that it understood him. Things were still tense, but he was feeling slightly more at ease. Torkoal had been weakened by the fighting against Chena, but the next pokémon would be at full strength. He needed to resist the urge to charge straight in and instead hold back and look for opportunities.

"Go, Camerupt!" Flannery shouted, hurling out her next poké ball.

Camerupt grunted loudly as she emerged from the ball. She looked across at Vortex with a lazy expression on her face. Both pokémon looked like they couldn't really care less about fighting, even if both were (probably) excited on the inside.

"Use Earthquake!" Flannery shouted. Then she immediately called out again, "Wait! My mistake – use Tackle!"

"Aww," Richard sighed. "I was kinda looking forwards to seeing it fail." Still, he had plenty more to think about. As Camerupt charged towards Vortex, it seemed as though the smaller baltoy would simply be crushed beneath her massive hooves. "Use Psybeam!" he ordered.

With a mechanical cry, Vortex fired a psychic beam towards Camerupt, who, in the midst of her charge, couldn't dodge in time. Despite the hit, she kept on charging headlong towards Vortex. The ground around them shook with the force of each step.

"Use Rapid Spin!" Richard shouted.

Vortex immediately started spinning violently and whipped around to Camerupt's flank. As she tried to slow down, she was struck in the side by a swift strike. It knocked her slightly to the side but didn't seem to have done very much damage.

"Overheat!" Flannery ordered.

"Ancient Power!" Richard yelled.

Both pokémon fired their attacks, Camerupt sending a searing blast of white-hot flames towards Vortex as it hurled a cluster of boulders towards her. Both attacks hit, with Vortex being quickly swallowed up by the intense blaze. A second later, Camerupt lifted her attack as she was hit by the falling rocks.

In a daze, both pokémon briefly pulled back and eyed each other carefully. They glanced back at their trainers for direction.

"Use Mud Slap!" Richard ordered.

Vortex immediately started spinning quickly again, sending a wave of mud spraying towards Camerupt. She cried out in alarm as it smashed into her, splashing in her face and dulling the heat emanating from her body.

"Use Tackle!" Flannery shouted.

Camerupt charged forwards, intent on slamming into Vortex with all her might. However, it was hard for her to see where she was going with mud in her eyes. She missed Vortex by inches, who spun out of the way briefly before swinging back to slam into her flank again.

"Use Ancient Power!" Richard yelled.

Vortex summoned another cluster of boulders and hurled them at Camerupt. She shouted in pain as they smashed into her flank and knocked her to the ground. For a moment, she struggled to try and get to her feet before finally collapsing.

"Camerupt is unable to battle!" the referee announced, as James, Nicola and Will cheered. "Baltoy is the winner!"

"Phew! Great work!" Richard called cheerfully as Vortex spun back over towards him. After the intense fighting, it was looking worse for wear.

"Go, Magcargo!" Flannery shouted, not wasting any time before sending out her next pokémon.

Magcargo, recovered from evolving two days prior, emerged from the ball and gave a defiant shout. She might have been the last pokémon on Flannery's team, but she wasn't going to be a pushover!

"Use Overheat!" Flannery ordered.

With a shout, Magcargo fired a searing blast of flames towards Vortex.

"Use Rapid Spin!" Richard suddenly shouted, realising that there was little hope of dodging.

Vortex obeyed, immediately starting to spin as fast as it could. The flames hit it and, caught up in the momentum of its spin, started spiralling upwards around him. The fiery tornado, made up of the usual white-hot flames, sent a blast of heat out across the arena as it reached the roof and started to dissipate. It would have been a magnificent move in a contest battle.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a contest battle and Richard's intention of protecting Vortex from damage hadn't worked out. Still, the dazed baltoy still wobbled on its top as the flames cleared.

"Use Psybeam!" Richard yelled.

Vortex bobbed its head and fired a multi-coloured beam of psychic energy at Magcargo, catching the fire type off-guard. She yelped in pain as the attack hit, but quickly recovered.

"Use Rock Slide!" Flannery shouted.

Magcargo fired a cluster of boulders through the air. They tumbled down onto Vortex, burying it with a series of loud crashes. As the rocks all splintered and shattered as they hit the ground, the baltoy lay amid the debris, finally motionless.

"Baltoy is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Magcargo is the winner!"

"You did it, Magcargo!" Flannery cheered happily.

Magcargo gave a satisfied grunt in response.

"Thanks, Vortex," Richard said as he recalled it to its poké ball. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking as he reached for his final ball. He still had a chance at victory. He could do this – he could definitely do this! Pincer would be able to handle it. He was sure of it!

The anorith cried out enthusiastically as he burst from the ball and materialised on the arena floor. He suddenly started bouncing around as he felt the heat of the floor beneath him. To be honest, Richard had been so caught up in the battle that he'd totally forgotten about the humid conditions in the gym.

"Use Rock Slide!" Flannery called.

With a nod, Magcargo hurled a cluster of boulders down towards Pincer. However, the anorith quickly scuttled through the gloom and away from danger.

"Use Ancient Power!" Richard shouted.

Pincer was perfectly camouflaged, his dark body blending in perfectly with the murky arena. As Magcargo carefully looked around, a small cluster of boulders suddenly appeared from her right. She reacted quickly though and was able to block the attack by throwing up some boulders of her own.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery yelled.

Magcargo nodded and fired an intense blast of flames through the gloom, lighting the arena and quickly overwhelming Pincer.

"Get clear, Pincer!" Richard shouted desperately.

Pincer fought his way through the intense heat as the top of his shell was burned. Fortunately, the flames were weaker than they'd been earlier, and he emerged without suffering too much damage.

"Phew!" Richard sighed with relief. "Use Ancient Power!"

"Counter with Rock Slide!" Flannery shouted.

Both pokémon hurled rocks at each other, with both managing to smash into the other. As the dust settled and the rocks finished crashing to the ground, both of them pulled themselves wearily back up again.

"Use Body Slam!" Flannery shouted, gesturing in Pincer's direction.

Magcargo nodded and stormed forwards.

"Water Gun!" Richard yelled.

Pincer shook himself and then fired a jet of water as Magcargo bore down on him. She cried out in surprise as the blast hit her. There was a hissing sound as the cold water came into contact with her fiery body.

"This is it!" Richard shouted. "Use Water Gun again!"

Pincer immediately fired another blast of water, only for Magcargo to sway impressively to pull herself out of the way.

"Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

Magcargo immediately fired another blast of intense flames at Pincer, quickly engulfing him.

"Now use Rock Slide!" Flannery ordered as the flames, much weaker now, started to dissipate.

Magcargo nodded and fired a cluster of boulders towards the scorched ground surrounding Pincer.

"Ancient Power!" Richard yelled. "Then use Water Gun!"

Pincer, pulling himself up, wearily fired a cluster of rocks of his own. They struck the incoming rocks and cleared a path for him to fire a final jet of water. Exhausted and weighed down by the hardened parts of her body, Magcargo was struck directly and blasted back. She crashed to the ground and fell silent.

"Magcargo is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Anorith is the winner! All three of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so this match goes to the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!"

"We did it!" Richard gasped, raising a fist in the air in triumph. "We really did it, Pincer!"

The anorith wearily scuttled back over to him and clicked cheerfully up at him as he gently patted him on the head. It had been a literal baptism of fire, but he'd managed to pull through. Now Richard felt stupid for not having trusted him sooner.

"Wow! That was a great comeback!" Flannery called as she returned Magcargo to her poké ball. "That was a much better battle – I'm kinda jealous of how much you improved…"

"Thanks," Richard said, standing up again and recalling Pincer to his poké ball. "But I think it was more down to my pokémon than me this time."

"Yeah." Flannery nodded. "Your pokémon put up a brilliant fight this time – we could scarcely keep up to them! Anyway…" She reached into her pocket and pulled out the small, flame-shaped badge. "Here's the Heat Badge. I hope that you and your team will remember this great battle every time you look at it!"

"Thanks, Flannery," said Richard. He took the badge. "And thank you, too, guys." He smiled down at the poké balls of Chena, Vortex and Pincer.

Up in the stands, James got to his feet. "I guess the pressure's on now!"

"You'll do fine," said Will. "You're stronger than Richard is, remember?"

James laughed nervously. "Don't let him hear you saying that!" he replied. "Anyway, I should head on down. I'll try not to disappoint you this time!"

"We'll be cheering for you!" Nicola grinned, giving him a thumbs-up as he turned to leave.

* * *

 **After a shaky start, things went pretty smoothly for Richard in the end. A well-earned win for Pincer, though I'd say that Vortex also had a big influence on the course of the battle. Given the current make up Richard's team, Chena seemed like the best final choice for all-round toughness, though he was always going to be the weaker member compared to the other two. Let's hope that Richard has learned his lesson about trusting his team members!**

 **Anyway, James' gym rematch is still to come. Hopefully, I'll have that finished in time for upload on Sunday and I'll successfully reach the end of my writing spree (until I have to start working on Chapter 71, of course!).**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	70. Overheat!

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Richard win his rematch against Flannery and earn the Heat Badge, leaving James as the last of the group to challenge the Lavaridge gym leader again.**

 **Upload Date: 1** **st** **July 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 70: Overheat!**

 _Lavaridge Town, Hoenn_

 _9:42am, 29_ _th_ _June 2006_

As he walked down the steps towards the passage through to the arena, James suddenly felt as though the expectations of all his companions were piling up on his shoulders. It wasn't just him anymore – if he failed again, then everyone else would be held up and wouldn't be able to continue on to the next gym. Well, either that or they'd leave him by himself and continue on without him.

He shook his head. He was letting his fears win. He knew that he had talent – that was mostly what had gotten him this far. If he fought as hard as he could and focused entirely on the battle, then he should be able to overpower Flannery. Certainly, the fact that Richard had emerged victorious should reassure him about his own chances against the Lavaridge gym leader.

Still, he wasn't immune to insecurity. If he was going to take anything from this experience, and his previous run of contest defeats as well, then it was this. He'd been complacent, dealing with problems relatively easily and always eventually emerging on top. He couldn't rely on that anymore. In a way, he thought, it was like he'd suddenly been forced to wake up and realise that the world wasn't as kind and accommodating as it had seemed before.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, James ran into Richard as he emerged from the passage. "Yo!" He grinned as cheerfully as he could. "Congrats on the win!"

"Thanks," Richard said, grinning back. "Just you to go now! You'll do fine – you know that your team is tough and comes through when you need them to!"

"Well, yeah," James replied. "Still, I don't want to get overconfident again. We're going to give it our all out there and make sure that we walk away from here with a new gym badge as well!"

"Sounds good!" Richard nodded approvingly. "Just remember that, even if she's tough, Flannery can still make mistakes as well. I'll head on up and cheer for you from the stands!"

"Thanks!" James said. "I'll try and give you guys a good show!"

The two of them high-fived as they passed each other before turning their attention back to their own thoughts. It was one of the things James had noticed while they'd been in Hoenn – that these meetings between the battles were difficult. It was hard to know what to say. If he'd just emerged with a victory, then he wouldn't want to be too relaxed and make the other person nervous. If he'd just been defeated, then he had to make sure that he wasn't undermining their confidence by overegging his victorious opponent.

James sighed. It was still nice though – getting to see a friendly face just before heading into the arena and getting to share their feelings of delight or pain. That was what their friendships were about, he thought. Even if things were tough, they were still there for each other. And when they overcame their obstacles, they could all celebrate together as if it were a victory for all of them.

Taking heart from the thought, James fixed a grim smile on his face as he walked down the passage.

* * *

 _9:44am, 29_ _th_ _June 2006_

"Begin!" the referee shouted.

Out on the arena, James and Flannery both threw out their first poké balls.

Nulin and Camerupt both burst from the balls and materialised on the arena floor. They both watched each other carefully as the humid heat enveloped them. The steam was thick, perhaps due to the fire-type attacks that had been thrown around during the previous battle.

The momentary standoff over, the two pokémon quickly launched into action as their trainers issued their orders.

"Use Water Pulse!" James shouted.

"Use Tackle!" Flannery yelled.

As Camerupt lumbered forwards, Nulin swept up into the air and fired an orb of water at her. It exploded above her, sending a shockwave and a small deluge of water crashing down on top of her. The force pushed her back, but she managed to recover pretty quickly. It was clear, however, that the water had cooled the outside of her body.

"Use Ice Beam!" James called, watching Camerupt carefully.

Nulin vanished up into the steam. Suddenly, a bright white beam shot down striking the ground and immediately freezing it. The beam travelled forwards, striking Camerupt and freezing the water now clogging her fur.

Camerupt cried out in pain as the ice squeezed her. She tried to shift, but the ice was keeping her feet stuck to the ground. It was a compromising situation, but fortunately it wouldn't last long. The heat in the room was so intense that the ice had already started melting almost as soon as it had hit the ground.

"Water Pulse again!" James shouted, recognising that he needed to move quickly.

With a cry, Nulin dived out the steam clouds and fired another blast of water towards Camerupt. However, she managed to tear herself free from the ice and lurched to the side. The attack hit the ground where she'd been standing a split second later, the shockwave echoing around the room.

"Keep your eyes out, Nulin!" James shouted.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery yelled.

Camerupt immediately fired a blast of intense white flames into the air as Nulin weaved through the steam clouds overhead. There was a bright flash that caused everyone in the room to shield their eyes as the flames illuminated the white steam. For a few moments, no one could see anything that was happening on the battlefield at all.

As Camerupt's flames faded and a steam-filled gloom consumed the room once again, Richard caught sight of a streak of white diving down from the ceiling. He watched as Nulin shot down to the ground before pulling up. He swept around Camerupt with ease before pausing and coming to a stop in front of James.

"Use Supersonic!" James yelled.

With a nod, Nulin started emitting a high-pitched whine. The irritating sound travelled quickly through the air and struck Camerupt, who started swaying about slightly, her expression suddenly turning even more baffled than normal.

"Snap out of it, Camerupt!" Flannery called enthusiastically. "They're just trying to confuse you!" As the fire type continued stumbling about, she called out, "Use Tackle!"

Camerupt started lumbering forwards but slipped on a leftover patch of ice. She crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. She looked around in a daze and spotted Nulin still hovering where he'd been before. The image kept distorting though, made worse by all the heat haze in the arena.

"Nulin, use Ice Beam on the ceiling!" James shouted.

Suddenly aiming his beak upwards, Nulin fired a blast of ice through the murky steam to strike and freeze the ceiling. He followed up with a second blast, adding an extra layer to the ice. The heat rising from the arena quickly made it start to melt.

"A smart move," Flannery muttered, watching as the melting ice started dropping down across the arena, just as if it were raining.

"Nulin, return!" James called, holding up the wingull's poké ball. As Nulin was recalled to the ball, he pulled out a second one and threw it out. "Go, Muro!"

Muro shouted out as he materialised on the hot floor. He stamped his feet and looked across at Camerupt as he got ready to move.

"A switch, huh?" Flannery grinned. "Camerupt, use Sunny Day!"

Camerupt fired a fiery orb up into the air. As it reached the top of the room, it suddenly emitted a bright light and a wave of heat. The ice that Nulin had put up quickly melted and much of the water evaporated as it dropped down.

James gritted his teeth. Flannery had dealt with that almost effortlessly – it was disappointing after all that setup. Still, Camerupt was weakened and James was convinced that Muro would have little trouble dealing with her. "Use Stomp!" he called.

Muro stormed forwards, his feet thudding on the ground. Camerupt charged towards him as well, apparently choosing to face him head on instead of attempt to intercept him. It would have been a impressive sight, had she not tripped on her own feet and crashed forwards before reaching him.

There was a second thud as Muro slammed his foot down on the prone Camerupt. She cried in pain and started struggling, trying to throw him off.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

Bolstered by the intense heat in the air, Camerupt fired an intense blast of flames up at Muro, catching him before he had a chance to react. He flailed backwards, attempting to bat away the flames. As they cleared, he fixed Camerupt with an angry stare. His body was burned somewhat, but it could have been worse.

"Use Uproar!" James called.

Muro didn't hesitate. He immediately let out a loud shout, the shockwave travelling forwards and striking Camerupt. It knocked her back to the ground again as the din echoed around the room. Finally, Muro stormed forwards again and slammed his foot into her a second time. Finally, the mighty Camerupt collapsed to the ground.

"Camerupt is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Loudred is the winner!"

"You're doing great, Muro!" James called reassuringly.

Muro grunted and nodded back at him as he awaited his next opponent.

"Nice work!" Flannery called as she recalled Camerupt. "I'm looking forward to seeing how you do from now on!" Pulling out a second poké ball, she threw it into the air.

Magcargo burst from the ball and materialised on the ground. She let out a shout as she spotted Muro.

The fiery orb that Camerupt had fired into the sky still hung there, battering Muro with its intense heat. He shifted uncomfortably as he tried to keep his feet from getting too hot.

James could see his discomfort – they had to move quickly. "Use Uproar!"

Muro resumed his loud uproar, sending a shockwave flying over towards Magcargo. She weathered it easily, however. The attack was doing little against the rocky armour on her back, even as the outer rock crumbled under the pressure.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery yelled.

Magcargo immediately fired a powerful blast of flames at Muro, its power intensified by the increased heat of the arena. It struck Muro, completely engulfing him. James just scarcely managed to make out a shout before the roar of the flames drowned out any sound. The heat wave from the fire hit him with such force that he had to take a step back.

As the flames finally cleared and possibly the most powerful attack that had been used over the last few days of battles dissipated, everyone looked forward with bated breath. Blistered and burned, Muro still stood. His pain was clear on his face, but he continued staring at Magcargo with a fiery determination in his eyes.

"Muro, return!" James called.

A shocked, almost outraged expression appeared on Muro's face as he was hit by the recall beam and returned to the poké ball.

"Sorry," James said, glancing at the ball. "I get that you want to keep fighting, but in that condition…"

That still didn't seem to sit well with the loudred, who waved his arms angrily from inside the ball.

Sighing, James put the ball away and reached for another one. "Go, Nulin!"

Nulin called out as he burst from the ball and returned to the battlefield.

"Why is James switching out?" Will asked as Nulin started firing attacks at Magcargo. "I get that Muro was hurt, but he was still standing, wasn't he?"

"James doesn't want to push his pokémon too far," Richard replied. "That's something that he learned back in Kanto."

"Wouldn't it be better to take advantage of his enthusiasm though?" Will asked.

"That's part of being a good trainer – knowing when to stop your pokémon from hurting themselves unnecessarily."

"But hang on, though," said Nicola. "Won't that just hurt Muro's pride? It looked to me like he was really upset that he got rotated out…"

"These things happen – whoa!" Richard suddenly exclaimed as a cascade of boulders narrowly missed Nulin.

Down on the battlefield, Magcargo seemed to be flagging from Nulin's repeated attacks. Her shell was looking worse for wear and much of the rest of her body had been hardened by contact with the water.

Still, James recognised the threat of her Rock Slide attack. He and Nulin had managed to soften her up. It would be better to keep Nulin back for the final round instead of risking him in an attempt to deal the final blow. "Nulin, return!" He held up the poké ball and the wingull quickly and obediently returned to it. He quickly whipped out his final poké ball and threw it into the air. "Go, Charka!"

Charka roared as he landed on the arena floor. Unlike James' other pokémon, he seemed completely comfortable with the heat of the room.

"Use Swords Dance!" James yelled.

Charka immediately started jigging about vigorously, increasing his fighting spirit as he watched Magcargo.

"Rock Slide!" Flannery wasn't wasting a moment.

Neither was Magcargo. She immediately sent out a shockwave that tore up part of the arena floor and sent the boulders tumbling towards Charka. The charmeleon immediately rushed to the side but moved seconds too late. He was thrown down by the impact as boulders smashed and shattered around him.

However, he still pulled himself back to his feet and started charging towards Magcargo.

"Did James make a mistake?" Nicola whispered uneasily, watching as Magcargo fired another cluster of rocks towards Charka.

"I don't know," Richard replied. "It definitely would have been bad if Nulin had been hit by something like that…"

"That doesn't look good," Will mumbled as Charka was thrown back from Magcargo by another tumbling mass of rocks.

Charka had managed to slash viciously at Magcargo on his last attack and it was clear to both him and James that he'd managed to do quite a bit of damage. If he could keep up the pressure, then it should be a quick victory. However, the last couple of counter attacks had really beaten him down. He had to be careful.

"Use Slash!" James shouted.

With a quick nod, Charka stormed forwards again. As he drew close to Magcargo, she once again threw up a cluster of boulders. As he got closer, he tried to dodge, but she had made sure to keep them tightly packed.

"Flamethrower!" James yelled as the boulders tumbled forwards.

Charka immediately fired a burst of flames that licked their way through the gaps between the boulders. Boosted by the intense heat from the fiery orb hovering just below the ceiling, they struck Magcargo and engulfed her, just as Charka was struck and thrown back by the boulders.

The intense exchange of attacks threw up dust and smoke that took a couple of seconds to clear. When it finally did, it was Magcargo who remained standing.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Magcargo is the winner!"

"Use Water Pulse!" James had already thrown Nulin's poké ball, even as he reached for Charka's.

Nulin burst from the ball just as Charka was recalled and immediately fired a blast of water towards his weakened opponent.

There was a boom and a spray of water.

Magcargo crashed to the ground as well. As the fiery orb over their heads finally dissipated and returned the arena to the gloom, Nulin flew around unopposed.

"M-Magcargo is unable to battle!" the referee announced, taken aback by the sudden speed of Nulin's counter attack. "Wingull is the winner!"

"Come back, Magcargo!" Flannery called, returning her to her poké ball. She quickly pulled out her final one and threw it into the air. "Go, Torkoal!"

Torkoal burst out and materialised on the arena floor with a loud cry. She gazed across at Nulin with a determined look on her face.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery ordered immediately.

"Water Pulse!" James shouted.

Both pokémon fired their attacks, with Torkoal's evaporating Nulin's almost instantly. However, the nimble wingull was able to duck low and fly under the intense fire. Once down, he fired another blast of water, this time scoring a direct hit.

As Torkoal stumbled backwards in pain, she quickly recovered. As Nulin approached her and fired a second time, she lurched to the side to avoid it. She stormed forwards and slammed into Nulin, knocking him to the ground.

"Use Overheat again!" Flannery yelled.

Torkoal fired a weaker blast of flames down at Nulin, engulfing him completely. As they cleared, Nulin was quick to fire back, hitting Torkoal with a blast of water. Though badly burned and with difficulty flying, the wingull managed to pull back and fire another blast of water.

This time, Torkoal swayed out of the way again and charged forwards. She smashed through another blast of water fired by Nulin and managed to knock him down to the ground again.

"Nulin, return!" James shouted, holding up his poké ball.

The injured wingull was struck by the recall beam and returned to the ball.

"I guess you get your wish after all," James sighed, pulling out Muro's ball. He hoped that he'd recovered somewhat from the previous rounds. "Go, Muro!"

Muro cheered loudly as he burst from the ball. Landing softly, this time he appeared not to notice the heat of the floor at all as he looked over at his final opponent.

"Use Stomp!" James called.

Charging forwards with a slight limp, Muro gained momentum as he closed on Torkoal.

"Use Attract!" Flannery yelled.

Torkoal immediately winked flirtatiously at Muro, stopping him in his tracks.

"Gah!" James shouted in frustration. "Snap out of it, Muro! You wanted to fight her, remember?"

Muro still stood around in a daze. He staggered backwards a little as he gazed at Torkoal.

"Use Overheat!" Flannery shouted.

Torkoal immediately fired a burst of flames at Muro.

Snapping back to attention at the last moment, he dived to the side and just managed to avoid the flames.

"Use Uproar!" James yelled.

Instead, Muro gave him a reluctant look. It was as though all of his enthusiasm had been sucked out of him.

"Maybe I should send Nulin back out and hope I can finish it in one blow," James sighed, watching as Muro dodged another of Torkoal's attacks, but made no effort to strike back. He reached for the loudred's poké ball and held it up.

Seeing it seemed to stir something in Muro. He suddenly shook his head and jumped back from James. He turned back to face Torkoal and gave his head a shake. His face still looked conflicted, but he looked far firmer than he had before.

"Use Stomp!" James suddenly shouted, noticing Muro's change.

With a roar, Muro jerked himself forwards. Caught off-guard, Torkoal did nothing to try and stop him as he closed in on her. There was a crash as he slammed his heavy foot down hard on her shell. Her head smashed into the ground below.

As Muro stumbled backwards, it was clear that he'd managed to finish the job.

"Torkoal is unable to battle! Loudred is the winner!" the referee announced. "All three of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"We did it!" James sighed with relief, feeling the tension drain out of him. He staggered forwards to meet Muro, who was stumbling back towards him. "Great work out there, Muro – well-deserved!"

Muro grinned back at him, pleased that he'd pulled through and brought the team to victory. Inside their poké balls, Charka and Nulin were also waving their arms or wings in celebration.

"Well, I guess that's that!" Flannery said as she recalled Torkoal. "I'm impressed that your loudred was able to pull through Torkoal's Attract!"

"I guess he really wanted to be the one to deal the final blow!" James said, smiling down at him.

"You guys definitely earned this." Flannery pulled out the Heat Badge and handed it to James. "You were much more together this battle and I could tell that you and your pokémon were trying even harder for this victory!"

"Thanks, Flannery," James said. He patted Muro on the head as he showed him their new gym badge.

* * *

 _11:38am, 29_ _th_ _June 2006_

All of the pokémon were healed up and all of the group's belonging were packed up in their bags as they gathered in the trainers' lounge. It felt like they could stay in Lavaridge forever, but it was time for them to move on. There were still plenty of other gym battles that lay ahead, of course.

"So, where are we heading?" Will asked, keeping back as James, Richard and Nicola pored over the map in the guidebook.

"We've covered virtually all of northern Hoenn," Richard replied. "I guess we could try heading south towards one of these places." He pointed to several dots in the southern half of the region.

"I was thinking something along those lines," James said. "But is there anything else anyone wants to do?"

"Umm, I was hoping that we could go back to Petalburg City," Nicola said. "I feel like my team and I could finally take on Norman again now."

"I don't mind doing that," James replied. "It shouldn't take too long to get back to Petalburg from here…"

"Does that mean going back through Rusturf Tunnel?" Will asked.

"We could loop around from the north instead," said James. "Would you prefer that?"

"So, north to Duneran Town and then west back to Gharnot Town?" Richard asked. "That's fine by me."

"Let's get moving then!" Nicola grinned. "I can't wait to get back to Petalburg!"

The group stood up and picked up their bags. Chatting amongst themselves, they walked out of the trainers' lounge and then out onto the street. Ahead of them lay the valley leading north away from Mt. Chimney. It was finally time to hit the road again.

* * *

 **So, the Lavaridge Arc finally comes to a close, as does my writing spree. As normal, I'll be taking a week off next week before returning to upload Chapter 71. I'll be far from relaxing though – I start a new job tomorrow and I'm planning to work on Chapter 19 of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **to keep me busy!**

 **So, we're over half way through the story now and well over half the gym badges have been earned. June has been quite the eventful month! I hope that you're all looking forwards to the rest of the story, even if there's finally more chapters published than there are to go.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	71. Whiscash's Lair

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James fought a rematch against Flannery in Lavaridge Town and this time emerged victorious to earn his fifth Hoenn League gym badge.**

 **Upload Date: 13** **th** **July 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 71: Whiscash's Lair**

 _Route 112, Hoenn_

 _1:56pm, 3_ _rd_ _July 2006_

"Use Flamethrower!" James shouted.

"Ember!" Nicola yelled.

Charka and Mule spat flames at one another, black smoke rising above the battlefield as the flames licked their way across.

"Use Water Pulse!" James called to Nulin, who was hovering just to Charka's right.

As Charka was struck by Mule's embers, Nulin swept to the side to escape. He quickly fired an orb of water towards the numel.

"Water Gun!" Nicola ordered.

Kipa jumped forwards to get between Nulin and Mule and fired a jet of water towards the wingull's approaching attack.

"They're really going at it, aren't they?" Richard said, grinning as he observed the practice battle.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "They've really been keen to train recently."

"Is that any surprise after what's happened?" Richard replied.

Success against Flannery had given James, Richard and Nicola a boost in the days after they left Lavaridge Town. But that wasn't all that had happened on the trip towards Petalburg City.

The group had arrived in Duneran Town to find a pokémon contest happening that very evening. James and Nicola had both entered but, perhaps unexpectedly given that they hadn't had anywhere near enough time to prepare, they had been knocked out pretty easily.

So, the two of them had vowed to spend even more time training to put together exciting combinations and to keep up their battling prowess. After the fallout from James and Richard's initial losses to Flannery, they were all keenly aware that failure was the best teacher.

Hence why there was such an intense battle going on between the two trainers in the middle of the valley that lead west from Duneran Town towards Gharnot Town – the peaceful lunch breaks seemed to have become a thing of distant memory.

"Use Flamethrower!" James yelled.

"Ember!" Nicola shouted.

The two fire types immediately spewed their attacks again, with Charka's flames blasting past Kipa as Mule countered with her embers. A searing blast of heat emanated from the battlefield, causing Richard and Will to flinch as it reached them. As the flames cleared away, all four pokémon were still up.

"Use Slash!" James yelled. "And Aerial Ace!"

Charka and Nulin charged forwards, preparing themselves to strike hard against their opponents.

"Use Mud Shot and Take Down!" Nicola called.

Mule charged forwards to meet Charka and Nulin. Kipa fired a blast of mud towards Charka, missing his mark by inches. As Charka and Mule collided, Charka fired another blast of flames that looped around the numel and only narrowly missed Kipa.

"Alright, use…" Just as Nicola was preparing to give another order, she suddenly noticed that Kipa seemed to be in difficulty. He was grimacing in pain and attempting to cover himself as if to protect himself from further attacks. "Kipa, what's wrong?" Nicola asked as she started walking towards him.

As she got closer, she suddenly noticed that there were nasty-looking blisters covering Kipa's body and his skin was dry and flaky. He was holding himself as completely still as he could, as if afraid that moving would cause him to fall apart.

"Is that from all the flames?!" James exclaimed, noticing that something was wrong and coming over to join them. "I didn't think Kipa's skin would dry out this badly!"

"Try using a potion," Richard said as he and Will approached as well.

"Yeah." Nicola quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a potion. She sprayed it at Kipa, who immediately tensed up and screamed in agony. The spray made the surface of his skin and the normally-slimy film that surrounded it a little bit damp for a while, but it dried out pretty quickly thanks to the heat.

"This isn't working," said Will. "Look at those blisters – they're awful!"

"We really got carried away this time," said James guiltily. "Sorry, Kipa."

"What should we do?" Nicola asked desperately. "It doesn't look like the potion will heal him at all!"

"Then we should get him to a pokémon centre," said Richard. "Where's the closest one, James?"

"The one back in Duneran Town," James replied. He paused for a second. "But there's a large lake not too much further down the road. If we stop off there, we could let him re-hydrate."

"Would lake water help more than potions?" Will asked, looking sceptical.

"Well, potions are painkillers and help wounds to heal," James replied. "They'll help the blisters a bit, but they won't be good at making Kipa's skin wet again."

"Let's go to the lake then," said Nicola, glancing anxiously at Kipa.

"I'd put him back in his poké ball if I were you," said Richard. "Keep him as safe as possible until we get there."

"Got it." Nicola nodded.

"So, which way are we heading?" Will asked as Kipa was recalled to his poké ball.

"We need to keep heading down the valley," James replied. "Let's grab our stuff and get moving!"

* * *

 _2:21pm, 3_ _rd_ _July 2006_

The twenty-or-so minutes it took to walk from where they'd stopped for lunch to the lake that James had found on the map felt like a very long time. Nicola had barely spoken during the walk. She was too focused on her injured pokémon and kept glancing at the poké ball as she walked. The other three didn't really speak that much either, other than to ask and confirm which direction they were heading.

It had come as a great relief to all of them when they finally reached the crest of a slope in the valley and spotted the lake just below them. It wasn't especially large, and the water looked murky and uninviting, but it still filled them with energy as they practically ran down the hill towards it.

"Send Kipa out!" James called to Nicola as they reached the lakeside.

"Got it!" Nicola gently tapped the release button on the poké ball, allowing Kipa out. He immediately hopped painfully into the water and sank down into it until only the top of his head was visible.

"Hopefully, this'll give him a chance to recover," said Richard.

"We've never had this problem before though," Nicola replied, frowning as Kipa disappeared completely under the surface for a few seconds before appearing again. "Should we be more careful in the future?"

"That's probably a good idea." James nodded.

"On the plus side, I guess that shows you how much more powerful Mule and Charka's flames are now!" Will grinned.

"I guess you've got a point there," Nicola said.

"We just need to make sure that we're watching how much fire we're throwing around in practice sessions," said James. "It won't be a big problem, I'm sure."

"We should probably already be doing that," Richard said cynically, raising an eyebrow. He pulled out his poké balls and released his pokémon. "Guess you guys might as well have a rest as well since we're here!"

Dish immediately jumped into the lake as well and started floating around. The rest of the team shuffled about on the shore for a couple of seconds before finding somewhere to settle. The rest of the pokémon soon joined them as the other three trainers released them.

Of course, some of the pokémon weren't content to sit still. Zaggy was quick to start weaving around, sniffing at everything nearby. Tricky followed him, as did Muro, to keep an eye on him.

Kacha was also active, jumping around and practising his agility. He'd been unable to seal victory during James' battle with Flannery and had been slightly neglected in the post-match training. He was full of energy and keen to burn it off. He was joined by Mushy, who was similarly keen to exercise and burn off some energy.

As for the rest of them, they seemed keen to relax for a bit. It was nice being out of the poké balls and in the fresh air. As nice and safe as the interior of the balls were, they could feel quite suffocating at times. Just being outside to enjoy the fresh air and the nature ground beneath them was…

There was a sudden tremor, causing everyone to stumble.

"An earthquake?" James cried.

"That came from nowhere!" Richard exclaimed. "Is everyone okay?"

"Y-Yeah!" Will called back.

"Ah! It's over!" Nicola said as the shaking subsided. Just as they started to relax, however, there was another tremor, this time slightly more violent.

"Wh-What's going on?!" James exclaimed.

"L-Look! Over there!" Richard called, pointing out to a spot nearby in the lake.

The water had started bubbling as something moved up from below. A large fish suddenly broke the surface, staring at them for a couple of seconds. Then it charged towards Kipa, Dish, and Toya, who had joined them.

"Watch out!" James shouted.

"Return!" Nicola whipped out Kipa's poké ball and recalled him in the short seconds it took for the wild pokémon to cover the distance between them. The other two weren't so lucky and were struck by the pokémon, sending them flying out of the lake and crashing down onto the lake shore. The pokémon then fired a powerful blast of water, and everyone on the shore scrambled to get clear before it could hit them.

"What is that thing?" Nicola yelped as she grabbed Mushy and dived clear.

"Whatever it is, it isn't friendly!" Richard called.

"Let's see…" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Whiscash, the whiskers pokémon and the evolved form of barboach. Whiscash are extremely territorial. Just one of these pokémon will claim a large pond as its exclusive territory. If a foe approaches it, it thrashes about and triggers a massive earthquake. This pokémon has the ability to predict real earthquakes._ "

"This isn't a large pond – it's a lake!" Will called angrily as he recalled Toya to his poké ball.

The four trainers and their pokémon scrambled back up the hill to get out of range of the whiscash before pausing for breath.

"So…" Richard began. "What now?"

"I guess we go and find somewhere else around the lake for Kipa to recover in," said James.

"Are you sure?" Will asked. "Won't the whiscash just attack us again?"

"It said that they claim large ponds," James replied. "But this is a lake, so I figure that it probably won't guard the whole place."

"Good point," said Nicola. "Let's get moving then."

Back in the lake, the whiscash had disappeared back into the murky depths of the water.

* * *

 _2:35pm, 3_ _rd_ _July 2006_

"I'll keep an eye out, just in case," Will said as Kipa landed in the lake a second time.

They'd walked a long way around the side of the lake to a place that was far away from where they'd been attacked by the whiscash.

"How is he doing?" Richard asked Nicola, coming over to join her as she watched Kipa.

"I think that the water is helping," Nicola replied. "But he still doesn't look very good…"

"Give him some time and I'm sure he'll get better," said Richard.

"It'll help, even if we still need to take him to a pokémon centre," James added. "Don't worry, Nicola."

"How can I not worry?" Nicola replied anxiously. "The whole reason Kipa is in this mess is because of me…"

"Because of us," James said.

Kipa didn't seem to be that bothered by the conversation. He was preoccupied with immersing himself in the water. This time, he was bathing in an inlet in the lakeshore, with the bank enclosing it on three sides. It was a nice and sheltered spot where he'd be shielded from any waves out in the main lake.

"Watch out!"

Everyone looked around as they heard Will shout out. At that moment, the ground around them started shaking again.

"It's actually claimed the entire lake?!" James exclaimed in shock as he struggled to keep his balance.

"Kipa, return!" Nicola immediately shouted, whipping out his poké ball again.

Kipa was quickly returned to the ball as the tremors continued and the whiscash burst to the surface. It stormed towards the shore, coming right down into the inlet towards them.

As they scrambled back from the shore again, the whiscash came to a halt and stared at them menacingly, as if warning them not to set foot by the lakeside again. Then it turned and swam away again, disappearing back into the lake.

* * *

Despite being chased away from the lake a second time, the group was undeterred. Or rather, James, Richard and Will were undeterred. Nicola was starting to wonder why they couldn't just get on the road to the pokémon centre. Sure, Kipa still needed to recover in the water, but they could find somewhere else along the road. Somewhere safer.

But the three boys now seemed determined to 'beat' the whiscash and give Kipa enough time to recover here at this lake. The conditions were pretty good, after all, and it wasn't like the whiscash needed _all_ of that space all of the time. They'd been discussing possible ideas for how to defeat it ever since they'd retreated back from the lake the second time.

It seemed that it didn't mind whenever someone was stood on the lakeside as long as they didn't touch the water. Will and Toya had walked along the bank for a few minutes and the whiscash had only appeared when Toya jumped in the water. Still, the brief battle between the two pokémon had ended with Will and Toya having to run away again. It was going to be difficult to find a way to stop it from attacking Kipa while he was recovering.

So, they were going to focus on its weaknesses instead and had an eager Kacha standby while they tried luring it out again.

That's when they'd discovered that it was a ground-type pokémon as well as a water type.

Still, this gave them a new idea. That typing meant that it would be especially vulnerable to grass-type attacks, and they had two grass types ready and willing to go up against it. Once again, they'd marched down to the lakeside and had Toya enter the water. As the whiscash had appeared and charged towards him, they'd quickly discovered that Mushy and Dish's attacks were just a bit too slow to hit before it reached Toya.

So, what to do?

The whiscash had retreated pretty quickly after being hit by Dish's attack, but there was no way that they could risk Kipa being injured in an attack like that. Plus, they needed a way to keep the whiscash still so that they could hit it with the full force of their attacks. If that was even possible.

In the end, the plan they came up with was a combination of things. Kipa would bathe in the inlet in the shore, with Mushy and Dish waiting on either side of the entrance. Muro and Toya would stand on the shore behind Kipa to blast the whiscash back if it started getting too close. It wasn't perfect, but it seemed like the best choice they had.

"Alright, one final practice!" Richard called to Dish and Mushy.

"Are you sure about this?" Nicola asked anxiously.

"Don't worry – it'll be fine!" Richard called back. "Muro and Toya are in position, so Kipa won't be in any danger!"

"I guess…" Nicola mumbled.

Meanwhile, both Mushy and Dish both fired green beams of energy outwards as fast as they could, each of them striking the water's surface and continuing down briefly before fizzling out. Their attacks were useless if the whiscash stayed too far underwater, which was another advantage of the inlet. The shallow water forced it to come to the surface and put it in range of the grass types' attacks.

"I guess that we're ready," said Richard, nodding in satisfaction. "Are you all good to go back there?"

"We're ready!" Will called back, giving him a thumbs-up.

"You can get in now, Kipa," said James.

As Kipa slipped into the water, the four trainers and the four pokémon gathered around the shore held their breath. It seemed like minutes passed in only a few brief seconds. The whiscash had long since wised up to the fact that they were hanging around the area and the time it had taken for it to react had grown steadily less.

Nicola and Richard steadied themselves as a tremor rocked the lakeside. By the time they felt the second one, they could already see the whiscash approaching from below the surface.

There was a crash as the water parted and the whiskers pokémon broke the surface yet again. It immediately shot forwards towards Kipa, who was immersing himself in the water. It either didn't notice or didn't care about Mushy and Dish.

"Use Uproar!" James shouted.

"Ice Beam!" Will yelled.

Muro immediately started shouting and stomping about, sending a soundwave across at the whiscash. Toya followed with a freezing beam of ice. Both of them struck the whiscash and gradually halted its advance.

"You've got to hit it now!" Will shouted, noticing that Toya's attack was starting to freeze the surface of the water.

"Got it!" Richard yelled back. "Dish, use Mega Drain!"

"You too, Mushy!" Nicola called.

The two grass types fired green beams of energy down at the struggling whiscash, both scoring direct hits. Both looked refreshed as they drained energy from the opponent below.

Roaring in pain, the whiscash thrashed around. Turning, it fired a deluge of water up towards Mushy, who was immediately blasted back. She hit Nicola, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

"Nicola!" Richard yelled in alarm. "Are you okay?"

"I-I think so," Nicola called back. "You've got to stop the whiscash though!"

With one less pokémon, the whiscash was starting to struggle forwards again. It opened its mouth to prepare another attack for Muro, Toya and Kipa.

"Freeze that attack!" Will shouted, hoping to block anything heading towards Kipa.

However, as Toya prepared to fire back, the green aura that had surrounded Dish since her attack had hit the whiscash suddenly flared up a brighter green colour. The beam she was firing suddenly intensified and grew a deeper shade of green. The whiscash cried out and lashed around before finally turning and diving back into the deeper water of the lake.

"We…we did it!" Richard gasped. "But what was that, Dish?"

Dish gave him a shrug in response. Did it really matter?

"That looked like Giga Drain to me," said James, cautiously walking over to join him.

"A new move, huh?" Richard grinned. "Great work, Dish! That was some good fighting."

"Well done to everyone else as well," said James, nodding at Muro and Toya before turning to do the same for Mushy.

"Are we really done though?" Will called. "Where's the whiscash?"

"It's still swimming around," said Nicola. "I think it's trying to work out another way to attack us!"

"Keep an eye on it," Richard said. "We just need to hold it off long enough for Kipa to heal!"

A tense standoff developed as the whiscash patrolled just outside of Dish and Mushy's range. Both sides watched each other carefully as time went on. It felt like a long time. Every now and again, the whiscash would cause a tremor, perhaps hoping to knock one of the pokémon into the water so that they'd be at its mercy.

"How's Kipa doing?" James asked, walking back down to join Will after a couple of minutes up with Richard, watching the whiscash.

"He looks a lot better," said Will.

The blisters were still there, but they looked much better now. The film around Kipa's body was looking much slimier. Above all, the marshtomp was grinning happily at him – the pain of his dried-out body had gone.

"I think we're okay to finish!" James called back.

"For real?" Nicola immediately ran back down to them as Kipa pulled himself out of the water. "How are you feeling, Kipa? I was so worried…"

Kipa called out cheerfully to her as she reached down and hugged him. She ignored the slimy film that was left behind on the front of her clothes.

"Let's get away then," said Will.

"Great work, everyone! Let's get out of here!" Richard called. He jogged back over to join the others, while Mushy and Dish quickly retreated from the lakeside as well.

All of the trainers quickly rushed back from the shore as the whiscash charged in again. It fired a brief blast of water after them before slinking away again and disappearing once more beneath the murky surface of the lake.

"Well, that was an experience," Richard sighed as they finally stopped to look back. "Great work on learning that new move, Dish!"

Dish gave a modest shrug.

"I guess we can finally get moving again then," said Will. "Do you think we can still make it to Gharnot Town today?"

"I think it'll be tomorrow," James replied. He turned to Nicola. "You should probably get Kipa looked at when we get to Gharnot Town, just to be sure."

"Will do!" Nicola nodded as she and Kipa started walking after the others. "Thanks for all your help, guys!"

"What are friends for?" Richard asked, grinning at her. "Besides, we want Kipa to be in top shape for your rematch with Norman, right?"

"I definitely agree with that!" Nicola grinned.

"Let's get moving," said James. "We should try and get as far as we can before we start looking for somewhere to camp for the night."

The crisis with Kipa over and victorious over the whiscash, the group were in high spirits as they walked back towards the main path leading down the valley. After all the excitement, they were looking forward to having a more relaxed journey for the rest of the day!

* * *

 **Back to our regular adventures across Hoenn this time, after all the excitement of the Lavaridge Arc. Nothing much more to say apart from that, really.**

 **Thanks to everyone who has been leaving reviews or sending PMs recently. I'm sorry that I haven't had time to respond to anything yet – I'll make sure that I do by the end of the weekend. Things have been busy for me since I started a new job last Monday and working on** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **chapters has kept me more occupied in my free time than I originally thought it would.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Ember and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	72. The Fires of Battle

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Kipa's skin dried out after a training session, leading the group to tangle with a territorial whiscash as they attempted to rehydrate him at a nearby lake.**

 **Upload Date: 20** **th** **July 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 72: The Fires of Battle**

 _Route 116(a), Hoenn_

 _2:41pm, 5_ _th_ _July 2006_

After the drama with Kipa and the whiscash, the group had continued on their journey down towards Gharnot Town. The overnight stay in the town had been uneventful – much more like their first visit compared to their second. After that, they'd continued west and joined Route 116(a) leading straight to Petalburg City. It was a familiar route and they had all enjoyed reminiscing about the previous time they'd passed through the area.

"I guess Kurias Town is the next town on the road," said Richard as they walked along a road passing among the vast fields and rice paddies of the valley.

"I remember that place," said Nicola. "It had those obstacle arenas, didn't it?"

"Yeah, that's right." Will nodded. "They seemed pretty interesting – I was a little sad that I didn't get to battle on them…"

"If you feel that way, then I was actually thinking of stopping off there to get supplies," said James. "You can go and battle on the arenas if you want."

"You mean it?" Will grinned. "That sounds great!"

"Ah, I remember having lots of fun there as well," said Richard. "I seem to recall beating you in our match, James."

"Then you're not remembering right," James replied. "You won one battle. I won the other three."

"Sooo, I _did_ beat you, then!"

"Don't make me explain to you how three is bigger than one."

"Well, I'm much stronger now – I'm sure it'll be a much closer contest this time!"

As the two of them exchanged friendly blows, Nicola moved up to walk next to Will. "Need someone to fight with you?"

"I mean, if you're offering…" Will replied.

"It would be really helpful. You know, since I've got a gym battle coming up," Nicola said.

"How are you feeling about that, by the way?" Will asked. "Confident?"

"Not really, no," Nicola replied awkwardly. "I got crushed the last time I went up against Norman."

"I remember." Will nodded. "Well, I wanted to practise my teamwork anyway, so it'll be good having someone else who'll be training seriously to work with."

"Glad to hear it!" Nicola grinned. Though the gym battle was still a while away, it had already been creeping into her thoughts alarmingly regularly. She didn't want to underestimate the challenge she'd face. In fact, now that she had more gym badges, she'd probably have an even tougher challenge on her hands now than she did the last time they were in Petalburg.

Ahead of them, some of the pokémon had been running around and scuffling with each other. Blue seemed particularly fired up, constantly jostling with Mule and Muro and charging about. She occasionally jumped into the air in an attempt to reach Turkey and Nulin, who were flying above the group.

Nicola absentmindedly reached up and patted Blu, who was perched happily on her head. Thankfully, she hadn't been getting involved in these scuffles, but Nicola could tell that she was raring for a good fight. Perhaps she'd have a chance to shine in the battle with Norman?

* * *

 _Kurias Town, Hoenn_

 _3:26pm, 5_ _th_ _July 2006_

In the open valley, it didn't take long for the group to spot Kurias Town in the distance. Actually reaching it, however, took much longer. What surprised Nicola slightly was how much more energetic she felt compared to last time. When they'd previously reached the town, she could remember being pretty worn out – she guessed that all the walking all over Hoenn had given her more stamina to cope with it. She rarely got blisters on a normal day now as well. Another very welcome change compared to three months before.

"Right!" Richard said loudly as they passed the first buildings and found themselves walking down one of Kurias Town's streets. "Shall we head for the arenas?"

"Shouldn't we go to the pokémon centre first?" Nicola asked. "We're going to be stopping here tonight, right?"

"Yeah, that's the plan," said James.

"I doubt there are lots of trainers here right now," said Will. "There probably won't be a rush like that one for the Gharnot Contest."

"Well, that's true…" Nicola sighed.

"It looks like the pokémon know where they want to go, at least," said Will, noticing that Blue, Mule, and Zaggy were all haring off down the street ahead of them.

"Don't get too far ahead, you guys!" Nicola shouted. She quickly turned to Tricky. "Can you round them up for me, Tricky?"

With a bark, the electrike took off with a burst of speed. He quickly caught up with the other three and started racing around them to get them back in check. Once he was done, he glanced back over at Nicola with a satisfied nod.

"Thanks, Tricky!" Nicola called. She turned to Will. "I don't know where I'd be without him sometimes."

"I bet you wish all of your pokémon were as well-behaved as Grum, right?" Will grinned. He reached down to pat the spoink, who was hopping about nearby and was in no rush to join the others. However, she quickly bounced back and growled at him. "Isn't she cute?" Will said, grinning at Nicola.

"I guess…" Nicola replied. She was starting to wonder if Will had made any progress with Grum since catching her – not only did they not seem to get along, they even seemed to have different opinions about how good their relationship was. It was a little bit worrying, to say the least!

"Anyway, let's get going then!" Richard called cheerfully. "I can't wait to hit those arenas and get some serious training done for my next gym battle!"

"Hold on a second." James reached out and grabbed his shoulder as he made to walk away. "You're not going to leave me to shop for supplies all by myself, are you?"

"Well, uh, I kinda thought you'd be able to handle that," Richard replied guiltily.

"You're coming with me," James said firmly.

"Urk. Really?" Richard groaned. "Can't you just leave it until later?"

"You sure you won't complain about it later as well?" James asked raising an eyebrow.

"…Can't say for certain."

"Then let's just get it over with."

"Umm, did you want us to come with you?" Nicola asked.

"Nah, it's fine," James replied. "You've got a gym battle to worry about soon, so you go and train with Will. Two people will be enough to handle the supplies."

"Cool. See you later then!" Will called. He started walking off towards the turning that led to the park. Grum hopped alongside him, though keeping her distance.

"I guess I'll be off as well then," said Nicola. "Do you want us to meet you back at the pokémon centre?"

"We'll go there after we've finished shopping," James replied. "But if you're not back after a while, then we'll probably come out and look for you."

"Got it!" Nicola nodded. "Good luck, you two!"

James and Richard watched as she and her pokémon hurried off to join Will.

"You sure about not going to train with her?" Richard asked.

"I wasn't kidding when I said we needed supplies," James replied. "Besides, I feel like she and Will can learn a lot from battling together, more than they can learn from training with me or you."

"Probably true." Richard shrugged. "And I guess we'll be needed once we actually get to Petalburg City. Then it'll be really stressful."

"Exactly." James nodded. "Right! Let's hit the Poké Mart and get this shopping done!"

* * *

 _3:39pm, 5_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Watch out for that tree root!" Will yelled as Blue charged forwards.

With a surprised cry, Blue tripped over the root and crashed to the ground.

"Hit her with Ember!" Nicola shouted triumphantly.

A short distance from Blue, Mule opened her mouth and started firing a blast of embers at her.

"You're doing…" Nicola stopped as Mule's stream of embers suddenly intensified. There was a sudden flash as a burst of flames appeared and shot across the battlefield. Blue was just able to dodge by jumping up and grabbing a platform above her.

"Whoa! Mule's learning how to use Flamethrower!" Will exclaimed. With Charka around, it was easy to recognise that move.

"That's great, Mule!" Nicola called happily, running over to pat the numel on the head.

Mule grunted disinterestedly in response. It wasn't all that impressive – she hadn't managed to sustain the flames for long before they dissipated. It wasn't a move that could be mastered straightaway.

"Hey, Nicola!" Will called. "Think you and Mule could help Blue learn Flamethrower as well?"

"Ah, I guess Blue would be able to learn it too…" Nicola said thoughtfully. She already knew Ember, after all. "I mean, I don't think either of us know what we're doing, but…"

"We can master it together!" Will grinned.

That idea appealed to Nicola. She recognised that Mule needed to work on it as well.

So, the two of them set to work and encouraged both pokémon to focus on producing proper flames instead of embers. After a while, Mule was starting to get the hang of it somewhat, while Blue was still struggling to maintain the spray of flames for more than a handful of seconds.

That was when they'd been interrupted.

"Oh. Figures we'd run into you here again."

Recognising the voice from behind her, Nicola spun around. "Corey?!"

Corey was stood at the side of the arena, looking down at her and Mule. "Still struggling with your training, Small Fry?"

"Don't call me that!" Nicola snapped angrily. "What are you even doing here?"

"Felt like checking out the obstacle arenas again!" Corey smirked. "I've got to train hard so that I'm ready to earn my sixth badge!"

"You really do like picking fights, don't you?"

Nicola hadn't noticed that Suzy was with him. Their other friend wasn't around – maybe he was off doing something.

"So, trying to turn that numel into a winning pokémon?" Corey asked, glancing at Mule. "I'm surprised that you actually caught her."

"She wanted to come with me!" Nicola replied loudly. "And she's pretty tough too!"

"I'll believe it when I see it!" Corey called back. "But let's face it, a strong pokémon can be let down if their trainer is no good!"

"Want me to show you how tough we are?" Nicola scowled at him.

"I'm always up for a battle!" Corey grinned. "My pokémon could use a light workout before we do some serious training!"

"I guess that's the end of our training session," Will said to Blue.

"Oh!" Suzy noticed him. "How about we make this a tag battle?"

"You mean, all four of us fight?" Nicola asked.

"Yeah." Suzy nodded. "Now that Corey's fired up, I have to admit that I kinda want to battle as well."

"That works for me!" Will nodded. "It'll give Blue a chance to practise using Flamethrower!"

"I don't mind either," said Corey. "Me and Suzy versus you and…" He paused as he looked at Will.

"It's Will," he said.

"Ah, right! Sorry about that!" Corey called.

"Alright then!" Suzy said loudly. "This arena is a little cramped, so let's go and find one of the tag battle arenas!"

* * *

 _3:50pm, 5_ _th_ _July 2006_

A bigger arena also meant more obstacles for the pokémon while battling. In this case, there was a small, murky-looking stream with some wooden posts serving as stepping stones across it right at the centre of the large battlefield. There were also several tyres hanging on ropes from the tree branches overhead as an alternative way across. It wasn't a particularly big obstacle, but it might delay the pokémon getting to each other slightly.

Aside from that, there were raised platforms and other kinds of obstacles to make things interesting. It was certainly going to be a tough battle, both for the pokémon who'd be fighting across the battlefield, and the trainers trying to keep an eye on developments.

"Let's go!" Corey shouted eagerly, reaching for his poké ball.

"Are you both ready?" Suzy called.

"Yeah, we're ready!" Nicola nodded, glancing at Will.

"Agreed!" Will reached for Blue's poké ball.

"Let's begin!" Corey grinned. "Go, Losabe!"

"Go, Utan!" Suzy shouted.

The two bursts of energy erupted from the balls and materialised on the arena floor. One reshaped into the familiar silhouette of a hariyama, while the other was a majestic pokémon that Nicola and Will had never seen before.

"What is that?" Will asked as he reached for his Pokédex.

" _Absol, the disaster pokémon. Every time absol appear before humans, they are followed by a disaster such as an earthquake or a tidal wave. As a result, it came to be known as the disaster pokémon. It lives in a harsh, rugged mountain environment. This pokémon very rarely ventures down from the mountains._ "

"Whoa!" Nicola gasped. It was a truly beautiful pokémon, but it also seemed haunting in a way. It gave off an intimidating aura and she could definitely see why people might think it brought disaster with it.

"You done admiring my new pokémon yet?" Corey demanded. "Send out your own pokémon!"

"I was just going to!" Nicola called back. "Go, Mule!"

"Go, Blue!" Will shouted.

Mule and Blue burst out of their poké balls and landed on the battlefield.

"Let's begin!" Corey grinned. "Losabe, use Bite!"

Losabe immediately jumped forwards, bounding easily amongst the obstacles on the battlefield and crossing the stream before leaping high up onto one of the platforms.

"Watch out!" Nicola yelled.

With a smooth movement, Losabe shot down and struck Blue, knocking her to the ground. The two of them scuffled for a few moments before Losabe finally leapt back again.

"You watch out as well!" Will exclaimed, noticing Utan surge forwards. Even though he was slowed as he hobbled ungainly across the wooden posts in the stream, Mule reacted particularly slowly. There was a crash as he slammed into her and sent her flying backwards. He was a huge pokémon and could pack a massive punch.

"Are you okay?" Nicola called out anxiously as Mule struggled back to her feet.

"We're going to need to be careful!" Will called. "They're much tougher than I was expecting!"

"Back me up, Suzy! We're going in!" Corey shouted.

"Sure," Suzy sighed.

Losabe sprang forwards and made to slash at Blue with the scythe-like blade on her head. The bagon leapt back at the last minute and opened her mouth to fire a light blue beam of energy back.

"Help us out!" Will called, turning to Nicola.

"Right! Use Flamethrower!" Nicola yelled.

Mule took a step forwards and fired a blast of flames at Losabe. Just as both attacks were about to hit, however, Utan suddenly leapt in blocked the attacks.

"Nice save!" Corey grinned.

"If you're going to attack, then do it quickly!" Suzy called back.

"I'm on it!" Corey nodded. "Use Slash!"

Losabe leapt up over Utan and started descending towards Blue. She smashed into her and sent her flying back with a vicious slash. Mule attempted to rush to Blue's aid, but Utan quickly hurled himself forwards to intercept her. Both Nicola and Will's pokémon were thrown back with a crash.

"I've got an idea!" Nicola called to Will. "Get Blue to jump up onto the platforms!"

"Sure!" Will nodded. "You heard her, Blue!"

Blue quickly jumped back to her feet and jumped up the nearest platform. She continued jumping up the platforms around the tree trunk until she was just above Losabe and Utan.

"Use Magnitude!" Nicola shouted.

"Dive down and use Headbutt!" Will yelled, realising what she was planning.

As Blue eagerly hurled herself down towards her opponents, Mule stamped the ground and sent a shockwave vibrating through the battlefield. For a moment, nothing made sense as the trainers struggled to stay on their feet and lost their focus on the arena. It was a powerful quake – Mule had managed to put a lot of power behind this one!

Utan and Losabe were struck by the shockwave and were thrown backwards. As they struggled to regain their balance, Blue suddenly plunged out of the sky and slammed into Losabe with a powerful headbutt. As she bounced away from the absol, she followed up with a perfect blast of flames.

"Use Take Down!" Nicola yelled, spotting their opportunity as Losabe stumbled backwards amid the flames.

Mule immediately started charging forwards, her momentum building with each stride. As she got closer, however, a shadow suddenly loomed over her.

"Use Arm Thrust!" Suzy yelled.

Utan slammed his palms into Mule with a ferocious force, knocking her further back with each strike. With a final slam, he threw her back. She crashed to the ground heavily.

"Mule?" Nicola cried in alarm.

The numel made no further movements beyond the odd groan. The battle was over for her.

A short distance away, Blue had finished firing at Losabe and took advantage of the fact that she was still stunned to charge forwards a second time. She slammed into her hard and knocked her to the ground.

"Use Headbutt!" Will shouted, turning his attention to Utan as Losabe collapsed.

"Arm Thrust!" Suzy shouted.

Both pokémon flew at each other, seemingly full of energy despite the tough fighting. Blue managed to slip between Utan's large hands and slammed into his chest. The hariyama stumbled back in pain, while Blue jumped back and got ready for another blow.

"Use Dragon Breath!" Will shouted.

Blue fired a blast of light blue energy at Utan, striking him directly.

"Reversal!" Suzy yelled.

Utan fought through the blast and slammed into Blue with a powerful counter attack as she ran out of breath. The bagon let out a stunned cry as she flew backwards and landed with a crash.

"Well, I guess that's that," said Corey, surveying the scene.

After all the devastation and the furious exchange of attacks, there was only one pokémon left standing: Utan the hariyama.

"Great work, Utan!" Suzy grinned. "I knew I could count on you!"

"Urgh," Will groaned. "Blue, return."

"We were so close!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Looks like you're still just not quite good enough," said Corey, grinning confidently as he recalled his (defeated) pokémon. "Guess you'll have to keep trying if you ever want a chance at beating me!"

"Your absol doesn't look all that triumphant to me!" Nicola shouted.

"Yeah!" Will added loudly. "Blue almost managed to beat down both of your pokémon!"

"Details, details," Corey replied dismissively. "My team is the winner!"

"Come on, Corey," Suzy said, clearly embarrassed by his bragging. "We won, but it was a close match."

"Well, I guess that's true." Corey shrugged. "And it killed some time at least." He turned and started walking away. "Guess I'll see you around, Small Fry!"

"I told you not to call me that!" Nicola yelled.

"Sorry!" Suzy called apologetically before turning and hurrying after Corey.

"We probably would have won if you hadn't got careless and tried to attack Losabe instead of keeping Utan occupied," Will muttered bitterly.

"Huh?" Nicola spun around to face him. "You're trying to say this is my fault?"

"Whose fault was it then?" Will asked. "Blue was handling everything perfectly."

"And who set that up?" Nicola demanded. "Mule knocked them off-balance with Magnitude, _and_ I was the one who told you to use the platforms!"

"Well…" Will started to say, but quickly lapsed into silence.

Nicola did the same.

It remained like that for several seconds as they both mulled over what the other had said. It wasn't like either of them had been particularly wrong, after all…

"Arguing about it is pointless," Will sighed.

"Yeah, I guess so," said Nicola. "Let's just focus on getting stronger so that we can beat Corey next time."

"Yeah." Will nodded. He suddenly started wondering if this was part of his problem with his pokémon – lack of proper communication. Though he and Nicola had talked a little during the battle, they'd mostly been doing their own thing. He also felt like Blue had been a little out of his control as well. He needed to learn to build a better understanding with her, and with his other pokémon. If he could master that, then he'd surely be victorious in his next battle.

* * *

 _4:10pm, 5_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Well, it was nice seeing you again!"

"Yeah – hope to see you guys again sometime!"

James and Richard waved goodbye to Dan as they parted ways outside the Poké Mart. It had been an unexpected encounter – the two of them hadn't even remembered who he was before he'd reintroduced himself to them. It seemed that, like them, he'd been dumped with the shopping while his friends went off to the obstacle arenas.

"So, back to the pokémon centre?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." James nodded. "We'll see if Nicola and Will are back and then head out to look if they're not."

"I guess we don't want to be dragging all of this around with us!" Richard laughed.

They walked back to the pokémon centre and booked a room for themselves and Will. Things got difficult if they tried booking a room on Nicola's behalf, so they'd long since agreed to just leave it to her whenever she got to the pokémon centre.

Since there was no sign of the other two, James and Richard dropped off their bags and all the new supplies in their room and went back down to the lobby. There was still plenty of time, so Nicola and Will were probably still out at the park having fun on the obstacle arenas. No point in sitting around and doing nothing. That, and they both wanted to have another go on the obstacle battlefields.

As they left the pokémon centre, however, they ran into Nicola and Will as they walked up the street towards them.

"Oh, finished already?" Richard asked.

"Lost a battle," Will replied. "Thought the pokémon could use a trip to the pokémon centre."

"We were so close to winning as well," Nicola sighed.

"You fought a tag battle?" James asked. "How did you handle it?"

"It…could have been better," Will said hesitantly. "But I think we were working quite well together at times."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "But losing still stings a little."

"Want to go out and do some training there in a bit?" Richard asked. "Once you've healed your pokémon?"

"Richard and I have fought plenty of tag battles before," James said. "We can give you some tips!"

"I'm up for that!" Nicola nodded eagerly. "I definitely want to win the next time we battle!"

"And I want to learn to work better with another trainer as well!" said Will. "Hang on while I get Blue to the nurses!"

Both Nicola and Will hurried into the lobby. James and Richard waited for them outside. When they returned, the four of them set off back in the direction of the arenas. They still had plenty of time to train before they needed to be back at the pokémon centre.

* * *

 **This chapter partly exists to make up for the missed opportunity I had the last time the group were here, when the still under-developed Will sat on the side lines and watched Nicola fight Corey alone. I also felt like it would be nice to give Suzy a chance to get some action. I doubt that the group will only have Corey to worry about if they make it to the Hoenn League…**

 **We're closing in on Petalburg City once again now, and it'll soon be time for Nicola to face Norman for the second time. Before then, she'll have to train up her team so that she'll be as prepared as possible going into that important battle.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	73. Shiftry Behaviour!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola and Will face off against Corey and Suzy in a tag battle on one of the obstacle arenas in Kurias Town. The match ended in a defeat for Nicola and Will, though their pokémon learned a lot from the experience.**

 **Upload Date: 27** **th** **July 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 73: Shiftry Behaviour!**

 _Route 116(a), Hoenn_

 _3:15pm, 7_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Well, I'm glad we didn't run into any more delays on the way down," said James, sighing as he glanced around at his companions. "But I still don't think that we'll make it to Petalburg City today."

"We always knew that something like this could happen," Richard replied with a shrug. "Things never go exactly how we plan them."

The group were sat on the outskirts of a small town on the road down towards Petalburg City. It had been a long walk from Kurias Town and they were keen to rest up. The sun was still high in the sky though, so it almost seemed a waste to bring today's journey to an end.

"Did you say that there was a pokémon centre in this town?" Will asked.

"That's right." James nodded. "If you wanted to stop, then this wouldn't be a bad place to do it."

"Better to be all rested up for the journey into Petalburg, right?" Will asked.

"I don't know – I reckon we could get a bit further today. We've got the tent we could sleep in, after all!" Richard grinned.

"Well, that's true, I guess." James nodded.

"How about we head into the town for now," said Nicola. "We can stop and rest and then decide what to do afterwards."

"I'm good for that idea," Will replied.

They ended up walking into town. For James, that was as good as admitting that they wouldn't be going any further today. They didn't need to do any shopping, the pokémon were all happy and healthy, and none of them had fought any kind of battles today. They'd probably sit around for a while and then decide to stop here for the night. At least it would make for a more relaxing day tomorrow.

However, he hadn't predicted the rumours in the trainers' lounge, nor how one of his companions would react to them.

"Did you hear? Apparently, there are some really tough pokémon living up on Mt. Glade."

"Oh, yes – I heard about that. Haven't loads of trainers been heading up there to train against them?"

"Most come back down pretty quickly, from what I hear."

"Wow, that sounds kinda interesting," said Richard, glancing over in the direction of the gossiping trainers.

"There are tough pokémon pretty much anywhere that you go," James replied. "They're probably hard to find though, so I guess that's why lots of people get back pretty quickly."

"Mt. Glade," Will murmured. "That's close to here, isn't it?"

"It's that mountain that we saw just south of the town," James replied. "Not too far, but I have no idea what it's like up there."

"I want to go!" Nicola cried excitedly.

"You do?" Will asked, glancing at her.

"Of course!" Nicola nodded eagerly. "I've got my gym battle with Norman coming up, so I've got to train as much as I can – my team feel that way too!"

Sure enough, her gathered pokémon all nodded and cheered eagerly. Well, apart from Zaggy, who was curled up asleep on the sofa next to her.

"I don't mind going up there," said James. "But are you sure? It'll probably be hard work climbing up there."

"Yeah, I don't mind!" Nicola replied. "I'm much better at mountain climbing now than I was back when we started."

"Is that okay with you guys?" James asked, turning to Richard and Will.

"No problems here!" Richard grinned, nodding confidently.

"Same here," said Will. "It sounds like my team and I might be able to tangle with some tough pokémon as well if we go up there!"

"Let's get moving then," said James. "I know that it gets dark much later now, but we want to get up there while it's still mostly light."

* * *

 _Mt. Glade, Hoenn_

 _6:51pm, 7_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Alright, use Mega Drain!" Nicola shouted.

Mushy shouted in agreement as she fired a green beam at Chena. It struck him before he had a chance to dodge and started draining his energy.

"Snap out of it and use Crunch!" Richard yelled.

Chena pulled himself forwards and bared his teeth as he approached Mushy. However, the shroomish quickly shot forwards and slammed into him with a powerful headbutt on the chin. He stumbled backwards, yowling in pain.

After a long climb up the dense, forested mountain paths, the group had finally arrived at a camp site in a clearing just below the summit. This wasn't the kind of place that any of them would have described as being 'well-maintained' – the facilities consisted on little more than a covered shelter for cooking and washing, which also had a single working tap, a separate shelter for sitting and eating, as well as a small block of toilets which none of them had dared to venture into yet.

It was no surprise that there were no other trainers staying here.

This would have been…tolerable, but they were let down by the fact that the supposedly tough wild pokémon were nowhere to be seen. After exploring the mountain for a short while and finding nothing, they'd finally returned to the campsite to set up the tent and started fighting some practice battles amongst themselves instead. They weren't going to be heading back down into town for the night, so they could search for wild pokémon tomorrow before moving on to Petalburg.

"Mega Drain!" Nicola shouted.

Mushy shouted out and fired a green beam at Chena, striking him again and draining more of his energy. Chena stumbled backwards and gave himself a tired shake. He looked like he'd had enough for now.

"Let's stop there for now," Richard said, noticing this.

"That's fine." Nicola nodded. "Mushy seems pretty tired as…"

At that moment, there was suddenly a bright flash as Mushy was enveloped in a light.

"She's evolving?" Will exclaimed.

"That was sudden!" James cried, running over from the cooking area.

Mushy's shape changed. She suddenly grew much taller and slimmer – she wasn't the stumpy mushroom that she'd been before. As the light burst, she let out a loud call. She immediately staggered slightly and abruptly sat down, the process taking out her remaining energy.

"Wow! Congratulations, Mushy!" Nicola cried in delight, pulling out her Pokédex.

" _Breloom, the mushroom pokémon and the evolved form of shroomish. The seeds ringing a breloom's tail are made of hardened toxic spores. It is horrible to eat the seeds. Just taking a bite of this pokémon's seed will cause your stomach to rumble. Breloom close in on their foes with light and sprightly footwork, then throw punches with their stretchy arms._ "

"It sounds like she's gotten much stronger!" Richard grinned. "That's good for when you go up against Norman!"

"I can't wait to spend some time training with you, Mushy!" Nicola said, reaching down and hugging her newly-evolved pokémon. "I really want to see your new punches now!"

"We should probably call it a day now," said James. "Mushy looks like she could really use a rest and I'm going to need help cooking dinner."

"Need a hand?" Will called.

"That'd be very helpful, yes." James nodded.

"I can't wait for tomorrow now!" Nicola sang cheerfully. "Maybe we'll find a tough wild pokémon and Mushy will crush it?"

"We can worry about that later!" Richard said, smiling at her. "I think we could all use some rest after all that climbing and training!"

* * *

 _3:58am, 8_ _th_ _July 2006_

At first, James felt as though the sudden, sharp sounds weren't really there – as if he was still dreaming. The sight which greeted his bleary eyes seemed almost impossible as his brain tried to reactivate. He was still momentarily trapped somewhere between being asleep and awake, and nothing really made any sense in that state.

Then, as he started to register his surroundings, his thoughts snapped to attention. Something was slashing holes through the tent, leaving frayed gaps that let him briefly glimpse the night sky above as some kind of wind buffeted them.

He made to get up, but quickly realised that powerful leaves were still being hurled at them, slicing the tent apart even more. Whatever it was, it was continuing to attack them.

"James?" Richard asked in confusion as he looked around from within his sleeping bag.

"Stay down!" James warned him. "We're under attack!"

"Under attack?" He heard Will through the gloom.

"It must be the wild pokémon that live up here!" James called back, flinching as he felt a leaf pass just over him and slice through the far wall of the tent. "I'm starting to get why the campsite was abandoned now…"

"Guys?" Nicola called uncertainly from the other side of the tent.

"Stay still and keep low, Nicola!" James shouted over to her. The adrenaline was pumping through him now, quickly dispelling the remaining confusion and sluggishness from just waking up. They needed to get their pokémon ready to fight back.

He heard the sound of cackling in the distance, the sound sending a chill down his spine. He was starting to get the feeling that they were dealing with a pokémon that enjoyed this kind of senseless violence, rather than just one who was attacking because they'd encroached on its territory.

He reached for Charka's poké ball, but immediately realised that there wasn't that much he'd be able to do. They'd need to get out of the separate rooms and into the communal area before opening the main entrance in order for Charka to get outside and fight whatever was attacking them. There was no way he could fight from inside the tent – they could all get burned alive!

However, as suddenly as it had started, the attacks stopped, and the distant cackling faded away into the night. The air, alive with sounds and energy, became very still and silent once again.

The four trainers were silent for a few seconds as well.

"Is it…gone?" Nicola asked cautiously from within the gloom.

"I think so," James replied, cautiously getting up and peeking through one of the newly-created holes in the tent. It was pitch black outside, but he couldn't sense anything in the distance.

"What are we going to do?" Will wondered, looking around at the damage. "What if it comes back?"

They all fell silent again.

"We've got some pokémon that could keep us safe," said Richard. "If Arro and Naro were to lie on this side of the tent, and we slept behind them…"

"I think we should get some of the pokémon out to patrol," said James. "We'll move out into the main room and try to sleep there."

"Agreed." Will nodded.

The four of them crawled cautiously out of the two rooms, dragging their bags and sleeping bags with them, and set themselves up in a line in the middle. Arro, Naro and Mule were sent out to form a barricade, while Turkey, Charka, Muro, and Tricky went outside to patrol around.

Despite their best efforts, none of them got much more sleep that night.

* * *

 _7:10am, 8_ _th_ _July 2006_

"So, what are we going to do?" Richard asked, looking around at his companions as they sat awkwardly around one of the tables in the shelter. They were all pretty haggard after being awake for most of the last three or so hours. The tent had been badly damaged and one of the main supports had snapped, which had made them jump out of their skins and effectively caused the boys' room to collapse.

Still, the tent was the least of their concerns now. The wild pokémon hadn't returned during the night, but they were still worried that it might. They dreaded the thought of it coming back to attack them as they attempted to descend the mountain.

"I think that we should try and track it down," said Nicola.

"You really want to tangle with that thing?" James asked.

"We _do_ need to make sure it can't come back and attack us," Will replied.

"Any ideas though?" Richard frowned. "I don't feel like it would be an easy pokémon to track down."

"Tricky found some footprints earlier," Nicola said, patting the electrike on the head. "They lead back to the edge of the trees, but then disappear. It probably lives in the trees."

"We can look for it with Nulin and Turkey, then," said Will.

"I want to try fighting it with Mushy," said Nicola. "Even after everything that's happened, I think she got enough rest last night to be able to go up against whatever it was."

"Well, I guess there's no harm in trying," James sighed. "We'll cook some breakfast first and then we can start thinking about looking for this wild pokémon."

"I'll help you out," said Richard, getting up to join him as he started walking towards the cooking shelter.

"Even with Nulin and Turkey, it's still going to be tough searching for it," Will sighed. "Maybe we should get some of the other pokémon involved as well."

"Such as?" Nicola asked.

"Well, Chena and Tricky have good senses of smell, don't they?" Will replied. "They could try and pick up the pokémon's scent."

"Good point." Nicola nodded. She looked out at the trees and shuddered slightly. "Somehow, though, I get the feeling that we might not have to try that hard to find it…"

* * *

 _7:43am, 8_ _th_ _July 2006_

The mountain wasn't particularly high, but it was entirely covered by forest. This made it difficult to explore as the group pushed off of the beaten path somewhat in their search for the wild pokémon that had attacked them during the night.

"Can you see anything, Turkey?" Will called, looking around at the canopy overhead. He heard Turkey's distant cry in response, but it was hard to tell exactly what kind of response it was at that distance.

"I guess we're not going to get anywhere from above," said Richard. "Better start looking more closely down here."

"How are you doing, Tricky?" Nicola asked.

Tricky barked in response, shaking his head. He couldn't find anything at the moment. Whatever it was hadn't left much of a scent. There were no footprints either – it was definitely moving around in the trees and not on the ground.

"Maybe we should just head back," Richard sighed. "I mean, we don't want to keep James waiting too long."

Since they didn't need all of them just to track down a wild pokémon, James had decided to stay with the tent and try to pack it away again as carefully as he could. It was going to be a delicate process – he didn't want to accidentally damage it even more than it already was.

"Did you hear that?" Nicola said, suddenly alert and looking around at the surrounding trees.

"Now that you mention it…" Richard murmured as he and Will drew closer to Nicola.

There was a distant, quiet cackling that seemed to echo amongst the trees. Suddenly, a leaf struck the ground close to them, missing Tricky by inches.

"Whoa!" Will exclaimed.

The cackling grew louder as the howling of the wind started to pick up.

"Over there!" Nicola suddenly called.

There was a brief flash of white, and then the wild pokémon paused to perch on one of the branches up above them, its yellow eyes gleaming as it gave them a sinister grin.

"What is it?" Richard pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Shiftry, the wicked pokémon and the evolved form of nuzleaf. Shiftry are mysterious pokémon that are said to live atop towering trees dating back over a thousand years. It creates terrific windstorms with the fans it holds. It can read a foe's mind and take pre-emptive action._ "

"It sounds tough," said Will. "Want us to back you up?"

"Don't worry, we can handle it," Nicola replied confidently. She nodded at Mushy. "Let's go!"

Sensing their determination, the shiftry immediately sprang down towards them. It swung its fan-like arms and sent a cloud of leaves flying towards them.

However, Mushy quickly moved to intercept it, extending one of her arms with a sharp movement and scattering the leaves.

"What a fast punch!" Will exclaimed.

"Use it again, Mushy!" Nicola yelled.

With a nod, Mushy jumped up towards the shiftry. She sharply extended her fist again, though her opponent managed to lurch out of the way at the last moment. Still cackling, it swung back and knocked into her with one of its hands.

"Attack it again!" Nicola yelled.

Mushy, stung by the sudden strike but otherwise mostly unharmed, jumped forwards again, bounding up one of the nearby tree branches to catch up to her opponent. She fired off a punch so quickly that it seemed to be nothing more than a blur. This time, the shiftry wasn't able to dodge.

Knocked backwards, it slammed into a tree and slid down towards the ground. However, it recovered, its eyes lighting up with a blue light.

Mushy cried out in alarm as she was suddenly seized by a strange power. She clutched her head in pain and stumbled backwards, falling from the tree branch and crashing to the ground.

"Mushy!" Nicola shouted in alarm.

"I'll help!" Will called, reaching for Grum's poké ball.

"Wait!" Richard reached out and grabbed him. "It's not over yet!"

Rising once more, Mushy gritted her teeth and fired herself towards the shiftry again. It intercepted her with a cloud of razor-sharp leaves, but she forced her way through and slammed into it with a final, lightning-fast punch.

The shiftry slammed into the tree trunk behind it and slumped down. Though it managed to pull itself up, it seemed as though it had had enough and turned tail and disappeared back up into the tree branches.

"It got away…" Nicola sighed.

"What a fight though!" Richard grinned. "I was expecting the wild pokémon to be tougher than this!"

"Look at Mushy though," said Will.

Sure enough, the breloom was covered in cuts and bruises. It had been a victory, but not an easy one. Still, the shiftry had fled. It was probably safe to assume that they would be able to make it back down the mountain without it coming back for more.

* * *

 _9:56am, 8_ _th_ _July 2006_

"I still can't get over how easily Mushy was able to fight off that shiftry," said Richard.

"I think that the shiftry just managed to build up a reputation by attacking people from the safety of the trees!" Nicola replied proudly. "Though I guess it just goes to show how much stronger Mushy has become as well!"

"You managed to beat it pretty well though," said Will. "It didn't appear at all on our way back down."

The three of them were loitering by a wall not far from the large wooden archway that marked the entrance to the path up Mt. Glade. After meeting up with James again, they had been quick to make their way down. James had gone off to find someone who might be able to help with repairs to the tent, leaving the others to kill time around here.

"I'm feeling pretty confident about going up against Norman now," Nicola said, puffing her chest out. "I just know that Mushy and the others will be able to handle anything he throws at us!"

"That's some tough talk!" Richard grinned. "You sure you're going to be able to live up to it?"

"Yeah, don't get carried away!" Will said. He laughed. "You don't want to end up like James and Richard did in Lavaridge Town!"

"I'll be counting on you to help me train then!" Nicola replied. "But I don't think it's a bad thing to feel confident."

"Ah, I didn't think that it was," Richard said, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry if it came over that way."

"Anyway, what's keeping James?" Will asked, looking around. "I thought he wanted to get moving to Petalburg as soon as possible…"

At that moment, the three of them spotted James coming back towards them. He didn't look pleased.

"Wh-What's up?" Nicola asked as he reached them.

"The tent is completely finished," James replied, shaking his head. "I managed to find someone, but he took one look at it before saying that I might as well buy a new tent."

"It's that bad?" Richard cried.

"Well, I mean, it _did_ get a whole lot of holes ripped in it," said Will. "And one of the main poles snapped."

"So, the upshot is that we're without a tent for the time being," James said. "We need to make sure that we can make it from pokémon centre to pokémon centre for now."

"That's fine here, but won't there be places where there aren't any pokémon centres for a long time?" Richard asked.

"Don't worry – we'll get a new tent," James replied. "But we're going to need to save money from our allowances if we want to do that."

"That doesn't sound too bad…" Nicola said hesitantly.

"It means that we need to cut down on our food budget," said James. "Not the pokémon's, of course, but us four are going to need to go slightly hungry for a while until we can get a new tent."

"That sounds like fun," Richard said, groaning.

"It is what it is," James replied with a shrug.

"Well, it can't be helped now," said Nicola. "Come on – let's get going."

"Yeah." Will nodded. "Now, we definitely need to make it to Petalburg City today."

* * *

 **Camping equipment doesn't come cheap, so I imagine that this slightly major issue will be a thorn in the group's side for a while now. Still, they can sleep at the pokémon centres, so it's not quite as much of a disaster as it could have been.**

 **More importantly, Nicola's team has been continuing to grow as her rematch with Norman draws closer and closer. The only question is whether or not it'll be enough to secure her a victory against the Petalburg gym leader.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	74. A Day in the Life of Zaggy

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group effectively lose their tent to an attack by an angry shiftry not far from Petalburg City. However, a newly-evolved Mushy was able to defeat it and, with adequate rationing, they should be able to save up enough money to replace it.**

 **Upload Date: 3** **rd** **August 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 74: A Day in the Life of Zaggy**

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _2:17pm, 9_ _th_ _July 2006_

The drive for success in the rematch with Norman had become almost overpowering for Nicola ever since the group had arrived back in Petalburg City. The memories of the previous battle with the gym leader and the heartache that had followed it, which had become buried as she had continued travelling and battling, suddenly returned to her, feeling fresher than ever. It wasn't something that she really wanted to go through again.

Still, she told herself, she was a very different trainer to the one she'd been when she'd walked away from that arena almost three months ago. A lot had changed, and she'd grown a lot stronger, both as a trainer and mentally – she was pretty confident that she'd be able to walk out with her head held high, even if the result was another defeat.

Not that she wanted that to happen, of course.

That was why she and her team were out in the public arenas a short distance from the pokémon centre in the middle of Petalburg City. The training regimes were becoming ever more intense as Nicola and those of her team who remembered the previous defeat became even more driven to achieve victory this time.

"Alright, use Mach Punch!"

At her command, Mushy's fist shot out and struck Kipa, who'd just managed to block with his hands. It was a stinging and accurate blow. Nicola was relieved that both pokémon had performed their actions well.

"Now use Take Down!" she called to Kipa.

The marshtomp stormed forwards, only for Mushy to dart out of the way. With a shout, she fired a green beam of energy towards him and scored a direct hit. Kipa cried out in pain and stumbled backwards.

"Are you okay, Kipa?" Nicola called anxiously.

Kipa gave her a reassuring nod. He shook himself and jumped up and down a couple of times to try and shake away his growing fatigue. He needed to be fighting as hard as he could in the match with Norman if they were going to emerge victorious.

As Mushy charged towards him to launch another punch, Kipa lurched backwards. As the breloom overreached herself, her training partner was ready. He fired a blast of water directly at her, blasting her backwards with the force of impact even if the attack itself didn't do much damage.

"Okay, that's enough!" Nicola called. "Well done, both of you." She glanced back at the others. "Tricky, you're up."

Tricky barked in acknowledgement and bounded forwards as Kipa and Mushy trudged off the arena.

"You can go up against Zaggy!" Nicola turned to look around for the zigzagoon. "Huh? Where is he?"

Zaggy was nowhere to be seen. He must have wandered off at some point while she was training the others.

"Argh! Why does he have to do this now?" Nicola exclaimed in frustration. "Why can't he just sit still for five minutes and listen to what I tell him!" She let out a sigh and turned back to the rest of her team. "Alright, I guess we'll have to go with Blu instead. We'll look for Zaggy later…"

* * *

Zaggy scampered along one of the many alleys of Petalburg City. He loved places like this – there were so many things for him to investigate and so many little nooks and crannies for him to explore. He meandered across the path, changing his direction as he was drawn in by the various things he could see, hear and smell. There was so much for him to do that he almost didn't know what to do with himself.

As he emerged from the end of the alley onto the busy street beyond, he quickly became aware of the fact that there were a lot of humans around. That didn't surprise him too much – humans always seemed to be more common when the weather was hot, and sun was out. The noise they made was a little distracting, but Zaggy didn't mind them too much. He just hoped that they wouldn't get in his way as he continued his endless quest to explore everything around him.

He continued moving, dodging the feet of various humans as he zigzagged across the boulevard. Some of them cried out in surprise as he darted close to them, while others smiled at his antics as he passed. There were some who called out to him as he moved along, trying to get him to come closer for whatever reason. Sometimes, Zaggy humoured them – it was nice to be petted after all, even if he got plenty of that from Nicola – and sometimes he simply weaved the other way if there was something that drew his interest more.

He eventually found his way into the park and started charging in all directions. There were all kinds of exciting things to tempt him here. He scooped up a sitrus berry that lay at the foot of a tree but was immediately distracted again by a loud noise nearby.

A human child was stood close to one of the odd boxes that humans used to sell food, tears streaming down his face as he wailed loudly. Next to him, his mother was trying to calm him down. The problem, as Zaggy quickly noticed, was that the boy's ice cream had fallen from his cone and dropped to the ground.

Quick as a flash, Zaggy rushed over, only being momentarily distracted by other things on the way. He sniffed the boy's ankles as he got close, immediately drawing attention to himself. As the boy and his mother puzzled over what he was doing, Zaggy lifted his head, holding the sitrus berry high.

"Aww, look at that, Mikey – he's giving you a present!" the mother said in an exaggerated tone.

"Th-Thank you," the boy said, taking the berry. He looked at it as if he'd never seen one before – Zaggy had thought that all creatures were familiar with the healing berries. Well, the boy was still just a kit after all. He had much to learn.

Still, he looked happy with the present. He dried his eyes and thanked Zaggy again, cautiously reaching out to pat his head.

"We must make sure to wash it," his mother said, waving at Zaggy as she took her son's hand.

"Yes, Mum!" the boy replied. The two of them walked away, continuing on through the park.

Zaggy watched them go for a couple of seconds before turning and jumping towards the dropped ice cream. He started frantically licking it up. He could never understand why humans were so willing to give up perfectly good food just because it had been on the ground. Most of their food came from the ground, didn't it?

Not that he was complaining though.

As he finished licking up the last of the ice cream, he wiped his whiskers with his paws to try and get them clean again. He gave himself a satisfied shake – ice cream really was quite the delicacy. Finding so much that had been abandoned at once was a true miracle!

Some of the humans chuckled as they watched him, pointing him out to their friends and family as he finished wiping his face and started zigzagging off once more.

* * *

The afternoon was moving on as Zaggy wandered in the direction of the river. He'd been rushing across this part of the city for a while now and he was starting to get pretty tired. There were still lots of interesting smells and sounds he wanted to check out, but there was time for a quick rest. It's not like there was anything else he was supposed to be doing.

As he reached the river bank, he noticed a man in a smart suit who was already sat on the grassy embankment. He was looking out at the river with a lost look in his eyes, as though he had temporarily abandoned himself to let the landscape engulf him.

"Ahh," he sighed. "I just don't know if I can keep up. There are still so many reports I need to get through – I might not make it home in time for dinner again tonight."

He glanced at the buildings on the far side of the river.

"Even if I head back now, the work isn't going to let up. The manager's been getting antsy as well – she'll probably get mad at me even if I'm not late back. Why are they all so hard to place?"

Another sigh.

"Will I ever get a chance to actually spend time with my family – huh?" As the man looked down, he realised that a zigzagoon was climbing into his lap. "H-Hey, what are you doing? You'll get my suit dirty!"

The zigzagoon ignored him and settled down on his lap, giving a big yawn before curling up and starting to snore peacefully.

"Look at you," the man sighed. "Not a care in the world. I bet you never have to deal with pushy managers, deadlines and worrying about getting home in time to see your wife, do you?" He absentmindedly started stroking the zigzagoon's fur.

How nice it would be to not have to worry about everything in his life. Perhaps life as a pokémon would be more stress-free? It was hard not to be jealous of them. He suddenly started to feel much more relaxed as he ruffled the zigzagoon's fur. Now that he thought about it, perhaps there was a way to speed up how he finished his reports and got orders in the post. The manager was probably under pressure from the higher-ups as well. Maybe it wasn't just him who had to deal with the problems? The minutes passed as he suddenly started seeing ways he could adjust and make it through the rest of the day. Some of the work could be put off until tomorrow, right? Maybe he could persuade the manager to let him do that…

"…I guess I should head back to work," he said. He gently picked up the still-dozing zigzagoon and put him down next to him. As he stood up, he stretched his arms and gave his head a shake. "I can do this – it's only for one more month, then the office will get quieter again. I'll finish as quickly as I can and get home in time to see my wife." He smiled down at the zigzagoon. "Thanks for keeping me company – thanks to you, I think I can make it through."

Zaggy opened his eyes blearily as the man walked away. Just his luck – he'd found somewhere that looked nice and comfy for a nap and now it had disappeared. He yawned and stretched himself. Oh well, he'd had a good enough rest. Now it was time to head back off into the city.

* * *

It wasn't too long after that when Zaggy found himself in a marvel of a structure. He'd been in several with Nicola before – a place where she went to buy clothes and other things that didn't seem all that important to Zaggy. A shopping centre.

He didn't dislike this kind of place though, since there were plenty of exciting things for him to investigate. All of the bright colours seemed dazzling at first and it was difficult to decide where he should go. He was getting distracted so regularly that it was more like he was looking around than meandering through the area.

There were lots of humans here as well. Perhaps they also spent most of their time looking at pointless things like Nicola did. Well, it wasn't Zaggy's place to judge – they had to do something with their time, didn't they? Unlike in the park, the humans were less tolerant here. If he got too close to one of the shops, then a well-dressed human would rush out and shoo him away. He'd hiss to show his outrage but wasn't prepared to risk getting hurt.

A lot of the normal humans seemed unhappy with him being there as well – maybe they thought he was a wild pokémon? Did humans dislike wild pokémon more than trained pokémon? Well, they kept drawing back if ever he lurched closer to them. It started to seem a bit like a game – he'd suddenly move over and watch the humans scatter. He wagged his tail excitedly as he planned which way to move.

"Stop! Thief!"

A shrill voice pierced the dull drone of noise inside the shopping centre, drawing the attention of the humans. Zaggy looked around as well, momentarily interested by whatever had caused the noise.

Further back, there was a male human rushing down the concourse towards him, clutching some kind of small bag in his hand. There was a frail-looking female human who was trying in vain to chase after him. She was the one calling out.

Zaggy looked at the male human, his tail still wagging. He could remember seeing some humans once before who had been having great fun by chasing after each other. He'd thought that it looked quite fun!

So, he suddenly charged towards the male human, who let out a surprised grunt as he spotted him. He was too slow though; he wasn't going to get away from Zaggy!

There was a crash as the human toppled to the ground after Zaggy took out his legs. Maybe he'd been slightly too enthusiastic…

"Thank the gods!" the female human exclaimed as several other humans jumped in to restrain the first one. "What a brave zigzagoon!" She reached down and patted Zaggy's head as she picked up her stolen bag.

Around them, the humans who'd been looking at him with worry and disdain all started clapping.

Zaggy looked around at them in bewilderment. Why were they suddenly making that funny noise? They were all smiling at him now – had they figured out that he was a trained pokémon and not a wild one? He knew that he sometimes didn't _act_ like a trained pokémon, but it was true after all.

Or maybe they'd just enjoyed playing the game with him? Thinking about it, that made a lot of sense. He could remember those other humans being really happy when he'd joined in their game all that time ago.

…And now they were starting to offer him food?! Maybe he should play around more often…?

* * *

After leaving the shopping centre, Zaggy started walking down towards the port. The salty smell of the sea was calling to him – there were all kinds of good things down by the coast. He knew that there'd be something good to eat down there for sure!

"Hey, look! A zigzagoon!"

As Zaggy approached the port, he heard a small group of kids shout out as they spotted him. They were too young to be travelling trainers, so maybe they were just hanging around to kill time. Or, they might be looking for food as well…

"Let's chase it!" another of the kids exclaimed. "I'm going to catch it!"

The kids immediately all started charging towards Zaggy, who had been glancing around aimlessly. As they got closer, he suddenly hunched down and stared straight at them. He didn't seem the least bit intimidated by their charge.

"I-Is this going to be okay?" one of the kids called out uncertainly.

"I-I don't know…" another replied.

Zaggy was focused and determined. He took a step forwards, keeping his eyes firmly ahead. He suddenly let out a small growl. As the kids flinched, he rolled onto his back and started beating his own stomach with his front paws. It looked like it hurt quite a bit, but he was getting more and more pumped with each strike. He was getting ready for a big attack!

"W-Watch out!" one of the kids exclaimed.

Zaggy suddenly surged forwards like a pokémon possessed, his normal zigzagging forgotten as he shot straight forwards with only one goal in mind. He wasn't just a harmless zigzagoon right now – this was his true power!

The kids immediately scattered, crying out in shock and fear. Fleeing to the sides, they spun around and watched as Zaggy sped forwards. He missed all of them and instead smashed headfirst into a nearby bin.

"L-Let's get out of here!" one of the kids cried in alarm.

Spooked, the kids immediately started taking off as Zaggy staggered back from the bin and swung his head around to dazedly take in his surroundings. However, he made no effort to chase after the fleeing kids as they ran back in the direction of the city centre.

Instead, he approached the bin again and sniffed around the base. His eyes lit up as he spotted a piece of fish – the force of his impact had knocked it completely clear of the bin!

He immediately dug into it with gusto. There was nothing quite like eating something that you'd worked hard to get! He had been a little worried that he wouldn't have had enough power to knock it out of the bin – it wasn't a small litter bin, but one of the big ones that they used for large amounts of rubbish.

But his full power had clearly been enough to achieve his goal. He hadn't needed to work about anything in the end.

As he finished eating the fish and pawed at the bones to see if there was any more that he could eat, he turned and started ambling back the way he'd come. Now that he thought about it, there had been some humans here when he'd first arrived, hadn't there? No idea where they were now, but then again humans always seemed to be in a rush to get to places.

Not that any of it really mattered to Zaggy anyway. Now that he was down in the port, he wanted to get back to seeing what kind of interesting things were still waiting for him in the city.

* * *

Zaggy had been walking for a while when he spotted another interesting side street to wander down. Admittedly, he was starting to get a little tired by this stage – the sun was still a long way of setting thanks to the longer summer days, but he had been out here exploring for a long time. It was enough to make him wonder if he should find another convenient place to have a nap.

He'd become sluggish as he meandered aimlessly down the side street. He instinctively drifted across in the direction of interesting things, but with far less enthusiasm than earlier in the day, and he seemed to change course a lot sooner as well – no longer was he almost reaching his target before finding something more interesting to go and look at. It was a little bit like he was being overwhelmed by everything he had a chance to look at or sniff.

At the same time, he was keeping a close eye out for anything that he could bring with him – it was a habit of his to pick up random bits and pieces from the ground as he moved around. As he been spending more time battling, he found that he had become even more fussy over exactly what he would pick up on his travels. It wasn't something that he normally thought about too much.

As he continued meandering, he suddenly felt something grab him from above. He glanced up in momentary surprise as he felt himself being lifted into the air.

"There you are." It was Nicola. She looked down at him with an expression that was half-relieved and half-irritated. She sighed as she pulled him up closer to her chest. "Honestly, Zaggy, why do you have to keep wandering off like this?"

Zaggy squirmed for a while, trying to get free from her grasp, but he quickly settled back down again. He had been getting tired anyway, so it would be nice to get a lift back to the pokémon centre where he could recharge himself with a bowl of pokémon food. As fussy as Nicola was, he did appreciate it when she fed him.

"You missed out on all of our training today, Zaggy," Nicola said, continuing to talk as she walked back in the direction of the pokémon centre. "I hope you're ready to spend the evening catching up!"

Zaggy shuddered but nodded. For all his shenanigans, he knew how much the gym battle with Norman meant to Nicola and the rest of the team. He was pretty tired, but he'd find a way to dredge up the energy.

"I bet you've done nothing all day, Zaggy," Nicola sighed. "Come on, let's get back to the pokémon centre. Everyone's waiting."

Zaggy had stopped listening. If he was going to have to do some training later, then it was pretty important that he had the energy to last him through it. That meant one thing and one thing alone.

It was naptime again.

* * *

 **So, I'm not going to lie – I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Since Zaggy has become such a well-loved pokémon, both by myself and by the larger readership, I really liked the idea of having a chapter centred around his antics when he does manage to get away from Nicola. I also thought it would make a nice break in all the battling before we move on to Nicola's gym rematch with Norman.**

 **While I was at it, I was able to delve somewhat into Zaggy's mind as well, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really hope that I was able to effectively capture his personality and nature in this chapter.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	75. Restoring the Balance

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Zaggy slacking off and having adventures in Petalburg City when he was supposed to be training with the rest of Nicola's team for her rematch with Norman.**

 **Upload Date: 10** **th** **August 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 75: Restoring the Balance**

 _Petalburg City, Hoenn_

 _10:07am, 10_ _th_ _July 2006_

The sun was already high in the sky as James, Richard and Will walked out of the entrance to the pokémon centre in the middle of Petalburg City. It was surprising how much quieter the city was compared to the previous day, though perhaps it shouldn't have been. The summer holidays hadn't quite started yet and most people were still in work on this Monday morning.

Even the number of trainers had seemed a little lower than normal, which really was surprising. Norman wasn't exactly a pushover as a gym leader and seemed like the kind of person that lots of trainers would have to come back to beat when they'd grown stronger. Kind of like Nicola.

"I guess she's already training then?" Will asked as he followed the other two around the corner in the direction of the public arenas.

"She's been at it for hours already," James replied. "She said she wanted to make up for lost time yesterday and has been giving Zaggy hell."

"I'd hate to be Zaggy after what he did yesterday," Will sighed. He felt his stomach gurgle uncomfortably and groaned in time with it. "Why can't I have the larger breakfast like before?"

"I told you – we're still saving money so that we can replace the tent," James said. "That means we all have to eat the cheapest things on the menu and avoid buying anything that we don't need."

"How long for?" Will groaned.

"Until our allowances next come in," Richard replied.

"I'm going to starve before then," Will said.

"Good! Maybe you'll stop moaning then?" James snapped. "I know that it's tougher than normal, but that's just the way it's got to be. Getting a new tent is the most important thing right now. You know that I still don't know how I'm going to tell Dad, right?"

Will fell silent. No point in continuing to argue when it wouldn't get him anywhere. The tent issue had let to the four of them pooling their allowances completely for the first time. Before, they'd simply worked out a fair amount to add to the pot for buying food and so on, with the rest being spending money for the owner. James had appointed himself treasurer and zealously guarding their combined wealth, making sure that nothing left the joint pile unless necessary. It was a real pain.

At times, it felt like Will was the only one who noticed it. Richard seemed to just go along with what James said, while Nicola was way too focused on preparing for her gym battle to really notice the drop in the amount of food on her plate. The only ones who hadn't had their rations cut were the pokémon, though a second helping was far less common now. The only exceptions were Nicola's pokémon since they had a gym battle to prepare for.

"How are you doing?" Richard called out as the three of them reached the public arenas.

"Hey, guys!" Nicola turned around as she heard his voice. Her pokémon were jogging around the edge of arena. Zaggy was flaked out in the centre of the arena, though a second glance told Will that this wasn't down to him just being lazy.

All of the pokémon were covered in small burns, as well as bumps and bruises. They'd clearly all been working very hard up until now. Hopefully, that would be enough to earn them a victory in the coming battle.

"What time is the battle again?" Will asked, wandering over to look at the pokémon as they approached that side of the arena.

"Not until three," Nicola replied. "I've still got plenty of time to get in some final training."

"You've been at it since the sun came up!" Richard exclaimed. "Why don't you give your pokémon a chance to rest instead? It looks like they'll need it if they're going to beat Norman's team."

"Agreed." James nodded. "I know that we can get pretty carried away sometimes, but it's better to have a well-rested team than one that's been training up until the last moment."

"I guess you're right," Nicola said reluctantly. She could see where they were coming from, even if it was a difficult decision to make. Visions of the previous battle kept coming back to her – she definitely didn't want this one to go the same way.

"You're much stronger than you were last time," Richard said. "And you've already spent so much time training that I'm sure you'll have no trouble!"

"Hang on!" Nicola turned back to the arena. "I just want to have one final round with Zaggy…"

* * *

 _2:56pm, 10_ _th_ _July 2006_

Nicola could feel her heart in her throat as she and the others walked back into the lobby of the Petalburg gym for the first time in months. She hadn't been here since that defeat all that time ago. A lot had happened and she'd really grown as a trainer, but she still didn't know if it would be enough.

"I'm here for my gym battle," she said as she approached the reception desk.

"You can go straight in," the receptionist replied. "There's no one else to go in today."

"I wonder where all the trainers have gone," Will mumbled as Nicola thanked the receptionist and the four of them started walking towards the entrance.

"I guess most of them have already finished here and moved on to other places," Richard replied.

"Norman is tough though," said James. "I bet there are a lot of trainers who are putting off fighting him until much later in the season."

"Thanks for the confidence boost, guys," Nicola said, faking a cheerful tone.

"Sorry about that," James replied, chuckling awkwardly.

"Look at it this way, Nicola," Richard said, grinning. "They're all running scared from Norman until they have no choice – you're going up against him right now. That means you're a cut above all of them, right?"

"I guess that's one way to look at it." Nicola shrugged. She turned and looked at the passage leading down to the arena. "I guess I should get going then."

"Go in there and win," said Will. "We all know that you can do it."

"Agreed." James nodded. "Your pokémon are all in great shape and they're as keen as ever. They'll be able to win."

"I'm looking forwards to having a celebratory meal later!" Richard grinned.

"I'll try my best," Nicola replied. "But I think that you should be prepared for disappointment."

"Yeah – no way that we're wasting money on a big meal when we could be saving it for the tent!" James exclaimed.

"Spoilsport!" Will called.

The four of them all laughed.

"Right, I really am going now," Nicola said, waving as she turned and started walking down the passageway.

"We'll head up to the stands!" Richard called after her. "Have faith in your team and win this!"

* * *

 _2:59pm, 10_ _th_ _July 2006_

The arena was just like Nicola remembered it – sleek and professional-looking. It wasn't the kind of sight that set the challenger at ease. Perhaps that was the idea in the first place.

She found that she was noticing more about the room than she had last time. The layout of the battlefield meant that it would be very easy for pokémon to move around – no obstacles at all. This was probably a reflection of Norman's fighting style and the simplicity of his chosen type speciality. The pokémon didn't need to worry about dodging boulders, avoiding a pool of water or dealing with sweltering heat in this arena. It was a battlefield designed for a battle in its purest form – a contest of strength between pokémon and their trainers.

Maybe it was her experiences over the last three months that had made her much more attentive to things like this? She'd been travelling for a long time after all and had fought countless pokémon battles since first losing to Norman all that time ago. In a way, it was like she could see her improvement for the first time – she hoped that it would be enough to see her through this gym battle.

Norman welcomed her as if they'd never met before. Either the first battle had left very little impression on him or he was deliberately treating her the same as he would any other challenger. Though, Nicola supposed, he had probably fought a lot of battles since then.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the Petalburg City gym leader, Norman, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!" the referee announced. "This battle will be fought using a three-on-three single format and will be over when one side has no more pokémon who can battle! In addition, only the challenger may substitute pokémon!"

 _Okay!_ Nicola clapped her hands on her cheeks to try and focus herself. This was it – the long-awaited rematch.

"Begin!"

The instant the word left the referee's mouth, two poké balls had already been hurled through the air.

Mushy let out a cry as she materialised on Nicola's side of the arena, while a long, furry creature emerged from Norman's poké ball.

"That's…?" Nicola pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Linoone, the rushing pokémon and the evolved form of zigzagoon. Linoone always runs full speed and only in straight lines. If facing an obstacle, it makes a right-angle turn to evade it. This pokémon is very challenged by gently curving roads. It is exceedingly fast if it only has to run in a straight line. When it spots pond-dwelling prey underwater, it quickly leaps in and catches it with its sharp claws._ "

"The evolved form of zigzagoon, huh?" Nicola murmured, glancing down at Zaggy's poké ball briefly. She couldn't decide if that would make the battle easier or not…

"Use Slash!"

At Norman's shout, Linoone shot forwards with a stunning burst of speed. In an instant, he had already reached Mushy and raked her flank with one of his sharp claws.

"Mushy!" Nicola cried out in alarm as the breloom staggered backwards.

"Again!" Norman called.

Not letting up, Linoone stormed forwards a second time. This time, however, Mushy was waiting for him. As he drew close, she fired out her fists in quick succession and struck him quickly and directly. With a shout, Linoone flew backwards and landed with a crash.

"Mega Drain!" Nicola yelled.

Nodding, Mushy immediately fired a green beam towards Linoone as he struggled to get back to his feet. It was a direct hit. Mushy immediately glowed as the energy from Linoone started flowing back towards her.

However, Linoone wasn't prepared to just sit there and take it. Staggering up again, he shot off towards Mushy, startling both her and Nicola with his speed. He slammed headfirst into her and sent her flying back with a crash.

The flat, unobstructed battlefield was starting to make a lot of sense to Nicola as she watched Linoone continue charging at Mushy, sometimes being intercepted and hurled back, others managing to tear through and hitting hard. For a pokémon like a linoone, this kind of battlefield meant that they could charge around and build up speed without worrying about needing to turn to avoid obstacles. She wondered if it was designed to suit Norman's other pokémon as well.

Mushy was starting to take a real pounding. Since she had the advantage of being a fighting type, Nicola really didn't want to see her go down in the first round or shortly after. It was time for a switch, and she had the perfect idea for it. "Mushy, return!"

As Mushy returned to her poké ball, Nicola quickly whipped out her next one. "Go, Zaggy!"

The zigzagoon let out a half-hearted growl as he materialised on the battlefield. After pottering about for a couple of seconds, he looked over at Linoone. He didn't seem all that fazed by his opponent, though that might have been regular laziness instead.

"Use Slash!" Norman called.

Linoone didn't waste any time. He immediately stormed forwards, building up speed as he closed in on Zaggy.

"Use Body Slam!" Nicola ordered.

With a nod, Zaggy ambled off towards the approaching Linoone. It was like watching a sports car and an unsteady cyclist – Linoone's sleek, almost perfect strides were met with Zaggy's constant meandering as, even in the midst of this important battle, he was distracted by his surroundings.

That was all part of Nicola's plan though. "Go!" she shouted as Zaggy lurched to the right, taking him just out of Linoone's path. Before he could even start an attempt to turn, Zaggy had hurled himself towards him. Fortunately, Linoone's speed carried him out of danger before he was hit.

"Get ready, Zaggy!" Nicola called.

Rather than seriously prepare for Linoone's next attack as he slowly turned, Zaggy instead started rolling around on the ground, pounding his stomach with his paws.

"What's he doing now?" Nicola groaned.

Up in the stands, Richard looked at the scene in interest. "Does that look like a move to you?"

"Ah, I think so," James replied. "I've heard of one called 'Belly Drum'."

"What does that do?" Will asked.

"It really raises a pokémon's attacking power," James said. "But it hurts quite a bit as well. If it _is_ Belly Drum, then we don't want Zaggy getting hit anytime soon…"

"Come on, Zaggy, move!" Nicola shouted.

Zaggy finally finished drumming on his stomach and staggered forwards. It was only now that Nicola noticed how worn down he suddenly seemed. What on Earth had he been doing to himself just now?

Linoone was already storming back towards him, gaining ground with each precise bound. He was watching Zaggy carefully, making tiny adjustments to his course with each erratic movement. By the time Zaggy tried to make a final lurch out of his path, he was still too far on course.

There was a smash as Linoone smashed into Zaggy and sent him flying backwards. The zigzagoon crashed to the ground and, for a terrifying moment, seemed incapable of moving further. Though he staggered back to his feet, everyone was stunned as he suddenly yawned, curled up, and went to sleep.

Well, it wasn't really _that_ much of a surprise for Nicola and the others. She let out a sigh as she watched him doze peacefully. She kind of admired the fact he could be so lax in the middle of an important battle.

Still, this would help them as well – all of the damage and fatigue from earlier was disappearing as Zaggy rested peacefully.

"Finish him off with Headbutt!" Norman shouted.

Linoone stormed forwards again, easily lining up his target as he continued sleeping. He continued to slumber even as he was struck and thrown backwards.

Linoone then raced forwards again, this time slashing viciously at Zaggy. This time, he let out a cry of pain in his sleep.

"Come on, Zaggy!" Nicola yelled urgently. At this rate, it was going to end before Zaggy even woke up again.

"Slash!" Norman ordered.

Linoone charged forwards once more. As he drew close to Zaggy, however, the zigzagoon suddenly stirred. With a last-minute stagger to the side, Linoone went sailing past him uncontrollably. He threw himself off-balance as he tried to turn too sharply and fell onto his side.

As he started rolling, Zaggy sprang towards him, suddenly aiming straight for his target. He crashed into Linoone with the weight of his whole body and slamming him against the ground with a powerful blow.

Linoone let out a cry and slumped to the ground.

"Linoone is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Zigzagoon is the winner!"

"Yes! We did it, Zaggy!" Nicola cheered.

Zaggy bounded back towards her, his tail wagging happily.

"Linoone, return." Norman held up Linoone's poké ball. As his fallen pokémon returned, he pulled out his next ball. "Go, Spinda!"

A spinda burst from the ball and landed on the arena floor. He immediately began staggering about, as if unable to keep his balance.

"This is going to be interesting…" Will muttered.

That was certainly one way of putting it!

There wasn't a decisive 'joining of battle' for quite a while as Zaggy and Spinda both staggered and meandered aimlessly, only getting closer slowly.

"Body Slam!" Nicola shouted.

"Dizzy Punch!" Norman called.

Zaggy hurled himself towards Spinda, only for him to swerve out of the way at the last moment. Spinda then turned and swung his fist, managing to land a lucky hit on Zaggy and knocking him down.

The battle continued as they circled each other with their weird and indirect movements, both sides scoring hits and gradually wearing down the other. It was certainly very different to the battle with Linoone, Nicola had to admit that. This was probably part of Norman's plan – making sure that she and Zaggy were caught off-guard by the sudden shift in tactics.

And it was true that Zaggy was struggling more now. His erratic movements were great against an inflexible opponent like Linoone but weren't much help at all against another erratic pokémon like Spinda.

"Teeter Dance!" Norman shouted.

Spinda immediately started staggering about in an even more confusing way. Just looking at it was giving Zaggy a headache! He immediately charged forwards again but ended up tripping over his feet and crashing to the ground.

"Dizzy Punch!" Norman shouted.

Spinda lurched forwards and slammed into Zaggy with a pair of well-aimed punches.

The zigzagoon cried out in pain as he was hurled back. There was a crash as he hit the ground.

"Zigzagoon is unable to battle! Spinda is the winner!" the referee announced.

"Zaggy, return!" Nicola called, whipping out the poké ball. As Zaggy returned, she quickly pulled out her next one. "Go, Blu!"

Blu chirped loudly as she burst from the ball and started flying above the battlefield.

"Safeguard!" Nicola yelled. "Then use Take Down!"

Blu immediately put up a silvery veil around herself before diving down towards Spinda, who swayed to the side to get out of the way. However, Blu was undeterred and spun around to slam into him from behind.

"Dizzy Punch!" Norman yelled as Spinda managed to sort-of regain his balance.

Spinda swung around and aimed a couple of punches back at Blu, who was thrown back by the force of the impact.

"Use Sing!" Nicola yelled.

A beautiful sound filled the air and Spinda's staggering became even more pronounced. Leaning too far back, he finally crashed onto his back and started snoring.

"Take Down!"

Drawing herself up high, Blu shot down towards the prone Spinda, gaining speed and power as she got closer. There was a loud thud as she smashed into him, sending both of them flying from the force of the impact.

Though Blu managed to haul herself unsteadily back into the air, Spinda had slumped down completely and made no further movements.

"Spinda is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Swablu is the winner!"

"Just one to go," Nicola muttered as Norman recalled Spinda.

"It's too soon to think that you've won!" Norman called over to her. "Go, Slaking!"

There was a roar as the poké ball opened and Norman's slaking appeared on the battlefield. Though he looked intimidating, he immediately lay down on the ground and gave a massive yawn. He wasn't going to get motivated by such a small foe.

Still, Blu valiantly charged towards him, smashing into him as hard as she could. Occasionally, she'd be swatted back by a clumsy wave of her opponent's hand, but she kept coming back and bravely striking as much as she could.

Nicola was impressed by the swablu's bravery, but she knew that it couldn't last. The heavy blows Blu was landing were hurting her as much if not more than they were hurting Slaking. It was a good thing that she'd pulled Mushy back during the battle with Linoone.

As Blu slammed into Slaking's chin with a powerful tackle, the normal type hurled a lazy punch back, this time managing to score a direct hit. With a cry of pain, Blu was thrown back and crashed to the ground in front of Nicola.

"Alright, that's enough, Blu," she said, smiling down at the exhausted swablu. She held up the poké ball and recalled her before she had a chance to protest. Looking back over at Slaking, she pulled out her last poké ball. "Go, Mushy!"

Mushy cried out as she burst from the poké ball and landed on the arena once more. Though still a little bruised, she looked raring to go.

"Use Mach Punch!" Nicola didn't want to waste any time – they should try and knock Slaking out as quickly as possible.

Mushy shot forwards with a burst of speed. She slammed into Slaking with a lightning-fast punch, which caused him to rock backwards slightly. It wasn't a devastating blow, but it had certainly hurt!

"Use Focus Punch!" Norman called.

Slaking grunted in response and tightened his focus as Mushy pulled back.

"Mega Drain!" Nicola shouted.

With a nod, Mushy fired a green beam towards him, striking him directly and draining his energy. As Slaking lost his focus and stopped moving, she immediately seized the advantage and rushed forwards for another speedy punch. It really was startling to see just how differently she fought since evolving from a shroomish.

As she moved in for another strike, Slaking suddenly swung back into action and smashed into her. Mushy was sent flying back but managed to recover. She moved forwards again, making more strikes as Slaking lazily attempted to meet her.

Still, she was taking damage and losing energy. There was only so much that using Mega Drain would do to help with that. They needed more.

"Use Leech Seed!" Nicola shouted.

With a nod, Mushy fired a cluster of seeds towards Slaking, easily hitting her target. They immediately started sprouting and draining more energy from the large normal type.

It was a welcome addition to Mushy's energy, but Nicola's real goal was to keep Slaking ticking closer and closer to defeat. Though he hadn't managed to land many hits, each one he did was devastating. "Watch out!" she shouted as Mushy drew close for another speedy punch.

Mushy yelped in alarm and jumped back just in time. Slaking's fist smashed down into the ground just in front of her. However, she recovered quickly and leapt forwards to smash into him with another quick punch.

"Aim for the head – we need to finish this up!" Nicola shouted.

Jumping back to avoid another clumsy punch, Mushy nodded. She jumped forwards again, summoning the rest of her energy. She slammed into Slaking's jaw with a powerful jab.

He roared in pain and rolled backwards. This movement was enough to upset his balance and he crashed down onto his back.

Mushy leapt forwards again, firing a green beam. As it and the seeds drained his energy, Slaking let out a loud grunt. He stopped trying to pull himself up and slumped back down with a loud thud.

"Slaking is unable to battle! Breloom is the winner!" the referee announced. "All three of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"We did it!" Nicola exclaimed. "We really did it, Mushy!"

Mushy gave her a weary smile as she hobbled back over to her. It had been an exhausting battle and she was looking forwards to having a long rest.

"You did well, Slaking," Norman said as he recalled Slaking. "That was an impressive battle – your breloom fought with great spirit and determination. She clearly wanted to win!"

"Yeah, she did fantastically!" Nicola nodded, patting Mushy on the head.

"For your victory over me, I herby present you with the Balance Badge," Norman said as he walked towards her. He held out his hand and dropped the small badge into hers.

Such a tiny thing, yet it meant so much to her, and to her whole team.

"Thank you, Norman," Nicola said. She turned to Mushy and showed her the badge with a grin. "Looks like we did pretty well, huh?"

Mushy nodded eagerly, grinning back at her.

* * *

 _3:21pm, 10_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Congratulations, Nicola," Richard said as he, James and Will walked down the stairs from the stands to meet her in the lobby. The others quickly echoed him.

"Thanks, guys!" Nicola replied, smiling happily. "My pokémon really fought well today, didn't they?"

"They really did." James nodded. "But I thought your idea of switching out for Zaggy against Linoone was a great decision – it really showed that you had your head in the game!"

"Mushy did really well," Will added. "It was a good thing that you pulled her back against Linoone."

"Thanks," Nicola replied awkwardly. "It kinda feels bad being complimented when it was really the pokémon…"

"Trainers and their pokémon are a team though," Richard replied. "You all played your part in winning that badge!"

"I guess you're right." Nicola smiled.

"So, where to next?" Will asked, turning to James as they walked out of the gym.

"We've spent a lot of time exploring northern and central Hoenn," James replied. "I thought we should start thinking about heading to the south of the region."

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Richard replied. "Are there plenty of gyms down there?"

"Should be." James nodded.

"Which route should we take?" Nicola asked.

"How about we have a look at the guidebook once we're back at the pokémon centre?" James asked. "I think that there are several ways we could go."

"Sounds exciting," said Will. "I can't wait to see what we'll find there."

The four of them continued walking back to the pokémon centre, chatting happily among themselves. It had been an exhausting couple of days preparing for that gym battle. They were all glad that it had ended well.

There was no reason to look back anymore. Now they could focus on travelling new paths as they steadily got closer to the Hoenn League.

* * *

 **So, the long-awaited rematch has finally happened and been won. I imagine that the result didn't come as a surprise to many of you, given the title of the chapter, but hopefully the tactics Nicola used and the decisions she made were interesting to read.**

 **Now that the rematch is out of the way, the group have to set a new course. Everything in southern Hoenn is still untouched and that's where Fortree is, so there's really only one destination in mind. It'll take them a long time to get from Petalburg down to the south though – not a distance you can just skip over. Fortunately, I have a few ideas to keep us and them entertained on the way there!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	76. Nicola's Dare

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, Nicola fought a rematch against Norman at the Petalburg gym and emerged victorious, earning her the Balance Badge and putting her on the same number of badges as James and Richard. Now, the group sets their sights on the south of Hoenn in search of more pokémon gyms.**

 **Upload Date: 17** **th** **August 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 76: Nicola's Dare**

 _Route 102, Hoenn_

 _11:55pm, 12_ _th_ _July 2006_

"So, what'll it be, Will?"

"Truth or dare?"

"Hmm." Will frowned as he pondered his options. "Truth."

"Okay then…" Richard looked up as he thought. "What's the worst thing you've done to James?"

"Pushed him off the top of a bunk bed."

"Wow! That was quick!" Nicola exclaimed. "And wait – pushed him off a bunk bed?!"

"His fault, not mine," Will replied with a shrug.

"Looks like it's your turn again, Nicola," Richard said, turning to her. "So, what'll it be? Truth or Dare?"

"You guys do realise that we've got a long day tomorrow, right?" James asked irritably from nearby.

The four of them were camped out on the northern road through Route 102 towards Oldale Town, though 'camped out' wasn't exactly an accurate term. They'd managed to find a cave to set up their sleeping bags in, since they were still down a tent.

"It's fine," Richard replied dismissively. "We'll only play a couple more rounds."

"Hmm." It was Nicola's turn to frown and consider what she should say next. That was the difficulty with this game – two equally unappealing options. The first couple of rounds had been fine since James had been the one asking questions and issuing dares. Then Richard had gotten his hands on the title and had been abusing it ever since.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to reveal any secrets that he might ask about – there was no telling what he might use that information for. A dare seemed safer, but at the same time…

"Alright," Nicola sighed. "Dare."

"Ooh, a dare?" Richard grinned.

"Haven't had one of those for a while," Will said. "So, what's it going to be, Richard?"

"Guys, we need to get some sleep," James said sharply. "You can finish the game tomorrow."

"Urgh! Fine!" Richard groaned, pulling himself to his feet. "I'll give you that dare tomorrow, Nicola – just as soon as I've found a good place for it."

"That doesn't sound good," Nicola sighed. She stood up as well. "I guess we should get ready for bed then."

"We'll be outside," James said as he, Will and Richard trooped out of the cave. "Give us a call when we can come back in."

This was part of why he'd been keen to finish up early – sharing the same cave meant that there were always going to be issues like this and he'd have preferred not to have to venture back out of the cave into the darkness.

Still, Nicola got changed quickly and they returned to find her already snuggled down in her sleeping bag.

"See you tomorrow, guys," she said, yawning.

"You're not heading off to your own room this time," Richard sighed.

"Habits," Nicola replied lazily.

"I hope you're looking forwards to your dare tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah."

Once the boys were changed as well, they turned off the torches and zipped themselves into their sleeping bags. It was going to be an uncomfortable night, but it was the best they were going to get.

* * *

 _Oldale Town, Hoenn_

 _3:43pm, 13_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Still waiting on that dare!" Nicola sang cheerfully as the group walked along the road down into Oldale Town.

"I'll keep postponing it until I come up with a _really_ good one," Richard replied. "No need for you to worry, Nicola!"

"I wasn't worried!" Nicola grinned back.

"Still, it's really been a while since we were last in Oldale Town, huh?" James said, looking around at their surroundings. "A lot has changed."

"We're much stronger now than we were then," Richard replied.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've visited Oldale Town with you guys," said Will.

"Oh yeah!" Nicola nodded. "You only joined us in Petalburg City – I'd forgotten about that."

"It all feels like a long time ago," Richard sighed.

"Well, it _has_ been several months," James replied. "Do you remember the bad shape we were in when we arrived here last time?"

"I only seem to remember Nicola being in bad shape," Richard said, grinning at her.

"I'd only just started travelling!" Nicola protested. "Did you seriously think that I'd suddenly be able to walk for miles on end without getting worn out?"

"I guess we were a little forceful back then!" James said.

"This was where my Hoenn League challenge started as well," Nicola sighed, spotting the pokémon centre as they turned a corner. "That was where I registered for the Hoenn League."

"Actually, I was meaning to ask if you wanted to stop off in Littleroot Town," said James.

"I'm fine," Nicola said. "It takes us too far off the route we need."

"I'm sure we could find another route…"

"It's fine, don't worry," Nicola replied. "I only moved there earlier this year, so it's not like I'm super attached to it or anything."

"I was sort-of thinking more about your family," James replied.

"Nah." Nicola shook her head. "I speak to them on the phone every now and again, and they wouldn't want to feel like they were getting in the way of our journey."

"In that case, I've got an idea," James said, beckoning to the others as they passed through the entrance to the pokémon centre.

They all gathered in the trainers' lounge.

"What's this idea then?" Richard asked.

"Look here." James pointed to a route on the map in his guidebook. "Route 103 here links to Malun City over here." He tapped a dot about halfway between Oldale Town and Mauville City. "We can catch a ferry here that will take us straight to Anamarc Town."

"And then what?" Nicola asked.

"Do you see all these islands south of Route 110?" James asked.

"Yeah." The other three nodded.

"I thought we could cross these islands here to get to this town here – Vinelodge Town." He traced a line across the island chain back to the mainland. "It's on Route 123, so we'll be in a good position to move on into the rest of southern Hoenn."

"Travelling on the islands sounds like it'll be fun," Nicola said, glancing at the map. "You can almost get from one end to the other just using the roads."

"I did think that it would be fun walking out as far as we could go using the bridges," James replied. "But that would mean heading up to Mauville again."

"I'm happy with this plan." Richard nodded.

"Same here," said Will.

"There's only one thing," James said.

"And what's that?"

"It's a long way from Oldale Town to Malun City, so we kinda need to set off early if we don't want to stop on the way."

"…I get the feeling that it's going to be a tough day for us tomorrow," Will sighed.

"Well, that's still fine by me," Nicola said. "I don't really want to have to sleep in another cave."

"It's decided then!" James grinned. "We need to be up by 5:30 tomorrow morning to allow enough time to get there."

…It really _was_ going to be a long day.

* * *

 _Route 103, Hoenn_

 _2:35pm, 14_ _th_ _July 2006_

Much to Richard's dismay and Nicola's relief, there was almost nothing worthy of a dare on the road from Oldale Town. Aside from passing through other small towns, the scenery was mostly just empty rice paddies and fields. Where were all the caves and forests that he could have ordered her into? He was starting to regret not making her do something while they were still on Route 102.

Another person who was relieved by the lack of suitable dare spots was James, who was very aware of the time it was going to take for them to get to Malun City. They couldn't really afford to get too distracted if they wanted to make it there in good time. He'd already assumed that they'd need at least an extra two hours to allow for breaks and food stops and didn't really want them to be dragged to a halt for something pointless like Nicola's dare.

Unfortunately, this changed not too long after they'd stopped for their depleted lunch.

"I'm still hungry," Richard groaned.

"I know you are. I am too," James said. "Just bear with it – we can't afford to eat any more."

"The sooner we manage to get a new tent, the better," Will muttered bitterly.

"Sorry, guys," Nicola mumbled guiltily. "This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't wanted to go up Mt. Glade and fight the shiftry."

"It's too late to worry about that," James replied, irritated less by the event itself than he was by Nicola's continual apologies for it. In fact, he had found himself getting much more irritated by everything lately. It was probably because the rationing had left him constantly hungry.

"Oh!"

Hearing Richard suddenly exclaim, James and the others turned to look at him.

"What is it?" Will asked.

"Over there, look!" Richard cried, pointing eagerly.

The flat road through the fields and towns had given way to a more rugged path as they moved towards a pass between two low mountains. Sat among the trees and rocks just off the path, almost unnoticeable, was an intimidating cave. The pitch-black entrance seemed to lead to a complete void – it didn't look inviting in the slightest.

"What?" Nicola asked uneasily as Richard turned to her.

"It's time," he replied.

"Seriously?" Nicola asked, sounding more exasperated than nervous. "I don't want to go in there."

"That's what's great about a dare!" Richard grinned. "Go on – I dare you to go all the way to the bottom of the cave!"

"No way." James intervened. He didn't sound happy. "We don't have that kind of time, Richard. What if it's a really deep cave and she gets lost?"

"We'd have to sleep here for the night," Will sighed. Still, he liked the idea of Nicola having to fulfil her dare. "How about we say that she has to make it as deep as she can in an hour and then grab something to bring back to us?"

"Will!" James said sharply, clearly not approving.

"That's fine." Richard nodded. "But let's say half-an-hour instead, just to make James feel better."

"Urgh, fine!" Nicola growled. She started walking towards the cave entrance.

"Don't take too long," James said as he and the others followed her.

"I'll do my best," she replied. "Don't worry – I'm as unhappy about this as you are!"

"Good luck, Nicola!" Richard grinned. "Maybe choose 'Truth' next time instead?"

"I'll show you!" Nicola snapped, shooting him an angry look before turning and stepping down into the cave.

* * *

 _2:46pm, 14_ _th_ _July 2006_

It hadn't taken long for Nicola to bitterly regret going along with Richard's dare.

The cave was as pitch-black on the inside as it had been from the outside and her eyes didn't really seem to have adjusted at all. Though she had her torch, the steep slopes and rough rocks made moving around difficult. She was still getting deeper into the cave and was starting to wonder what she should grab to bring back to the others. The further in she got, the colder and darker it seemed to get. The cold really cut into her, reaching right into her bones. At times, it almost felt like it was seizing her heart and lungs with its icy grip.

Shaking her head, she glanced down at Kipa, who was walking just in front of her. With his radar-like fins, he was able to see what she could not and was happy to help guide her further down into the cave. Even better, the cave ahead seemed to be levelling out – no more going down for now. She hoped that this would be the deepest part of the cave, but she somehow doubted she'd be that lucky.

…Yep. Even though she was now in a chamber with a relatively flat floor, she could see another tunnel leading away even deeper into the mountain. She felt as though it was going to be a long trip trying to get back to the surface again after she was down.

"I guess we should get moving," she said, looking down at Kipa, who nodded back at her.

As they continued moving, however, Nicola was suddenly seized by a sense of unease. She caught the sound of something shuffling. Then a cry from up above.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed.

Several large golbat spotted her and started dropping down from the roof, screeching loudly as they did. They swung up and started flying towards Kipa.

"Watch out!" Nicola screamed.

Kipa was struck by their wings and was thrown back, crying out as he crashed to the ground next to her.

"Pull back, pull back!" Nicola called, stumbling back the way she'd come. She pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Golbat, the bat pokémon and the evolved form of zubat. Golbat love to drink the blood of living things. It is particularly active in the pitch black of night. Once it bites down on its prey, it won't stop draining blood until it is full. Its fangs easily puncture even thick animal hide._ "

"Draining blood?" Nicola gasped, looking back at the approaching golbat with fear in her eyes. There were way too many of them – if they got a hold of her, then she'd end up with no blood left at all!

With a shout, Kipa jumped forwards to stand between his trainer and the wild pokémon.

"Watch out, Kipa!" Nicola yelped. He wouldn't be able to survive if they all wanted to drink either.

Kipa shouted again. He started firing a blast of water from his mouth, striking one of the golbat.

"H-Hang on!" Nicola cried. "I'll get the others to help…"

Before she could though, Kipa suddenly jumped into the air. Aiming his mouth down, he suddenly fired out a wave of unappealing brown water. As it hit the ground, it swelled up into a massive flood that swept towards the golbat and smashed all of them back at once. There was a mighty crash as the wave smashed into the far wall of the chamber. The sound of water pouring deeper into the cave continued for some time as both Nicola and Kipa stared blankly at what they'd done.

"Wow!" Nicola finally exclaimed. "That was a great attack, Kipa!"

Kipa grinned back at her, clenching the end of his fin confidently.

The two of them cautiously walked forwards to look at the chamber. There was no sign of the golbat – they must have either been swept away or fled back into the higher levels. The ground was soaked, and the rocks were slippery. Nicola needed to be even more careful as she walked forwards now. There was a part of her that was seriously considering turning and heading back to the surface now.

Then, she suddenly caught sight of something in the distance. It looked like there was some kind of light somewhere deeper in the cave – she could just about make it out, shining from around a corner much further down the passage.

This intrigued her for a brief moment before she was hit by the thought that Kipa's panicked attack might have accidentally hit another person who was also exploring the cave.

"We should go and follow that light," she said, turning to Kipa. It wasn't ideal, but she didn't like the thought of someone being stuck down here injured because of her.

Kipa seemed to feel the same way. He immediately started walking cautiously down the passage. It was going to be tough to move along here. He wanted to make sure that he found a safe path for Nicola to use.

After continuing to walk along the passage for a while, the two of them finally found themselves standing outside a smaller passage that led into the cave wall. There was light streaming out from it, making it much more inviting than the rest of the cave.

Despite that, Nicola struggled to look at it directly. She'd been underground in the almost-complete darkness for a while and her eyes needed a chance to re-adjust. The brightness of the light was surprising – there was no way that this was natural light. Did that mean that there were lamps up ahead in the passage? If so, why here and not elsewhere in the cave?

These questions pushing her forwards, Nicola awkwardly clambered through the narrow opening and emerged on the far side.

She had to take a moment to register what she was seeing.

There was a large, hollowed-out chamber that had bright lanterns around the sides, flooding it with bright orange light. That alone would have been impressive, but the cave was also full of furniture – mostly very basic things. A table, a couple of chairs. There was another level as well, just at the top of some stairs. Nicola thought that she could make out a bed up there.

"What is this place?" she murmured as she and Kipa wandered forwards. This was way too well-kept to be abandoned, but why had someone set up a cosy little hideaway in a place like this?

As she walked up the stairs to the next level, she almost jumped out of her skin as she realised that she wasn't alone.

"Whoa!" The boy sat at a table beside the bed jumped to his feet in shock, apparently not expecting someone to have wandered in either. "Who are you?"

"I-I'm Nicola," Nicola replied instinctively. "Why are you here?"

"This is my secret base," the boy replied. "Of course, I'd be here…"

"Secret base?" Nicola gave him a confused look.

"You haven't heard of secret bases?" the boy exclaimed. "They're the big thing here in Hoenn right now! Ah, sorry…my name's Ben. Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you," Nicola replied. "So, why set up a base here?"

"It's a nice little place that's tucked away from the main road," Ben replied. "Doesn't it fill you with a sense of security?"

"I guess so," Nicola replied, looking around. She actually did feel more secure. Maybe it was the light?

"Anyway, loads of trainers make their secret bases out in Hoenn these days. I'm surprised you haven't already found one before now."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded idly. It _did_ seem a little odd given the kinds of places that she and the others had visited on their journey. "So, what do you actually do here?"

"Kick back and relax, mostly," Ben replied. "But I also train my pokémon."

"Can't you do that at home?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?!" Ben gave her an exasperated look. "Why do people go camping when they could stay at home or book into a hotel? It's for the thrill of living differently!"

"You actually live here?!"

"Well, no," Ben admitted. "It's more like…it's cool that I have this one corner of Hoenn to call my own."

"How did you get all this furniture down here?" Nicola asked suddenly, realising that there was no way a bed that size could fit through the tiny passage back to the main cave.

"PC transfer," Ben said. He patted the monitor sat on the desk.

"Ah, I guess that makes sense." Nicola nodded. "So, how do you make a secret base?"

"Just find somewhere that's a bit out of the way," Ben explained. "I found this cave when I was training with Batty and decided to set up here."

"Batty?"

"He's my crobat. Here: I'll introduce you." Ben gestured to behind Nicola.

Turning, she and Kipa jumped out their skin as they realised there was a crobat hovering silently in the air behind them and grinning cheerfully.

"Wh-Wh-When did he get there?" Nicola exclaimed. "I didn't hear a thing!"

"That's the thing about crobat!" Ben grinned.

"What a terrifying pokémon," Nicola said as she pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Crobat, the bat pokémon and the evolved form of golbat. Crobat sneak up on their intended prey using wings that barely make a sound. This pokémon rests by hanging on a tree branch with its rear legs that serve as wings. By alternately resting its front and rear wings, it can fly all day without having to stop._ "

"Anyway, where was I?" Ben moved back to the previous topic. "Oh, yeah – you have to set up a PC and flag to claim ownership of somewhere for a secret base. Once you've done that, though, you should be fine. Only trainers ever really explore this deeply and there's an unspoken rule not to interfere with each other's bases."

"So, even I could make a base?" Nicola asked.

"If you find a spot you like, I don't see why not?" Ben replied. "By the way, are you competing in the Hoenn League?"

"I'm aiming to!"

"Cool! We'll probably see each other at the tournament then – Batty and I have been training really hard this year. Actually, do you want to have a practice battle since you're here?"

"That would be…" Nicola happened to glance at her watch. She shouted in alarm. "Ah! I'm supposed to be getting back to the others! Sorry, Ben – maybe another time!"

"Sure, no problem!" Ben grinned. "I'll come hang out in your secret base next time!"

"Oh." Nicola glanced around sheepishly. "I came in here for a dare – my friends told me to bring something back…"

"There are some nice rocks outside," Ben said. "Oh! Or you could have this spare flag." He reached over and grabbed the blue flag lying on his desk.

"Thanks!" Nicola grinned as she took it. "We'll definitely battle the next time we meet!"

* * *

 _3:19pm, 14_ _th_ _July 2006_

Nicola had finally emerged from the depths of the cave to find the others waiting around the cave entrance, James impatiently tapping his foot on the ground.

"No more delays! Let's get moving!" he called as soon as Nicola joined them.

"G-Give me a second to catch my breath!" Nicola gasped.

"It's going to be _really_ late when we get to Malun City now," James replied. "I don't want anything else to stop us."

"Hey, you really did it, Nicola!" Richard grinned. "Well done!"

"No thanks to you," Nicola replied wearily. She held up the flag Ben had given her. "I got this while I was down there."

"Oh? A flag?" Will asked, moving over to look at it. "How did you find something like that down in the cave?"

"That's kind of a long story," Nicola replied. She flinched as she spotted James's withering gaze from back at the main path. "I'll tell you as we walk."

* * *

 _7:49pm, 14_ _th_ _July 2006_

The four trainers were exhausted as they finally hauled themselves into Malun City. Though they were in no mood to really look around anyway, they weren't missing much. This was the image of a typical seaport. The only significant landmark in the city was the ferry port that linked across with Anamarc Town.

"Great work today, guys," James said as they reached the entrance to the pokémon centre. "It'll be much easier tomorrow."

"That's a relief," Richard sighed.

The four of them quickly booked rooms and went upstairs.

However, it didn't take Nicola long to come back down. She wanted to look at the pokémon books in the trainers' lounge to see if she could find out anything about the new move Kipa had used in the cave. When she'd told James and Richard about it, they'd only been able to shrug their shoulders – not one that they had heard of.

"Oh, you're down as well, Nicola?"

Nicola looked up from her search to see Will approaching. "Hey! I thought I'd look up that new move."

"Good call." Will nodded approvingly before throwing himself down into a nearby sofa. "The way you were describing it, it sounded really powerful."

"I hope so!" Nicola replied. She finally pulled out a guide to pokémon biology and started rifling through the pages. "Ah-ha!"

"You found it?" Will asked.

"Yeah! There's a move here that's just called 'Muddy Water' – it's nothing special, but it _is_ pretty strong. I should definitely be careful when I have Kipa use it."

"We'll have to try it out some time," Will said. "Anyway, I wonder where the others are? I'm looking forwards to having the cheapest thing on the menu again…"

Nicola didn't really mind that. As she snapped the book shut and returned it to the shelf, her thoughts were firmly turned towards the next gym. Her excitement only seemed to build as they got closer to the Hoenn League.

* * *

 **Not an especially important or exciting chapter this time, but it did give me the opportunity to briefly introduce secret bases. On a practical level, they actually seem pretty odd – especially when we consider that trainers spent most of their time travelling. Hopefully, that oddness came over in Ben's dialogue about it. We'll probably revisit secret bases again at some point further down the line, don't panic if you thought this was all!**

 **Aside from that, a new move for Kipa and the group continuing to move towards southern Hoenn. We've got a short, island-hopping arc coming up starting from the chapter after next, which I've been looking forwards to.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	77. Fishing for Success!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola venturing into a cave to fulfil a dare and accidentally stumbling across another trainer's secret base.**

 **Upload Date: 31** **st** **August 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 77: Fishing for Success!**

 _Route 110, Hoenn_

 _1:54pm, 16_ _th_ _July 2006_

"…So, I said that we should just leave the sticks there and carry back everything else. No one was happy about it, but…"

"I'm not really sure why you're telling us this story again, Richard," said Nicola. "It isn't any more interesting now than it was the last time you told us."

"Come on – let me share one of my best moments!" Richard replied.

"Richard really does have a boring life, doesn't he?" Will said, glancing at James.

"Only when we're not around," James said, grinning back.

"And I bet you guys are all _sooo_ interesting all the time!" Richard retorted, rolling his eyes.

After getting the ferry across from Malun City to Anamarc Town the previous day, the group were now on the coastal road on Route 110. Passing through the towns along the way, their goal was a small ferry port that would take them across to the first island in the chain that would lead them to Route 123.

It had felt like the journey had slowed down a bit ever since they'd reached Route 116(a), perhaps because they were mostly travelling across familiar ground and had mainly been aiming for cities and towns they had already visited before. It was less exciting doing that.

But then there was also the fact that they were still hungry all the time now. Sure, they still ate three meals a day, but the amount per person was still lower than it had been before. Though the rumbling stomachs had seemed to be the only problem at first, the longer it went on the more the worse it seemed. They had less energy for their travelling and it felt like they were walking for longer each day to cover the same distance.

Their consolation was James's announcement that morning that they almost had enough money to buy the model of tent they needed to replace the old one. Nicola was supposed to get some allowance money in a couple of days – with a contribution from that, they'd finally be able to pump up their food budget again.

"Are you sure that we'll be able to find somewhere to buy the tent?" Will asked, walking alongside James while Richard and Nicola continued bickering. "The one you want is from a camping shop, not Poké Mart, right?"

"Don't worry," James replied. "I already checked and there's a branch in Windrish City on the island. We should get there in a couple of days – just in time for Nicola's allowance!"

"That's a relief," Will replied bitterly. "I'm not sure I can take this hunger much longer."

"You're being overdramatic," James said, casting an amused glance at him.

"Hey! What's going on down there?" Nicola called.

The road they were following was leading along the coast. There was a small town with a long, sandy beach ahead of them. It was this beach that Nicola was pointing at.

"Wow, yeah." James nodded. "There are a lot of people down there."

A crowd of people on a beach was to be expected in July, but today had been absolutely miserable – it had been very overcast when they'd left Anamarc Town and it had started raining not long after that. This definitely wasn't beach weather.

"I guess we could stop and have a look on our way past," Richard said. "I mean, the road goes right along the beachfront."

"I'm kinda curious as well," said James. "There must be some kind of big event on if people are still coming out in this weather."

* * *

 _2:17pm, 16_ _th_ _July 2006_

As it turned out, the many gathered people on the beach were there for an annual fishing competition. The man they'd spoken to had boasted proudly about how he and many others always turned out for the competition even in the worst conditions.

Despite the number of regular competitors, they quickly found that newcomers were very welcome. Especially this year, with some many other people put off by the rain. It was quite a cold day as well.

"What do you think then?" Richard asked, looking around at the other three as they sat around a table in a café across the road from the beach. "Want to try doing some fishing?"

"Won't it be cold?" Nicola asked, sighing.

"And boring?" Will added.

"I think it would be a pretty good experience," James said. "And there's a cash prize for the winner as well, so…"

"Wait, a cash prize?!" Will exclaimed suddenly, almost knocking his hot chocolate over. "I never heard about that!"

"Maybe you should try listening to people while they're explaining things to you," James replied sharply. "That guy said so when he was trying to convince us to join."

"A cash prize, huh?" Nicola said wistfully. "That would have been nice before we left Petalburg. How much is it?"

"About 10,000 poké," James replied.

"Quite a lot then," Nicola said thoughtfully.

"I suppose there aren't any camping shops in this town, right?" Will said.

"Yeah." James nodded.

"So, if one of us were to win the prize money, then we wouldn't need to donate any of it to the tent pot, right?"

"We'd suddenly have more money to spend on food, yes."

"Hmm." Will made a show of being deep in thought for a couple of seconds. "Maybe I should take part in the competition after all…"

"What about getting to the next town?" Nicola asked. "Won't the competition last a long time?"

"About two hours," James replied. "And it starts at three."

"Exactly!" Nicola exclaimed. "I don't want to have to sleep in a field because we run out of time on our way to the ferry port."

"I'm pretty sure we can make it to the ferry port with no trouble," Richard said. "We can't be very far, right, James?"

"Maybe an hour or two," James said, pulling out the guidebook. "It'll be a late night, but it's not like we were going to catch the ferry today anyway."

"Let's do it then," Nicola said. "I still feel bad that the rest of you had to cut back on food after the tent was destroyed… If we can get some extra money, then…"

"Let's just have some fun!" Richard grinned. "We've been hiking for the last two days and haven't done anything apart from pokémon training really – let's do something different!"

"That's fine by me," James said. He closed the guidebook and reached for his cup of hot chocolate. "We'll go and register as soon as we're done here."

"What kind of rules are there?" Nicola asked.

"Just catch the biggest and most impressive pokémon you can," Richard replied. "I think they were saying that there are a lot of pokémon that live in the sea around here, so there'll be lots to see."

"Oh! We might be able to catch a new team member while we're at it!" Will grinned.

"I don't think so," James said. "This part of the coast is a protected area – we can hook up pokémon for them to be judged, but we have to release them again afterwards."

"That's a shame," Will sighed. "Still, I guess it won't matter if we win that prize money!"

* * *

 _3:14pm, 16_ _th_ _July 2006_

Though the competition started on the beach, the competitors could use the whole bay while trying to catch their entry. This was a huge area, but the beach itself covered most of it and wasn't an ideal location. The best pokémon tended to be further out and it was only the unremarkable magikarp and tentacool that ended up splashing about in the shallows.

Most of the competitors had gathered on the harbour wall, which extended out into the bay before stretching over to partially shelter it from the outside elements. The water was deep and the pokémon readily available.

"Charka, more bait!" James barked. "Muro, help me reel this in!"

Jumping forwards, Muro grabbed a hold of James's fishing rod and started tugging fiercely on it. The pokémon on the other end was putting up a surprisingly tough fight.

Charka, meanwhile, had gone over to James's bag and was starting to rummage through in search of bait. He quickly found some and hurried back over to James.

"Thanks, Charka!" James grinned, digging in his heels as he continued straining.

The other three watched him.

"Why is it that James is the only one who has managed to hook anything?" Will muttered, twitching his fishing rod. Grum bounced up and down on the side of the harbour wall, peering over the edge to look for fish. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Who knows," Richard sighed. He'd temporarily left fishing rod duty to Naro and Dish – it was tiring work sitting around and getting bored.

"It must be a pretty big one," Nicola said, watching with keen interest. Blu was perched on top of her head again, a placid look on her face. Kipa was also out and about, while Zaggy's poké ball was still very firmly stored away.

"Here we go!" James and Muro cheered as they finally ripped the line from the water, carrying with it an unattractive, brown fish. "Oh, just a feebas…"

"It looks sort-of big," Nicola said, pulling closer to have a look. "It might win."

"It won't win," James sighed, looking at the flailing feebas.

"Feebas, huh?" Will pulled out his Pokédex. "Bad luck, James."

" _Feebas, the fish pokémon. A feebas's fins are ragged and tattered from the start of its life. Because of its shoddy appearance, this pokémon is largely ignored. It has a hardy and tenacious life force that enables it to live in both rivers and seas. However, it is also slow and dim-witted, making it an easy catch._ "

"Oh well," James said as he unhooked the feebas and threw it back into the water. "There are always more fish in the sea!"

"Uh-huh," Nicola replied disinterestedly.

James quickly put the bait Charka had brought him onto his hook and looked out at the water again. "How's it looking, Nulin?"

The wingull called back to him as he circled overhead. He dove down slightly and started circling vigorously around a choppy patch of water.

"Right there?" James grinned. "Thanks a lot, Nulin!" He cast his line, just about managing to arc it into the area Nulin was showing him. It didn't take long for his line to start tugging again.

"Let's go somewhere else," Will muttered, winding in his line. "I bet James is sucking up all the good fish anyway."

"By getting a feebas?" Nicola replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to go with Will," said Richard, reeling in his line as well. "It seems like a good idea to try out other places."

"Come along, Grum!" Will said, his tone picking up slightly.

The spoink gave him a huffy look but started bouncing over to follow him.

"See you later, I guess!" Nicola called after them as they walked away.

Although the harbour wall was one of the easier places to fish from, it wasn't the only place in the bay. Either side of the beach were stretches of rocky coastline that seemed like a good place to try and grab pokémon that were keeping away from the fishermen on the wall.

Richard and Will quickly headed over to one of these rocky stretches. It was almost deserted, and they easily found somewhere to set up their fishing rods. Much to their relief, it was slightly warmer over here than it was on the harbour wall. There was no shelter from the rain though – even their waterproof coats were starting to give.

They quickly got bored of waiting and left the fishing rods to Dish and Toya while they started training with their other pokémon. For Will, both Gulpy and Turkey had started learning new moves earlier in the day and he was keen to practise them.

"Use Sludge Bomb!" he called to Gulpy.

However, Gulpy still wasn't quite used to the extra sludge needed for the attack. She spat out a clump of sludge, but it quickly came apart and splattered everywhere.

"Yuck!" Richard exclaimed, leaping back and almost slipping on the rocks. "Maybe focus on Turkey for now?"

"Alright, alright," Will sighed. "Use Return!"

Turkey grinned at him and nodded. He shot up into the air and then dove down again, his bond with Will propelling him forwards. With a screech, he slammed into Naro quite forcefully, though the heavy nidoking stood his ground.

"Whoa! That was pretty strong!" Richard called. "I guess you and Turkey have been working pretty hard on it after all!"

"James told me that Return gets more powerful the better the bond between the trainer and the pokémon," Will replied. "Turkey and I get along pretty well, but I think there's still some distance between us."

"Just spend more time together," Richard replied with a shrug. "The more you hang out, the more you'll get to know each other."

"We already do that a lot though…" Will sighed.

"Anyway, do you want to practise using it again?"

"Yeah, if that's alright."

As Turkey made another plunge towards Naro, both Richard and Will noticed someone else making their way along the rocky coast. Another competitor, no doubt. As he got closer, however, they suddenly recognised him.

"Oh, it's you!" Richard exclaimed. "From that quarry!"

"You guys?" Geoff glanced at them as he reached them. "You're in the fishing competition as well?"

"Seemed like fun," said Will.

"Sure…" Geoff glanced between their scuffling pokémon and their effectively unattended lines. "I see you've got the same commitment to this as to your training."

"Hey!" Will protested. "I just thought it would be a good idea to try and get some training down while I had some free time! I'll be dragging up the biggest fish you've ever seen in a bit!"

"You sure about that?" Geoff replied with a grin. "I used to go fishing with my dad quite a lot – I know a thing or two about this."

"Hah! What does that matter when I'll get a better catch than you?" Will scoffed.

"Is that a challenge?" Geoff raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe it is," Will replied.

The two of them stared at each other for a couple of seconds, as if daring the other to make the first move.

"Fine by me." Geoff finally spoke. "I'm going to catch something that will sweep the whole competition!"

His beautifly, Jam, trilled defiantly as he hovered by his side.

"So will I!" Will grinned.

"I guess this is kind of like a duel between you two then!" Richard said. He chuckled. "Good luck to both of you – I think you're going to need it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" both Will and Geoff demanded.

"I mean, look at how few fish we've hooked so far…" Richard replied, gesturing to their rods, moving only with the occasional gust of wind.

"You guys must just be using the wrong bait," Geoff said, shrugging his shoulders. "Let me show you how it's done!"

"I really hope that he only hooks a feebas," said Will, watching Geoff as he continued further up the shore to set himself up.

* * *

 _4:57pm, 16_ _th_ _July 2006_

The afternoon felt like a long one with Geoff as a neighbour and their little competition hanging over them. Much to Will's frustration, Geoff had managed to hook up a fairly impressive pokémon not too long after starting, only to throw it back in the hopes of getting something better.

Both he and Richard had been much more focused after that, though Will had sent Grum to sneak some of Geoff's supposedly-brilliant bait out of his bag. It had worked a treat, and soon both Will and Richard were reeling in pokémon like there was no tomorrow. Geoff had probably worked out what they'd done, which was why he'd kept shooting dirty looks at Will while he and his pokémon continued trying to entice fish into his range.

In the end, all three of them had walked back to the start of the harbour wall with three impressive pokémon. Geoff had managed to hook a larger-than-normal wailmer that had seemed content to stay with him for now. He decided that he wasn't going to get anything better, so had simply sat back and watched Will and Richard's increasingly desperate attempts of their own.

Richard had had to settle for a tentacruel, which at least looked more powerful than Geoff's wailmer. He wouldn't feel sorry parting with it after it was judged though. As Will's Pokédex had informed them:

" _Tentacruel, the jellyfish pokémon and the evolved form of tentacool. Tentacruel have large red orbs on their heads. The orbs glow before lashing the vicinity with a harsh ultrasonic blast. This pokémon's outburst causes rough waves around it._ "

Trying to keep it tied in close to their fishing rods just made it impossible for them to catch anything else. In the end, Richard had banished it to a rock pool to wait until the end of the competition.

Will, on the other hand, caught a rather placid staryu.

" _Staryu, the star shape pokémon. Staryu apparently communicate with the stars in the night sky by flashing the red core at the centre of its body. If parts of its body are torn off, this pokémon simply regenerates the missing pieces and limbs._ "

"What a weird pokémon," Will had said. He kept it though, since it was the largest one he was able to catch.

Back at the harbour wall, the judging seemed to go on forever. Some water pokémon experts, clearly loving their sudden importance, pored over each pokémon entry for far too long. Though, Will had to concede that it often seemed like it took a lot of close examination to actually tell the difference between the many different entries.

Finally, the judges all came to an agreement and gathered all of the competitors so that they could announce the final results.

"The winner is Colt, who hooked this incredible feebas!"

* * *

 _5:09pm, 16_ _th_ _July 2006_

Disappointed both by the fact that they'd lost the competition and neither of them had come out on top (their entries didn't win second or third place either), both Will and Geoff agreed to have a one-on-one pokémon battle back on the rocky shore. When all else failed, a battle was a reliable fall back.

"You both ready?" Richard called, looking between the two of them.

"Born ready!" Will replied fiercely, patting Grum on the head as she bounced forwards.

"Same here!" Geoff nodded as Jam swept forwards with a determined look on his face.

"Alright, let's go then!" Richard called.

Neither side wasted any time.

Will immediately had Grum go on the attack, firing a beam of psychic energy towards Jam. However, the beautifly spun to the side to avoid the attack and flapped his wings vigorously to summon up a gust of wind.

Grum was blown back but quickly recovered. She fired out a cluster of yellow orbs that started drifting across the battlefield towards Jam.

"Dodge it and use Silver Wind!" Geoff shouted.

It was a bad hit for Grum, sending her flying back and pelting her with tiny particles in the new gust of wind that Jam had hurled at her. She pulled herself back up, though, and bounced forwards. She was determined not to give up.

Still, Will was left wondering exactly how to win. As he watched Jam dodge another of Grum's attacks, he was struck by just how well Geoff was guiding his beautifly. He was clearly watching each of Grum's moves and deciding exactly how they should avoid it within the handful of seconds before it reached them. He had to admit that Jam was a well-trained pokémon.

To make things worse, Jam was using moves that spread out over a wide area – how did Grum stand any chance of dodging them? Will watched as Grum managed to score a hit with a beam of psychic energy before making a valiant effort to avoid a powerful gust of wind hurled back at her.

An idea suddenly came to him!

"Magic Coat!" Will shouted as Jam started flapping his wings for another attack.

With a nod, Grum cloaked herself in a golden aura. The gust of wind whipped around her, but it was as if she couldn't feel anything at all. With a brief howl, the gust blasted back in Jam's direction, taking him completely by surprise and almost knocking him to the ground.

"Whoa!" Geoff exclaimed in surprise. "You okay, Jam?"

As Jam was struggling back up, Grum had already started moving again. Bouncing forwards, she blasted another beam of psychic energy from the pearl on her head. The still-stunned beautifly was hit directly and knocked back to the ground.

"Keep it up, Grum!" Will cheered enthusiastically.

Grum's next attack missed, however, and Jam was able to fire back another powerful gust of wind full of shining, silvery particles.

This was just what Will had been hoping for and Grum, quick on the uptake, hadn't even needed to wait for his order before throwing up another golden aura to protect herself.

Jam trilled in pain as he suddenly found himself being pelted by his own attack for a second time. No sooner had he recovered when he was blasted directly with a final psychic beam. He fluttered about in confusion for a couple of seconds before finally dropping to the ground, too tired to continue.

"Looks like that's Grum and Will's win!" Richard called out. "Good battle, both of you!"

"Using Magic Coat was a cheap trick," Geoff said dismissively as he recalled Jam. "You wouldn't have won otherwise."

"Is that the sound of a sore loser?" Will grinned, stepping forwards to pat Grum on the head.

"Well, your spoink is pretty good, even if you aren't," Geoff sighed. "And I guess you're a bit tougher than you were when we fought on Dewford Island. You starting to take this seriously after all?"

"I even challenged a gym a while back!" Will called back triumphantly.

"Oh yeah? How'd that go?"

"…I lost."

"Well, it's a start." Geoff shrugged. He smirked across at Will. "Maybe you'll make a decent opponent some day after all!"

"You'd think that he was the one who won," Will said, shaking his head as Geoff turned and started walking away.

"Well, it did look like you were on the ropes at one point," Richard replied. "But good job, Will – you and Grum worked well together."

"Thanks," Will replied. "You hear that, Grum? Richard praised us!"

Grum huffed but allowed him to continue patting her.

"There you are!"

The three of them looked around to see James and Nicola approaching them.

"I was starting to wonder where you guys had gone," said James. "I guess none of us managed to win the prize money then."

"I bet you're feeling pretty stupid for throwing that feebas back now, eh, James?" Richard grinned at him.

"Hey, you guys encouraged me," James said.

"No extra food then," Nicola sighed. "Oh well. We'll have our new tent soon, right?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "And I had fun, even though the weather was horrible."

"…We've still got to walk on to the ferry port, haven't we?" Nicola groaned, looking down at her soaked raincoat.

"We'll survive," said Richard. "We've been through worse."

"It looked like you were having a battle," James said, turning to Will.

"Oh yeah." Will nodded. "Just that guy I met on Dewford Island. Grum and I managed to take him down."

"Mostly thanks to Magic Coat," Richard added.

"Shut up!" Will protested. "It's a fair tactic!"

"I'm glad you won!" James grinned. "You didn't push Grum too hard though, did you?"

"She looks fine to me," said Nicola.

"We were _rebounding_ attacks, not taking them," Will replied, rolling his eyes. "You worry too much, James."

"Anyway, I think we should get moving," said Richard. "The longer we hang around here, the longer it'll be before we can get out of the rain and change into something dry!"

"Right behind you!" Will replied.

The four of them, with Grum bouncing along at Will's side, walked back to the road on the beachfront. It had been a nice distraction, but it was going to be pretty late when they finally got to their destination now…

* * *

 **No new captures this chapter, I'm afraid. But please don't think that I've forgotten about the empty spaces on James and Will's teams. They will be filled before the Hoenn League!**

 **Anyway, I figured I should try and do something with Will and Grum this chapter since the last few chapters have been quite Nicola-heavy. I had difficulty deciding who should win the battle between Will and Geoff, but in the end, I figured that a victory would help cement the budding trust between Will and Grum. With Magic Coat and beautifly being unable to learn any physical attacks in Gen III, I thought it would feel a bit contrived and out of character for Will for him to not take advantage of this strategy.**

 **And it's good news for the rest of the group as well – even if they can't eat a hearty meal this chapter, they'll soon have the money they need for a new tent. Then they can finally stop rationing their food! And on that subject, I'm currently working on the assumption that poké has the same value as the Japanese yen (so 10,000 poké would be around £70 or $90).**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psych Up and Confuse Ray.


	78. Out of Luck

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, the group took part in a fishing competition on their way to the next ferry in the hopes of winning some extra food money. Unfortunately, none of them won, but there was a consolation for Will as he and Grum were able to defeat Geoff in a battle.**

 **Upload Date: 7** **th** **September 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 78: Out of Luck**

 _Route 118, Hoenn_

 _10:45am, 18_ _th_ _July 2006_

After the fishing competition, the group had continued on to the ferry port before stopping for the night. Unfortunately, bad weather had then delayed the first crossing until late in the afternoon and the four of them had decided to stop for the night in the pokémon centre on the other side of the channel – there was no way that they could have gotten all the way to Windrish City, the largest settlement on the island chain, with what was left of the day.

So, they'd ended up setting off the following day instead, with the weather being mercifully much better. As an added bonus, the delay meant that they could take a slightly more adventurous path through the mountains on their way through to Windrish City. The guidebook had said that it had some fantastic views.

"Wow!" Richard gasped as they continued walking up along one of the paths. "Look at how far you can see!"

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" James replied with a grin. "Aren't you pleased you agreed with my plan?"

"Definitely," Richard said.

"The mountains are so tall," said Nicola. "It's like we're walking through gaps in a wall!"

"It feels a little bit like that, doesn't it?" said Will. "I just wish it was as easy to actually walk here."

"Ah, that's true!" Nicola said, laughing. The paths were quite steep at times and it definitely wasn't fun trying to haul themselves up them with all of their stuff.

Still, it was the extra height that gave them the fantastic view. The easy route through the bottom of the valley wouldn't have been anywhere near as impressive.

"Ah. I wish I could fly," Richard said enviously, noticing a bird pokémon soaring overhead.

"Oh, a xatu?" Nicola said, glancing up as well and recognising the pokémon. "I didn't know they lived in Hoenn as well.

"Are they rare?" Will asked.

"Quite rare, yeah." Nicola nodded. "I think they're supposed to be quite powerful pokémon."

"They are," said Richard, watching as the xatu continued to fly overhead. "I wonder if it's wild…"

"I doubt it," said James. "There's nothing in the guidebook about xatu living in this area, and you'd think that they'd be throwing that information at us if there were!"

"I guess you're right," Richard sighed. In any case, it was well out of range. There was no way he was going to be able to hurl a poké ball that high into the sky. There was no telling where it would land even if the capture was successful anyway.

"Look, it's going down!" Nicola called suddenly.

Indeed, the xatu had started slowly descended towards the summit of the mountain just ahead of them. They probably needed to climb it anyway to get back to the main road towards Windrish City.

"Well, there's no harm in investigating, is there?" James said. "I've never gotten a good look at a xatu before."

"Don't you have any in Kanto?" Nicola asked.

"Not wild ones, no," James replied.

"Looks like it's going to be a tough climb," Richard sighed. "Still, I'd like to get a closer look as well – the only time I've seen one before was when I was fighting a gym battle in the Sevii Islands."

Fortunately, the xatu was descending slowly. They'd be able to keep an eye on it for a while as they continued on the path up the mountain.

* * *

 _11:02am, 18_ _th_ _July 2006_

"How…much…further?" Nicola gasped.

"Almost…there!" James rasped back.

"Can't wait," Richard said wearily. He glanced behind him. "You holding up, Will?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," Will replied.

The four of them were on the final stretch up the mountain at last. The xatu had disappeared from view not too long ago, probably landing somewhere on the summit. The decision to hurry after it hadn't worked out well for them and they were all feeling pretty exhausted. Only the fact that their goal wasn't far ahead of them spurred them on.

Up this high, it was as if they could reach out and touch the few fluffy clouds in the otherwise sunny and empty sky. Even though they were worn out from the climb, they could still appreciate the great view. Out to the east, they could see Windrish City nestled by the narrow channel that separated this island from the one further north. Most of the islands between this one and the mainland close to Mauville City were connected by bridges. That would have been their alternative route down here. After the fiasco with the ferry yesterday, James was starting to wonder if it might have been a better idea.

As they finally reached the summit, they suddenly spotted the xatu again. It was perched on a rock at the base of a tough-looking tree. And next to it was…

"Mia?!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Huh?" Mia looked around and jumped at the sight of them. "James! Nicola! You're here as well?"

"We're travelling through here on our way to Vinelodge Town," said James. "I heard that there's going to be a contest there soon."

"Oh, yeah." Mia nodded. "How have you been?" she added.

"We've survived," Richard said, moving up to join the others. He glanced at the xatu. "Is that your pokémon?"

"Yeah!" Mia nodded proudly. "This is Turo, my xatu. I let him out so that he could stretch his wings for a bit."

"You're training him up for contests?" James asked.

"You bet!" Mia replied. "I can't wait to show you what he's capable of in the next contest!"

"Xatu, huh?" Will pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Xatu, the mystic pokémon and the evolved form of natu. Xatu are known to stand motionless while staring at the sun all day long. Some people revere it as a mystical pokémon out of their belief that xatu possess the power to see into the future. In other places, some view xatu as emissaries from another world._ "

"Whoa! Xatu can see the future?" Nicola exclaimed.

"That's incredible!" James added, looking closer at Turo, who ignored him and continued staring unblinkingly at the sun in the sky. "It must be a seriously impressive pokémon."

"I-in that case, would you like me and Turo to read your fortune?" Mia asked.

"You can do that?" James said, spinning around to face Mia. "I didn't know that."

"W-well, there's still a lot we don't know about each other…" she replied bashfully.

"Go ahead then," said James. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Just hold out your hand," Mia said.

James duly offered his right hand, palm up. Mia gingerly took it with both of hers and pressed her thumbs against his palm.

There was silence for a few seconds.

… _Wh-what should I do now?!_ Mia thought. _I got so caught up in the moment and tried to sound cool. Is it too late to admit that I don't know anything about telling fortunes? Ahhh, they're all looking at me so eagerly – there's no way I can back out now!_

At that moment, Turo suddenly let out a loud, impressive screech. He reached out one of his wings and placed it over James and Mia's hands. Mia noticed him briefly winking at her. She felt relief for a brief moment before realising that the xatu wasn't going to conveniently dump an image of James's future into her mind. Instead, he just let out another screech and added himself to the group of faces looking expectantly at her.

"Is something wrong?" James asked, a concerned look on his face.

"N-not at all!" Mia replied quickly. "Erm, it looks like you've got good fortune coming your way – great fortune in fact! I bet… I mean, I-I can see that you'll do well in any upcoming events. And you'll be happy and healthy as well!"

"Wow! That's good to hear!" James grinned.

"As for r-rom…"

"Do me! Do me!" Nicola called eagerly, moving forwards. "I want to find out my fortune as well!"

"…Very well," Mia said darkly as James stepped aside.

"Ow!" Nicola squeaked as Mia grabbed her hand slightly more roughly than she had James's. She placed her thumbs on Nicola's palm and jerked her head irritably at Turo.

The xatu let out a loud screech. Once again, he reached out his wing and placed it atop Mia and Nicola's hands. He let out another loud screech before turning and looking at Mia expectantly. The stupid bird probably thought they were just playing a game!

Mia shook her head sadly as she looked down at Turo's wing. "Unfortunately, it looks like there's a lot of bad luck heading your way."

"Really?" Nicola looked at Turo in confusion. "But didn't he just do the same…"

"It was different."

"But-"

"Yes, I see great calamity befalling you today!" Mia said forcefully, gripping Nicola's hands slightly tighter. "You will have difficulties achieving anything and you'll feel terrible at the end of the day. You should be careful of, err, beds!"

"Beds?!"

"Yes, beds! And, err, sleeping bags too! Might be best to sleep on the floor tonight."

"But how can I sleep without a bed or a sleeping bag?"

"Not my problem." Mia let go of Nicola's hand. "You wanted your fortune – there you go!"

"Is there any way to stop it?" Nicola asked desperately. "This great calamity?"

"Oh, you can try," Mia said smugly. "But fate has a way of catching us no matter how hard we struggle against it…"

* * *

 _11:23am, 18_ _th_ _July 2006_

After saying goodbye to Mia and Turo, the group continued on their way down towards the main road. The path was even rougher on this side of the mountain and wasn't easy to descend. The situation was being made even worse by Nicola's paranoia over her bad fortune.

"I-isn't there another way down?" she asked, grimacing at the slope below.

"This is the most direct way," James replied. "Don't worry – it looks tough, but there's nothing too difficult about it."

"I know, but…" Nicola glanced around anxiously.

"You're not still getting hung up on that bad fortune, are you?" Richard said dismissively, striding past her down the slope. "Look, just because some pokémon thinks you're going to have a bad day doesn't mean that that's what will happen!"

"You sound pretty sure of yourself," said James. "Didn't Mia say you had bad fortune as well?"

"I'll just make my own luck," Richard said, shrugging his shoulders. He pulled one of the shoulder straps of his bag off and reached to pull out his water bottle. "Just forget about Turo's predictions – I bet they never come true any – whoa!" He suddenly stumbled as his foot caught on a tree root. As he pitched forwards and flailed his arms around to try and save himself, they heard a loud cry from behind them.

"Look out!" Nicola exclaimed.

A swellow suddenly swooped out of nowhere and seized Richard's bag. With a powerful flap of its wings, it lifted itself slowly back into the air.

"Hey! Give that back!" Richard shouted, leaping back to his feet and shaking his fist at the wild pokémon.

Fortunately, the swellow dropped it pretty quickly and they only had to venture slightly off the beaten path to recover it. After hearing Richard call to them to tell them that he'd managed to find it, the other three had all sighed with relief and started talking about weird coincidences.

Very shortly after that, they'd heard a loud screeching sound and spotted Richard tearing through the undergrowth with a very angry vigoroth right on his tail.

"Run!" he shouted.

And run they did. There was no joking around with a wild vigoroth – they were all very familiar with those sharp claws after the battles with Norman at the Petalburg gym. On two occasions, Richard tripped and fell again and had to be scraped up by the others at the last moment before the vigoroth could reach them. It was persistent as well – probably the most persistent pokémon on the whole mountain.

This misfortune took slightly longer to escape than the previous one.

* * *

 _12:07pm, 18_ _th_ _July 2006_

"I…I…think we finally…lost it," James gasped.

"Finally…" Will said, breathing deeply as he slumped back against a nearby tree.

"Where are we?" Nicola asked, glancing around anxiously. "You do know, right, James?"

"Don't worry – I know exactly where we are," James replied. "Luckily, the vigoroth started chasing us when we were close to the path."

"Silver lining, eh?" Richard gasped. He was laying sprawled out on his back by the side of the road.

James pulled out the guidebook and double-checked the route. "I reckon we're well over halfway now. Maybe another couple of hours before we reach Windrish City? Something like that…"

"Wait a second!" Nicola called. "Before we set off again, can we try and find something to protect us against bad luck?"

"You're still worried about that?" Will asked.

"Well, look at what just happened to Richard!" Nicola exclaimed, pointing at their still-sprawled out companion. "He had a bad fortune and look at what happened!"

"Alright, alright," James said. He sighed. "Should we try and make a lucky charm or something?"

"Are four-leave clovers a thing that actually exist?" Will asked. "Do you think we could find some out here?"

"We'll just have to look around," said Richard, pulling himself to his feet.

"C'mon," Nicola said anxiously. "Anything could happen while we're trying to find something!"

"Well, if that'll make you feel happier," James sighed. "I guess we should split up and go looking then."

"I'll go with you!" Nicola said, immediately scrambling after James. "Hopefully your good luck with keep my bad luck away!"

"Has anything bad actually happened to her yet?" Will asked, turning to Richard as James and Nicola moved off into the undergrowth.

"I don't think so…" Richard mumbled.

"Well, I guess we'd better get looking as well," said Will. "Any ideas what we could do?"

"We could find two three-leave clovers and stick them together."

"Nah, she'd see through that. Probably make her think that she'll have even more bad luck as well."

"Good point. What else is lucky?"

"Horse shoes?" Will suggested. "Or maybe a chansey egg?"

"And where are we going to find them out here?"

"I don't know – I'm just coming up with ideas here."

The two of them sighed. It was going to be a tough search if they didn't even know what they were looking for.

"James said that we could try making a lucky charm or something like that, right?" said Richard.

"Yeah." Will nodded.

"Then let's just gather some materials together and make something. As long as she's got something, I'm sure Nicola will calm down long enough for us to reach Windrish City."

"I hope you're right," Will sighed. "Got anything in particular in mind?"

"Nope!" Richard shook his head. "I've never had to make a lucky charm before."

"…Let's start by trying to find some wood for the base then," Will said. "We can worry about exactly what we make later."

* * *

 _Windrish City, Hoenn_

 _6:27pm, 18_ _th_ _July 2006_

After a very long search, the group had gathered together again to share what they'd found – a handful of regular clovers and a piece of tree bark with some moss and several blades of grass on it. It was hardly an impressive sight.

Of course, Nicola hadn't been placated at all and, when James had overridden her to get the group moving again, had insisted that they travel in a tightly packed group with her in the middle so that she would be protected by James's good fortune. She became irritable the moment anyone fell out of line and walked so close behind James that she was practically hugging his bag.

It had been starting to get late when they'd managed to set off again – not what they needed when they were already on edge. The bright July sunshine kept going though and they would have had to have been very seriously delayed for nightfall to become a concern. Still, there was a long way to go and they'd worn themselves out trying to find a charm.

It wasn't a pleasant trip.

To start with, the time had made Nicola even more panicky than she'd been earlier. She jumped at the slightest sound from the surrounding forest and there was a constant rattling sound as she struggled to keep Zaggy from letting himself out of his poké ball – the last thing she'd needed was to have Zaggy up to his usual antics when she was due to be hit with bad luck!

At one point, she'd panicked completely after hearing a loud snapping sound and almost pushed Richard down the slope by the road in fright. It turned out that it had been Will stepping on a tree branch.

After that, both James and Richard had been very keen to take a shortcut to get them to Windrish City sooner, only for Nicola to veto it – there was no way that she was going to go down that dark, rough-looking path! They'd made it down the worst of the sloping roads from the summit, so the longer road was pretty flat and unchallenging. It also added a whole extra hour to their journey time.

By the time they finally stumbled along the road into the outskirts of Windrish City, they were all drained and exhausted. Nicola had her arms wrapped around James's backpack and plodded along in his wake, her eyes constantly darting around for the next sign of her imminent bad luck. Now that they were away from the mountain paths, Will and Richard had managed to peel themselves slightly away from the others, something which James envied. They kept getting weird looks as they trudged along the streets in search of the pokémon centre.

The thing was, nothing had actually happened to Nicola.

Sure, Richard had had a spell of bad luck earlier, what with tripping over, having a swellow almost steal his bag, getting chased by the vigoroth, and Nicola almost pushing him down the hill, but nothing like that had happened or even threatened to happen to Nicola.

James had started to wonder if Nicola was bringing her own bad fortune into reality by obsessively expecting it. She certainly looked and felt terrible after all she'd been through.

"We're finally here," Will said wearily as they came to a stop outside the pokémon centre. "I'm looking forwards to getting something to eat and having a rest."

"You and me both," Richard sighed. "What a day!"

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," James said, peeling Nicola's arms off his bag and turning to face her. "You need to go and get your allowance money."

Nicola's face turned pale. "B-but, what if something happens or has happened or…"

"Argh! I don't care, Nicola!" James replied sharply. "Your fortune didn't say anything about money and we need that last little bit to pay for a new tent, so go on!"

With hindsight, he would have held in his frustration, or certainly not phrased it like that. After they'd explained the situation to the receptionist and managed to convince her that they weren't blackmailing or extorting money from Nicola, they finally withdrew her allowance.

"I guess we can order anything from the menu this time!" Will grinned, looking the happiest he had in over a week.

"Yeah, I guess so." James nodded. "We'll go out and buy the tent tomorrow – I'm pretty sure the shop will be shut now. I think I need to rest up anyway…"

"I think we all do," Richard said.

The four of them duly walked upstairs to their rooms.

"I'll see you guys in a bit for dinner then," Nicola said as she opened the door to her room.

"Yeah, see you in a bit," Richard replied.

As the door shut behind her, Nicola felt herself sag slightly with relief. There had been some tough points, but she'd made it to the safety of her room without having any serious mishaps. Mia had said that she was only going to have bad luck today, so hopefully she'd be back to normal in time for tomorrow.

Stretching her arms, she walked over to the side of the room and sat down on her bed.

…bed?!

Nicola shot back to her feet as though the bed was electrocuted. "Th-that was a close one!" she gasped, edging back from the bed as though it might explode. Of course, she had to think about what she was going to do tonight. No bed. No sleeping bag either. Did she have any other options?

Fortunately, there was a comfy-looking armchair in the corner of the room. She could probably pull out her blanket and sleep there for the night. Not ideal, but then it sounded like she wasn't going to get much sleep either way.

Walking over, she gratefully threw herself down into the chair.

There was a sudden snapping sound, like splintering wood.

Nicola let out a yelp of surprise as she felt herself sag downwards.

From next door, she heard the sound of running feet. Seconds later, James, Richard and Will burst through the door.

"Nicola, are you – pfft!" Richard covered his mouth as he caught sight of her.

"Don't laugh at me!" Nicola yelled desperately. "Help me!" She was wedged into the chair with her arms pinned and her legs pointing upwards. Wriggling around only seemed to make her sink deeper into the broken seat.

"Sorry," James said, fighting to keep his face straight as he walked over to her. He grabbed one of her arms, while Richard grabbed the other. With a quick heave, they pulled her back to her feet.

"I should have known," Nicola moaned, turning and looking back at the chair. "Just when I was thinking of a way to avoid sleeping in bed tonight. Mia said that we can't escape fate, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but she said that you'd have trouble with beds!" Will blurted out. "I'm pretty sure she was just making stuff up to scare you!"

"That's a point," said James. "Nothing else has happened to you today."

"But it could have done," Nicola replied.

"Well, it always could happen," said Richard. "I think you ended up getting too hung up over the whole 'bad fortune' thing."

"Well, I guess I've had my bad luck either way," Nicola sighed.

"Hey, getting stuck in a chair isn't the worst thing that could have happened today," said Richard, grinning at her.

"Maybe to you!" Nicola snapped, her cheeks turning red. "…I should probably go down and tell them at reception about what happened. We might have to pay for repairs…"

"Don't worry about that, Nicola," said James. He had tipped the chair onto its back and was looking at the bottom. "Look at how old the wooden frame is – that was going to give away at any moment. Hardly your fault."

"We'll go with you to explain," said Richard. "But we should definitely tell them."

"Let's go then," Nicola sighed. "I'm just looking forwards to putting today behind me."

"I think we all are, Nicola!" James said. He chuckled. "Look on the bright side, we can have a good meal tonight since we don't need to save up for a tent anymore."

"Don't say that – the tent might be more expensive than we think!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Yeah, don't jinx it, James," said Will. "Wait until after we've actually bought the tent before saying that!"

"Good point," James said, grinning apologetically at them.

"I think we're all starting to get a little too caught up in all this 'good luck', 'bad luck' stuff," Richard sighed. "Mia's going to have a lot to answer for the next time we meet."

"Where was she even heading?" Will asked. "She went off in a different direction to us."

"Probably back to the mainland," James said. "I mean, there isn't much else to do here on the islands – no gyms, and there isn't another contest here in Windrish City for quite a while."

"I guess it'll be a while before we see her again then," Nicola said as she and the others trooped out of the room. Still, they'd definitely run into her again. The contest circuit would ensure that!

* * *

"…I wonder if I went too far," Mia mumbled, looking back at the island as she stood on the deck of the ferry. "Saying that she shouldn't use a bed or a sleeping bag to sleep in is a bit…

"But I'm sure that Nicola didn't take it seriously. Of course, she didn't – I mean, it must have been pretty obvious that I didn't have any idea what I was talking about, right?"

She glanced sideways to see Turo staring at her with an incredulous look on his face.

"Oh, don't you start!" Mia exclaimed. "Aren't you supposed to be the one who can see the future? Why on Earth did you think that I was being serious?"

Turo simply blinked at her a couple of times before turning his gaze towards the distant setting sun.

"Urgh." Mia put her arms on the railing and rested her chin on them before letting out a groan of discomfort. "What if Nicola and the others _did_ take it seriously? She might be panicking over whether she can go to bed tonight or not." She frowned guiltily. "…Maybe I should apologise to her the next time we meet. I mean, she'll just say: 'Hah! I totally knew you were making it up,' or something like that, but…"

She let out another sigh but pulled herself up again. "I guess it's too late for me to do anything about it now. I should put it out of my mind until the next time I see them." She continued to gaze at the island as it grew smaller and smaller. "Still, if they're heading to Vinelodge next, I wonder if James will be alright?"

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the voices of the crewmen shouting to each other as they prepared the ferry for docking. They were back on the mainland. Just like the others, Mia had lots of ground to cover as well. She was going to need to rest up as much as she could tonight. If she was quick getting to the next contest, then she might be able to get to southern Hoenn in time to cross paths with James, Nicola and the others again.

With a smile on her face, she beckoned to Turo and started walking towards the gangplank.

* * *

 **I had a lot of fun with this chapter. It started with just a 'Nicola gets a bad fortune and tries to escape it' outline and I just kept finding more and more ways to develop it, even as I was writing it. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, even if there isn't much in the way of development here.**

 **I also have something of an announcement to make, though it's kind of a long story…**

 **Around the start of this year, I realised that the planning methods I'd used for** _ **Hoenn**_ **and the other stories were deeply flawed. I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that there's a massive disconnect between the progress of time in** _ **Hoenn**_ **and in** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **– Alicia won her seventh gym battle in early June 2006 and she and Livvi are closing in on the final parts of their journey, while the group in Hoenn only have five badges each and much of Hoenn left to explore in late July 2006. This was the result of me using the real world to plot distances and how far the group could travel each day for** _ **Hoenn**_ **, while** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **used an old system whereby I guessed roughly how long it would take to get from place to place using the in-game map of Johto. This old method was used for** _ **Kanto**_ **and** _ **Sevii Islands**_ **as well.**

 **More importantly, the system I used for planning** _ **Hoenn**_ **was heavily focused on game milestones and Pokédex entries, which, as I realised far too late, meant that character development and the world itself often fell by the wayside. I'd already decided around this time that I would need a new planning system for the next story anyway.**

 **Back in the middle of August, I was going through the** _ **Kanto**_ **extra chapters to remove all the pokéspeak. As I was doing the second extra chapter (Tessa's chapter), I remembered that someone has suggested a future extra chapter about how she met Lallo and tried to think of ways that could work – in particular, why Lallo might be so willing to constantly attack Livvi. I came up with a great idea, but it immediately threw up a problem – it relied on me having made Tessa into at least a somewhat sympathetic character (which I've failed to do), and also on tapping into parts of Livvi's personality that are either only touched upon or completely unknown to the readership. To make this idea work then, at best, Livvi's personality would need reworking, and, at worst, the entire rivalry would need to be overhauled. Chapter 74 had been recently uploaded around this time as well, so I also had to face up to the fact that characterisation for most of my pokémon characters was also severely lacking.**

 **So, after editing the** _ **Kanto**_ **extra chapters, I started imagining what a rewritten version of the** _ **Kanto**_ **story might look like – what I could change about it to make it more streamlined, more compelling and generally more interesting to read. By the end of the day, those thoughts had turned into a concrete plan as I thought of more and more inconsistencies and issues that could be resolved if I started again from scratch. I feel like this is something I owe to myself and to you, my readers.**

 **And that's my announcement: that I'll be starting a rewritten series that aims to fix the countless problems with the original. This isn't a decision I've taken lightly, since it means effectively abandoning almost six years' worth of work. However, I've concluded that it's better to do this than for my writing to continue to be dragged down by poor character development decisions made in** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **.**

 **That left me with the question of what to do now. Ultimately, I decided that, for** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **and** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **, things should continue as normal. I'll get to the end of these stories and then loop back to start** _ **Kanto**_ **again from scratch, followed by the other three. Stories get abandoned on FFN all the time, so I didn't want to create a scare by dropping these two stories as they are. I also want to move away from the name** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **– while I appreciate its simplicity, it's simply a very common name in this category and I want the rewritten series to stand out more from the crowd. The current working title for the rewritten series is** _ **Daily Lives of Pokémon Trainers**_ **, which I feel still captures the core of what the series is about while distinguishing it somewhat from other journey fics. If you've got any thoughts on this, then I'd be happy to hear them.**

 **The currently planned future stories for the** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **series will all be added to the** _ **Daily Lives of Pokémon Trainers**_ **series instead, meaning that** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **will effectively end with the conclusion of** _ **Hoenn**_ **and** _ **Johto Scrapbook**_ **. I'll leave all the old stories up, but our protagonists' stories will be covered in the new series from then on.**

 **And on that subject, I've also put together a survey so that I can get a better idea of what readers would like to see from a rewritten series and how important different kinds of chapters are to your enjoyment of the series. Since links get stripped on this site, I'll post the link to the survey on the Facebook page. If you can spare some time to give me your opinion, then I would greatly appreciate it.**

 **Anyway, sorry for the particularly long author note this time. If you've got any questions or suggestions regarding this announcement, then feel free to PM me. If you're going to review, then could you keep in focused on the chapter content instead of the announcement – though important, I was still really pleased with this chapter and I really want to hear your thoughts on it!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	79. Overcharged!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw Nicola desperately trying to escape from a bad fortune given to her by Mia with (less-than-useful) help of her xatu, Turo, as the group made their way to Windrish City.**

 **Upload Date: 14** **th** **September 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 79: Overcharged!**

 _Windrish City, Hoenn_

 _9:46am, 19_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Right, let's get out there and buy our new tent!" Will called loudly and cheerfully.

"We're right behind you!" James said. He laughed.

Today couldn't have felt more different to yesterday. With the bright sun to greet them, Nicola had completely forgotten her woes from the previous evening and all four of them had eaten a big and fulling breakfast for what felt like the first time in ages. Now, they just needed to get their hands on a new tent and everything would be perfect.

After the eventful previous day, all of them had slept in a little longer than they normally would, and they'd only gone down for breakfast at nine o'clock. This was partly down to the stressful evening, but also because they had to wait for the camping shop to open. They were so used to setting off for the next town around this time that it felt odd walking around doing shopping now.

"Is there anything else we should get before we head off?" Richard asked, turning to James.

"I don't think so," James replied. "Food, we bought after getting off the ferry. Medicine and repel is all good too."

"So, we'll be able to set off as soon as we've bought the tent?" Nicola asked.

"Yeah, should be," James said. "But I wanted to go over our route – we've decided where we want to go next, but there are loads of different routes across the island. We need to decide which way we want to go first."

"As usual," Will sighed.

"That's part of the fun of travelling, isn't it?" Richard grinned. "Deciding where we're going to go next!"

It didn't take them long to reach the camping shop. There were no other customers inside as they walked in, though James guessed that was hardly surprising. It was still early on a weekday after all.

The shopkeeper was delighted to have customers and immediately came over to ask them what they were looking for. Though James had a good idea about what the group needed, it was helpful hearing what the shopkeeper had to say.

"Hmm. It sounds like this model might be just what you're looking for. It's an older one, but I've used one myself before now – very reliable and very durable."

"How strong are the supports?" James asked.

"I've never known them to snap in the wind," the shopkeeper replied. "But I wouldn't advise testing them with your own strength!"

"What about the inside?" Richard asked. "How much space would we have?"

"There's actually a demonstration model set up just over there. Do you want to go and have a look?"

The tent that had been set up for the display roughly matched the size of the old one and the four of them all stepped back from it with satisfied looks on their faces.

"This one?" James asked, looking around at his companions.

They all nodded.

"Excellent! You'll find it's an easy and comfortable tent to use," the shopkeeper said cheerfully. "Is there anything else you need?"

Even though it was an older kind of tent, it was still quite expensive. There was a silent agreement among the group to move on without spending any more money, even if there were plenty of interesting gadgets and other equipment on the shelves. They hadn't carefully rationed food for the last couple of weeks just to blow everything on unnecessary things!

Once the tent was paid for, Richard helped James attached its bag to his backpack. They all thanked the shopkeeper, who seemed a little sad to see them go, before walking back out of the shop and onto the street outside.

"I guess it's back to the pokémon centre to plan today's trip then?" Will said.

"Yep." James nodded. "I've narrowed down our options to three main roads. I'll show you and we can decide which is the best."

"Is there anything interesting on this island?" Richard asked.

"Not lots," James replied, shaking his head. "But there are lots of small fishing towns by the sea we could pass through. There's the contest hall here in Windrish City too."

"That reminds me," Nicola began. "I'm running low on pokéblocks – think we could swing by the contest hall and make some more?"

"We've got time," James said. "Is that okay with you two?"

"Guess so," Will replied with a shrug.

"Same here." Richard nodded. "Is there anything else on the island that might be interesting?"

"The guidebook says that there are some interesting wild pokémon that live on the island," James said.

"Such as?"

"Well…" At that moment, James was interrupted by a sudden shout from Nicola. There was a pop as Zaggy emerged from his poké ball and immediately started scampering around on the ground.

"Zaggy! Get back here!" Nicola cried, diving forwards to try and grab the zigzagoon. However, he quickly slipped away from her and zigzagged his way down a nearby alley.

"Best get after him!" James said, laughing.

"I'll meet up with you at the contest hall!" Nicola called as she released Tricky from his poké ball. "C'mon, Tricky – let's catch Zaggy before he gets too far!"

Barking in agreement, Tricky darted ahead of her as they started running after the zigzagoon.

* * *

 _10:03am, 19_ _th_ _July 2006_

As ever, Zaggy managed to astound Nicola with how fast he could move when he was constantly zigzagging from side to side – it was as if, even with all the distractions, he still managed to keep his mind focused on finding the best way to avoid and escape from Nicola.

"You go that way!" Nicola called to Tricky as they spotted Zaggy turn down a nearby alleyway. "I'll follow him, and we'll trap him further along!"

With a quick bark and a nod, Tricky sprang forwards and dashed down the next alley.

Nicola tore down the first one, catching sight of Zaggy again as he scampered along. He occasionally threw a brief glance over his furry shoulder to see if Nicola was still after him.

As they reached the end of the alley, Zaggy spun to the side and darted down the street to the right. Nicola let out a sigh of relief – it was the direction she'd been hoping he'd take. She was starting to gain on him as well. There was only so long he could keep ahead of her while zigzagging, after all.

Fortunately, Tricky had picked up on what Nicola intended as well. He tore into view further down the street and charged forwards to intercept Zaggy. Spotting him, the zigzagoon tried to reserve course, but quickly found Nicola closing in on him.

"Gotcha!" she shouted triumphantly, grabbing Zaggy with both hands and hauling him into the air. "You're not going anywhere now, Zaggy!"

If Zaggy was bothered by being caught again, he didn't show it. Instead he let out a yawn and started dozing peacefully in her arms. He only ever did this to cause trouble – what a pain!

As she was reaching for Zaggy's poké ball, she suddenly heard a loud crack. Ahead of her, Tricky was stood by the fence surrounding the base of an electricity pylon. As she watched, there was another crack as a bright white bolt of electricity flashed from the wires at the top of the pylon and struck Tricky's tail. A familiar yellow glow had surrounded him – he was charging power.

Tricky seemed to do this quite a lot: absorbing electricity from various things in the towns they passed. Nicola supposed that he had to get it from somewhere, though she guessed that he was capable of generating it himself. It was normally a pretty harmless thing. The only issue had been when she'd once gotten an electric shock from being too close to him while he was doing it.

As she backed away to give him plenty of space, however, a third bolt of electricity struck him. Instead of simply being absorbed like the others, there was a sudden bang and Tricky was flung to the side in an instant.

"Tricky!" Nicola yelled in shock. Still clutching Zaggy, she rushed forwards as the electrike staggered back to his feet, dazed but otherwise unharmed. "Don't scare me like that, Tricky," she sighed as he grinned back at her in embarrassment. "Come on, let's go and join the others at the contest hall."

* * *

 _10:18am, 19_ _th_ _July 2006_

All thoughts about chasing Zaggy and Tricky getting hit by the electricity from the pylon vanished from Nicola's mind as soon as she and her pokémon reached the contest hall. It looked sadly forlorn without a stream of people heading in to compete in or watch a contest. Still, it was a welcome sight and Nicola had hurried through the doors eagerly.

Once inside, she quickly tracked down the others by the berry blenders and joined in. She'd been keeping the sheen of her pokémon looking pretty good with the Poké Mart-bought pokéblocks ever since leaving Petalburg, but there was something different about the ones she made herself. It was a pretty fun activity as well – even Richard and Will were happy to join in making the pokéblocks. Watching the blender spin faster and faster as they discussed which berry combinations to use and seeing the small, multicoloured cubes dropping down into the tray at the end was immensely satisfying.

"So, when is the next contest here?" Nicola asked James as they gathered up the pokéblocks they'd just finished making.

"Not for a long time," James replied. "Sometime in August, I think."

"That's a shame," Nicola sighed. "It would have been a nice place to train and compete."

"Have you looked at the stage?" Richard asked. "It looked pretty rough to me."

"Wouldn't it make the pokémon stand out a little bit more though?" James asked.

"I don't know about that," said Will. "Surroundings are pretty important too."

"I guess appearances are what contests are all about!" Nicola said with a grin. As the others laughed, she suddenly noticed that Tricky, who was sat patiently off to one side, had emitted a few jolts of electricity. Unusual, but she returned to the conversation with the others and didn't think any more of it until she spotted him emitting another burst of sparks a little later on. He continued occasionally discharging some electricity the rest of the time they were in the contest hall.

This was quite odd, but Nicola was happy to see that Tricky didn't seem all that bothered. He seemed perfectly content and seemed to treat the occasional discharges as more of an annoyance than anything else. Maybe this was the equivalent of a cough or a round of sneezing for electric types?

He was still discharging every now and again when the group finally packed up all the pokéblocks they'd made and started getting ready to hit the road. That was when the others noticed as well.

"Has he been doing that for long?" James asked, spotting Tricky having another discharge.

"Quite a while, I think," Nicola replied. "It's odd, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. "Don't electric types only normally have trouble controlling their electricity when they're young?"

"I think it depends on the pokémon," James replied. "I don't think it's normal for Tricky though, or we'd have noticed it before."

"Well, it doesn't look like it's bothering him that much," Nicola said. "Maybe he doing it himself to exercise?"

"Well, if he's fine with it…" Richard murmured.

"Anyway, we need to get going, don't we?" Nicola said, jumping to her feet enthusiastically. She pulled out Zaggy and Tricky's poké balls.

"Ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you!" James called suddenly.

"Huh?" Nicola and the others looked around at him.

"If Tricky is randomly discharging electricity, then it might interfere with his poké ball," James explained. "It might also give you a shock when you're holding it. Best to keep him out for now."

"That's fine by me," Nicola said, ignoring Zaggy, who looked like he very much wanted to stay out as well. "You could probably use some exercise, couldn't you, Tricky?"

Tricky barked in agreement, jumping to his feet and wagging his tail.

Yet as they started walking towards the exit, James couldn't help but notice that the electrike was actually moving slightly more sluggishly than usual…

* * *

 _Route 118, Hoenn_

 _1:41pm, 19_ _th_ _July 2006_

In the end, the group had decided to take a path down through the mountains in the centre of the island towards a small settlement called Jenarish Town. The guidebook said that this town was next to a small bay carved into the side of the island and sat astride a river that entered the sea there. It was a good place to see wild water pokémon, particularly an intimidating-looking fish called carvanha. The area was apparently known for them.

With the air fresh and the sun shining, the gentle wind at their backs and the beautiful scenery around them, the group couldn't have been further from the eventful trip down to Windrish City the previous day. The pokémon were all behaving themselves as well, clearly enjoying the walk as much as their trainers were. Turkey and Nulin soared through the air together, gaining speed as they tried to edge ahead of one another. For part of the morning, Blu had been resolutely flapping her puffy wings as she struggled to keep up with them. She'd eventually given up and floated down to perch comfortably on Nicola's head, where she remained for the rest of the morning.

Blue had been watching the flying pokémon enviously and had attempted to jump down the nearby slope in an effort to achieve flight herself, though Will had been quick to stop her. In the end, they settled with Turkey carrying the excited bagon in his talons, which seemed like an acceptable compromise. Although Will had been working hard recently to get Blue to be more patient and focus on her training, there were still occasions when her obsession with flying became too much.

As Turkey and Nulin swooped around above them, accompanied by Blue's increasingly loud and enthusiastic shouts, the group laughed and chatted amongst themselves. Tricky continued occasionally sparking and Kacha, thinking it looked like fun, started letting out sparks of electricity as well, usually with an excited squeak. Even Zaggy was behaving himself and didn't stray far from Nicola's side.

Though the events of the morning had quickly disappeared from Nicola's mind, both she and James noticed that Tricky had been getting slower as the day had worn on, but merely thought that he just needed some rest when they stopped for lunch. However, when they finally stopped in the early afternoon, both of them noticed that Tricky was looking visibly unwell. Kacha had stopped sparking in amusement and was fussing around him as if trying to help him feel better. Kipa had gone over to join him as well, though there wasn't much he could do to help.

"Did anything happen with Tricky today?" James asked. "Like, when you were chasing Zaggy?"

"Now that you mention it, he was absorbing electricity from a pylon in the city," Nicola replied. "There was a big bang at one point and he got thrown back." Behind her, Richard and Will were enthusiastically having Grum spar with Dish – the spoink had recently learned to use Reflect and Will was keen to get her used to using it. "That must have done something, right?"

"It would be weird if it hadn't affected him," James said. He frowned as he looked at Tricky, who was panting heavily and seemed to wince every time he tried to move a muscle. "I don't think I've ever had anything like this happen with Kacha before, but I think I read somewhere that not all electricity agrees with electric-type pokémon. Maybe he needs a chance to discharge lots of it?"

"Wouldn't that be dangerous down here?" Nicola asked.

"Of course." James nodded. "We'd have to head up the mountain, so he could do it at the peak, but it'd be worth it if it makes him feel better, right?"

"Yeah, I agree," Nicola replied, nodding.

They quickly discussed the idea with the others and all agreed to make a detour up the nearby mountain path as soon as they had finished lunch, which quickly became much quicker as the other three watched Nicola throwing anxious glances towards Tricky. When they were done, they packed up and set off again, this time watching the mountain to their right for any sign of a path leading up towards the summit.

It didn't take them too long to find one. Tricky had already slowed down even more and seemed to struggle as the slope got steeper. The muscles in his legs seemed to keep seizing up and, in the end, Kipa offered to carry him on his back. With all of the electric shocks he was emitting, it would have been dangerous for anyone else to carry him, except Naro, Mule and possibly Vortex.

After that, there was a rush to get higher up to a place where they'd be safely out of the way. James knew that any electricity Tricky discharged in his condition would be quite powerful – they couldn't risk it causing damage down in the valley. The top of the mountain was secluded and remote though.

"Alright, this should do," he said as they reached the rocky summit, panting for breath. "You might want to get down here, Nulin and Turkey!"

The two birds obediently dove back to the ground as Kipa moved forwards and let Tricky down. As the marshtomp backed away, he started trembling as electricity surged through his body.

"It looks a lot like he's overloaded with electricity," said Richard.

"This is slightly different," James replied, shaking his head. "I've seen Kacha get overloaded plenty of times; he just releases bursts of electricity and then he's back to normal. It doesn't normally affect him too much."

"So, what's up with him then?" Nicola asked anxiously. "Doesn't that mean that releasing the electricity won't work?"

"It might be that the voltage of the electricity he absorbed was too high for him," James said, speaking slowly as he pondered the idea. "It would explain why he's having difficulty walking. And if it's the voltage is too high, then it'll go off with a bang when he releases it – no wonder he was trying to hold it in."

"He's been like this all morning!" Nicola cried, horrified at the idea that he'd been struggling for so long without her noticing.

"It's not that common for electric types to absorb the wrong voltage," James replied. "Don't beat yourself up over it."

Away from them, Tricky had finally started releasing electricity completely. He was enveloped with a bright burst of sparks. There was a series of bangs and powerful lightning bolts arced in all directions, singeing trees and causing the group to jump in fright. Nulin and Turkey both hunched closer to the ground.

James started becoming anxious though. With a high voltage, Tricky should really have been emptying all of the excess power in a single, huge bolt. It was like he couldn't muster the strength for that powerful blast that would rid him of it.

To his, and the others', surprise, the yellowish glow from the electricity was suddenly joined by another, brighter glow. In an instant, Tricky was obscured completely by the bright light and hidden from view. They could still hear crackling electricity and see the occasional jolt fire out.

Finally, the light started to fade, and sparking electricity grew less frequent. The small form of an electrike had disappeared, leaving them looking at the large, blue form of a manectric.

"He evolved?!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Without a battle?" Will added, just as surprised as she was.

"Of course, I'd completely forgotten," James sighed.

"Is this normal?" Nicola asked anxiously turning to him.

"Yeah." James nodded. "Pokémon need lots of energy to evolve since it's so exhausting. I guess Tricky managed to use the high voltage electricity from that pylon to push himself to evolve."

"I can see why!" Will said, nodding approvingly as he looked at Tricky's new form.

"At least he looks a bit happier now," Nicola sighed with relief as she pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Manectric, the discharge pokémon and the evolved form of electrike. Manectric collect electricity from the atmosphere using their mane and are constantly discharging sparks from it. These sparks sometimes cause forest fires in dry conditions. They can create thunderclouds above their heads when in danger._ "

"I think it's worth getting him to a pokémon centre," James said, noticing Tricky's obvious exhaustion. "It's not good for pokémon to force themselves to evolve."

"I-is there a pokémon centre near here?" Nicola asked, alarmed at the tone of his voice. "Will he be okay?"

"I think there's one in a village not too far from here," James said.

"Put him back in his poké ball," Richard said. "Now that he's gotten rid of all that electricity, it'll be safer if he's back in there."

"Alright." Nicola nodded seriously. "Tricky, return!"

Tricky gave a weary nod before he was struck by the recall beam and returned to the ball.

"Yeah," James said, looking at the guidebook. "There's a pokémon centre about five miles down the valley – we'll be able to get there in no time."

"Let's get moving then," Nicola said anxiously, moving past them to head back down the mountain path.

"Hey, why do pokémon evolve like that if they're not ready?" Will asked, moving over to talk to James and Richard as they started following Nicola.

"There are lots of different reasons," James sighed. "But I think that Tricky was just taking advantage of suddenly having lots of powerful energy in his body. He doesn't look as bad as Cylune look that time, so…"

"Yeah, but it's still worth checking out," Richard replied, also casting his mind back to when Livvi's venonat, Cylune, had evolved prematurely into a venomoth. He'd completely exhausted himself and fallen ill, with Livvi forced to rush on ahead of the others to get him safely to a pokémon centre for treatment. There was a reason why evolution normally took a long time and a lot of commitment from the pokémon.

* * *

 _2:53pm, 19_ _th_ _July 2006_

Fortunately, they arrived in the village without any problems and immediately rushed to the pokémon centre, a very small one compared to the ones they were used to.

The nurse had immediately taken Tricky through but had returned fairly quickly to report that there was nothing seriously wrong with him. He told them that he was worn out from a combination of trying to absorb and channel the high voltage electricity from the pylon and his evolution. However, there was no serious risk to his health – he just needed a chance to rest and let his muscles recover and he'd be completely normal soon enough.

"I would say to avoid letting him absorb electricity from pylons in the future," he said. "But manectric can absorb electricity at a far higher voltage than electrike anyway. That might have been partly why he forced himself to evolve in the first place."

Nicola was relieved to hear that, but the other three were rather dismayed to learn that the nurse still wanted to keep Tricky in overnight to keep an eye on him. They'd all been hoping to make it all the way to Jenarish Town today.

"Oh well," Richard said glumly as the four of them sat in the trainers' lounge. "Some days work out better than others."

"It's worth it to make sure that Tricky's alright," James said, looking on the bright side.

Nicola nodded approvingly. "Exactly! What if we kept going and Tricky suddenly collapsed on the way?"

"I guess you won't be able to battle with him right away, right?" Will asked.

"Definitely," all three of the others replied at once.

"He's going to need more rest, I think," Nicola said.

"Aww," Will sighed. "It's just, he looks even stronger as a manectric – I was kinda hoping to battle him soon."

"Get in line," Richard said sharply. "I want a shot as well!"

At that moment, the nurse appeared with Tricky trotting wearily, but happily alongside him. "Make sure you don't give him too much excitement," he said.

But Tricky seemed to get himself pretty excited as he bounded eagerly towards Nicola, wagging his tail and barking. A couple of jolts of electricity sparked from his mane as he reached her and licked her face.

"Haha! I'm glad you're okay, Tricky!" Nicola said, laughing as his tongue tickled her cheek. She reached out and hugged him, taking a couple of moments to get used to his new size.

But that bright expression in his eyes and the way he wagged his tail was just the same as always. It had been a pretty eventful day for both of them in the end. Although she didn't feel like she'd been able to do anything for most of it, she felt as though the experience had drawn them closer together. She definitely didn't want anything to happen to her loyal and eager friend!

* * *

 **There was a part of me that wanted to write a chapter based around the group getting ripped off when buying their new tent. Thinking about it now, I really should have given them an opportunity to actually use it this chapter…Oh well, maybe next time!**

 **Anyway, I imagine that the culmination of this chapter didn't come as a huge surprise, though I hope that the way things played out was interesting and fun to read about. I actually find electric types quite fascinating whenever I think of ways for their biology to work. I don't recall addressing possible issues with pokémon absorbing high voltage electricity before and it seemed like a good opportunity to link back to some of the possible issues with evolution that I brought up in** _ **Pokémon Journey: Kanto**_ **.**

 **The** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **survey is still running. You can find the link in the pinned post on the Facebook page. If you've already responded to it, then thank you very much. I'll leave it up for a while longer (maybe until October or so?), so if you haven't answered it yet, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psybeam, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	80. Visitors from the North

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, an encounter with an electricity pylon in Windrish City left Tricky overcharged with high voltage electricity, making him unwell. He eventually used the extra energy to trigger his own evolution into a manectric.**

 **Upload Date: 21** **st** **September 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 80: Visitors from the North**

 _Route 118, Hoenn_

 _8:49am, 20_ _th_ _July 2006_

Since it wasn't good to keep their pokémon cooped up in their poké balls all the time, the group had taken to having them go for a jog (or fly, or bounce, or whatever, depending on how the pokémon actually moved) most mornings. It had started when they were out camping and had only needed two people to work on breakfast – going jogging with the pokémon to let them stretch their legs and warm up for any training they were doing that day became the other chore.

On days like today, when they'd spent the previous night in a pokémon centre and no one had to cook breakfast, all four of them went out in the cool morning air. Though none of them had felt like it at first, it satisfied them feeling like they'd achieved something before they'd even had breakfast.

The trainers needed to be there, among other reasons, because the group would otherwise all travel at different speeds. The excitable Blue usually charged off ahead of everyone else and had to be reigned in often. Fortunately, she also exhausted herself doing this and had to spend the rest of the exercise plodding wearily behind the rest of the pokémon, gazing enviously up at Nulin, Turkey and Blu as they soared overhead. The wingull and swellow were constantly competing with each other, swooping and diving, and occasionally knocking into each other. Blu trailed behind them – it was all she could do to keep up with them using her stubby little wings.

Zaggy normally ran for the longest out of all the pokémon, but that was down to his usual habit of weaving across the path. Things had almost turned nasty on this particular run when he'd darted across Naro's path and the nidoking had nearly tripped over him. Kipa, Gulpy, Grum and Muro normally brought up the rear as they struggled to keep up with their team mates. Gulpy in particular had a tough time and sometimes returned with a very sore-looking belly. Her unexpected friendship with Grum was why the spoink, normally very fast, tended to stick around near her. For Kipa, it was just a struggle – he was built for water and mud, not running across the land!

In the middle, the rest of the pokémon would normally jostle for position. Though it wasn't a race, there was always a bit of a scramble to get ahead of rivals as they approached the tent or the pokémon centre. Only Kacha, Charka and Naro, experienced with the tough league training regimens that were to come, kept a steady pace throughout. Fast enough to tone muscles, slow enough to keep their speed constant as they travelled. Attempts to get the others to mimic them had had mixed success so far.

The only one missing from this particular run was Tricky, who was still back at the pokémon centre. Though the nurse had thought that he was back to normal when they'd spoken to her this morning, Nicola hadn't wanted to take any chances. He could join tomorrow's jog instead.

"Alright, well done, everyone!" James called, panting as he slowed to a stop outside the pokémon centre. "I think we did much better today!"

"I can't wait for breakfast," Will sighed. "I miss the days when I could just stay in bed until a normal time."

"Don't forget that we've got training to do later as well, Will," Richard said sharply.

"Yeah, yeah," Will replied dismissively.

Nicola, meanwhile, was chastising Zaggy for the trouble he'd caused on the run. "You need to pay more attention to where you're going: you could have been badly hurt!"

The rest of the pokémon were all loitering around as well, cooling down after their exertion and enjoying the cool morning breeze. It looked like it was going to be another lovely day.

"Right! Let's go and get the pokémon food!" James called.

That got all of their attention. As soon as all the bowls had been passed out and the usual scuffles had been broken up, the four trainers left the pokémon (with the exception of Zaggy, who had been swiftly returned to his poké ball) outside and walked into the lobby to get to the restaurant.

"So, we're heading back on the road to Jenarish Town then?" Richard asked as they got their food and walked back to find a table.

"It's not too far from here now," James replied. "Maybe three hours at most?"

"I bet we get distracted by something though," said Will, grinning around at his companions.

"That's the fun part of the journey, don't you think?" Nicola grinned back.

"We've got plenty of time today." James speared his sausage and took a bite out of it. "If you want to stop for a longer training session, then that's fine by me."

"I guess we can go back to bed for a little bit too, right?" Will asked hopefully.

"If that's what you really want," James sighed.

* * *

 _12:58pm, 20_ _th_ _July 2006_

It really had turned out to be a lovely day. There had been scarcely a cloud in the sky as the group had walked along the winding path along the slopes of one of the many mountains in the heart of Windrish Island. The same cool breeze from earlier was still there, keeping them from overheating in the intense July sun.

"Whoa! It looks like it's really doing it!"

"It's hard to tell, but I think you're right!"

Both Richard and Will called out excitedly to each other as they watched Vortex. It had been acting even odder than normal when they'd been running that morning and had randomly started emitting eerie rays and sparks after being sent out for Richard and Will's training session.

A quick look in the Pokédex had eventually led them to a move called Cosmic Power – it seemed that Vortex was trying to channel this mysterious power to improve his defences.

Richard was keen to get it to practise, so what had originally been a general training session turned into a very specific one. It seemed to have paid off, in more ways that one.

"Alright then, try getting Grum to attack again!" Richard called to Will.

"Got it! You heard him, Grum!"

The spoink bounced forwards. Her eyes suddenly lit up with a blue glow. The same glow briefly surrounded Vortex, but quickly faded again.

"Looks like she's still struggling with it," James sighed as he watched Grum make a second attempt. While the other two were training, he and Nicola had set everything up for lunch.

"Well, Psychic is a pretty strong attack, isn't it?" Nicola replied as she finished getting out the crisps. "And she was lifting rocks with it earlier…"

"It's not really a complicated attack," James said. "I guess it's just about her having enough mental strength for it. At least Vortex seems to have Cosmic Power down."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "Sausage roll?"

"Thanks," James said, taking one.

Fortunately, Grum seemed to start making progress pretty quickly after that and had managed to lift Vortex about a foot into the air before Richard and Will finally decided to stop their training and join the others.

"Looking good, Will," James said as they walked over.

"Feeling good, James," Will replied with a grin.

"I think we've done enough for now," Richard said. "I reckon we should have another session when we get to Jenarish Town."

"I agree," said James. "That way we won't have to worry about the time anymore."

"Yeah, I'd rather just enjoy the nice weather!" Nicola said cheerfully, gazing up at the clear sky overhead. After a couple of seconds, she suddenly noticed a cluster of shapes appearing in the distance. "What's that?" she asked, pointing it out to the others.

"Maybe a flock of birds?" James suggested. "I think that taillow sometimes travel in flocks, don't they?"

As the flock got closer though, it didn't look like they were taillow. Their feathers were lighter in colour and the pokémon themselves looked slightly pudgier compared to the sleek, thin form of a taillow. A loud din accompanying them started to grow. They were constantly chirping and calling to each other. Perhaps they were keeping an eye out for possible predators?

"Looks like they're going down into the valley," said Richard, noticing that they'd started dipping down.

"Oh yeah," Will said as he watched. "I guess they're going to land somewhere."

"Have you ever seen those pokémon before?" James asked, turning to Nicola.

"Never." Nicola shook her head. "Not here in Hoenn and not back in Johto either."

"Same here," James said. "How about we head down and see if we can get a look?"

"I don't think that'll be very hard," said Richard. The flock was far larger than it had appeared in the distance.

"They might fly away again," said Nicola. "Let's finish lunch quickly and then head down."

The others all nodded. It didn't take long for them to polish off their food and get packed up again.

* * *

 _1:22pm, 20_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Wow! Look at them all!" Nicola exclaimed as she looked around.

The valley was full of the grey-coloured birds, some perched on trees or rocks, while others were still circling and looking for a good place to settle down. It seemed as though even more of them had arrived since the four trainers had set off from the mountain slope where they'd had lunch. It was an impressive sight, looking around at so many pokémon of the same species gathered together in one place.

The noise was even louder down here in the valley, maybe because there were more birds, or perhaps because they were closer now. The valley itself probably made it seem louder as well. At times, it was hard to even speak to the others even though they were stood right next to James.

They weren't the only people to have come to see these pokémon either.

There were a number of other trainers who'd been travelling through the area, while a number of people who were clearly locals were also gazing at them as they flew overhead and dropped down to find good perches.

Beside him, Nicola pulled out her Pokédex and pointed it at one of the birds.

" _Data not found._ "

"'Not found'?!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Maybe it's not in the Hoenn Pokédex," Richard replied. He pulled out his own Pokédex and pointed it. This time, the Pokédex launched into its usual explanation.

" _Starly, the starling pokémon. Starly typically gather around mountains and fields, chasing after bug pokémon. Their singing is noisy and annoying. Because they are weak individually, they form groups with other starly. However, they start to bicker if the group grows too large._ "

"So that's what all the noise is about?" James sighed, looking up at the starly as they darted around, chirping loudly.

"First time in the area?"

The four of them looked around to see an older lady with a pair of binoculars around her neck smiling at them.

"Ah, yes," Nicola replied. "It's our first time on Windrish Island."

"I see, I see," the lady said. "Well, you chose the perfect time to visit."

"The starly always pass through this area on their way south," a man nearby said. "It only happens twice a year."

"Where do they normally live?" Richard asked.

"Up in Sinnoh, I imagine. But it gets cold there in the winter, so they all come flying down past Hoenn towards the warm seas and islands to the south."

"I never knew that pokémon travelled like that," James said, glancing up at the starly again. It was a long way to Sinnoh from here – they'd managed to fly all that way by themselves.

"The migration is one of the big appeals of this place," the older lady explained. "Lots of trainers passed through earlier in the season and have come back now to see the migration."

"Is it that popular?" Will asked.

"Oh yes!" The man nodded. "It's not every day that you have the chance to capture a Sinnoh-native pokémon down here in Hoenn!"

"So that's what they're doing," Nicola said, looking over at the other trainers gathering and watching the starly in the trees carefully.

"I'm not sure why they're so keen," James said quietly as they stepped away from the locals. "These starly look like they're Sinnoh's answer to pidgey."

"Well, I guess 'common' in one region is 'super rare' in another!" Richard grinned. "Anyway, we've got nothing better to do – let's watch all these capture attempts!"

* * *

 _1:31pm, 20_ _th_ _July 2006_

The valley was soon filled not just by the increasingly-irritating singing of the starly, but also by the shouts and cheers of various trainers and the cries of their pokémon as they fought and caught the wild pokémon. The excitement of the appearance of the starly and the enthusiasm of the trainers making captures was infectious and, even though they weren't trying to catch anything, the group found themselves getting swept up into the excitement. It didn't take them long to join the other bystanders cheering for the trainers as they battled and made their captures.

"You've got this, Jack!" one of the other trainers nearby shouted to his friend as he prepared to go up against one of the starly.

"You bet!" Jack grinned back, giving him a thumbs-up. He pulled out his poké ball and threw it. "Go, Blazik!"

A torchic burst out of the ball and materialised on the ground. He jumped towards the starly with an aggressive look on his face.

"Use Ember!" Jack called.

With a nod, Blazik fired a spray of fiery embers at the starly, causing her to leap into the air in fright. Her underside was scorched by the embers, but she managed to get higher and out of the way.

"Peck!"

Blazik sprang into the air and slammed into the starly with a powerful blow. Both of them tumbled back down towards the ground and landed with soft thuds. James was so used to seeing larger pokémon exchanging fiercer blows that it was strange watching two lower-level pokémon scuffling like this.

"Ember again!" Jack called.

Blazik obliged, shooting another stream of embers at the starly, who shrieked in pain and dove down to try and hit the torchic with a tackle. However, Blazik quickly stepped to the side and his opponent simply crashed into the ground instead.

"Here we go!" Jack shouted, pulling out an empty poké ball. He hurled it through the air. There was a thud as it bounced off the starly's head and spun into the air again. It clicked open and sucked the stunned pokémon inside before sealing with a click.

"Alright, you did it!" Jack's friend called enthusiastically. "Great work!"

"Thanks!" Jack replied, grinning back at him.

James, Richard, Nicola and Will all clapped politely alongside the rest of the people watching. They were about to turn away and watch another capture attempt when Jack suddenly spotted Nulin perched on James's shoulder and came over.

"Hey, want to battle my new starly with that wingull of yours?"

"Huh?" James looked around. "You sure?" Nulin, still tucking in his wings, was fully-rested and an experienced team member by this stage. Jack's newly-caught starly was tired out and hurt after the battle with Blazik the torchic and almost certainly lacked that same experience.

"Of course, I'm sure!" Jack replied. He sounded eager, but not overconfident. He'd already let out his starly, which was looking at him with a degree of mistrust. That was pretty normal for a newly-caught pokémon.

"Well, if you're happy about it, then I don't see why not," James said, shrugging. "I'm James."

"I'm Jack," Jack said needlessly. "Pleased to meet you."

Together with Richard, Nicola, Will and Jack's friend, they moved away from the crowded part of the valley in search of a patch of open ground to use. While they were setting up, Jack used a potion on his starly to heal most of the wounds she had suffered in the battle against Blazik.

"I'll referee for you!" Jack's friend called.

"Thanks, Harry," Jack called back, giving him a thumbs-up. "Shall we get started?"

"Ready when you are," James replied, jerking his shoulder to persuade Nulin to jump off and take flight.

"One-on-one alright?" Harry asked. Both James and Jack nodded. "Alright, let's begin!"

"Go, Keely!" Jack called, ushering his starly onto the field.

"Get ready, Nulin!" James said loudly. Now that the battle had started, he wasn't about to let his guard down – he'd been caught out in the past when he'd done that.

"Use Growl!" Jack ordered.

Keely immediately started growling at Nulin as he circled around on James's half. She continued growling as he cloaked his wings in a bright glow and dove low to attack. She tried to dodge, but there was no escaping Nulin's Aerial Ace. He landed a heavy blow and sent her tumbling backwards.

"Growl again!" Jack called. Though rattled by the force of Nulin's attack, he held his nerve.

Keely sprang forwards again and started growling for a second time.

"Water Pulse!" James shouted.

Nulin swung around and fired an orb of water at the starly. However, she was prepared this time and dove low to avoid it. Spinning upwards, she slammed into Nulin from below. The wind knocked out of him, Nulin started toppling briefly towards the ground before he recovered and gained height again. It had taken him off-guard, but it had otherwise been a light hit.

"Use Aerial Ace again!" James ordered.

As Keely resumed growling, Nulin shot towards her. He struck her with a harder blow than before. Sharing a brief look with James as Keely was flung backwards, Nulin opened his beak and fired a freezing beam of ice towards her.

It was a direct hit.

Completely frozen, Keely dropped to the ground, where the ice shattered. The starly lay still, knocked out by the sudden, intense cold.

"W-wow. Over already, huh?" Harry said. "Looks like James is the winner here!"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Jack sighed, moving over and spraying another potion on Keely. "Still, you put up a good fight. With a bit of training…" He straightened up and looked over at James. "Thanks for the battle – you and your wingull are pretty tough. Going for the Hoenn League?"

"That's right." James nodded. "Yourself?"

"Ah, I tried, but…" Jack replied awkwardly. "The gym leaders are tough, you know."

That was something that James, Richard, Nicola and Will could all appreciate. It wasn't an easy job fighting through the gym leaders. Richard knew this particularly well – he'd given up on competing in the Kanto League the previous year himself.

After a brief chat, they said goodbye to Jack and Harry, who were on their way up towards Windrish City – their hometown. The activity in the valley didn't die down though.

In fact, it seemed like even more people had started gathering as the late afternoon passed and evening started to approach. Still caught up in the excited atmosphere in the valley, the group had decided to stick around to see what they were waiting for.

As the sun sank lower and the valley grew darker and darker, the group finally realised what everyone was waiting for. Having spent much of the afternoon resting, the starly were getting ready to depart again. They still had a long way to go.

"Look at them all!" Nicola said enthusiastically.

Though there had always been some starly in the air throughout the day, it was only now that large numbers of the birds were starting to take flight. Despite all the starly that had been caught, it didn't seem to have dented their numbers at all as entire flocks started rising up into the air. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of starly flapped their wings vigorously, filling the valley with noise once again. In their huge groups, they started gaining more and more height before sweeping out to the east.

The gathered trainers and locals watched them as a constant stream of starly left in their flocks. No one spoke, partly because it was difficult to hear each other over the noise of all those flapping wings, but also because they were too busy staring after the starly in wonder. The huge shapes swaying and shifting in the darkening sky overhead looked were made up of all those tiny starly. An individual didn't make such an impressive sight, but together they really left their mark. The way they flew together in almost perfect harmony was stunning to watch and James found that he was continuing to stare after them even as they disappeared from sight.

And then it was over. All of the starly had vanished and, aside from the somewhat stripped trees and the massing of droppings beneath them, there were few signs that the starly had ever been. Yet the mood as people started talking again was one of more anticipation. After all, the starly would eventually be coming back this way while travelling north.

* * *

 _Jenarish Town, Hoenn_

 _7:24pm, 20_ _th_ _July 2006_

The four of them were still excitedly talking about the starly as they completed their journey into Jenarish Town. Though their surroundings were cloaked in shadow, the long summer evening was still somewhat bright. The sea glistened in the shadows, while the first lights had started coming on in the many houses lining the shore.

Even though they'd ended up getting here much later than they'd originally planned, they had an odd sense of satisfaction within them. There was little doubt in their minds that they'd been lucky to pass that part of Route 118 when they did. It probably wasn't as big a deal to the local people – they'd get to see the starly again in the spring. But for travellers like themselves, it was a much rarer opportunity that they might not get again.

"Of course, we could just go to Sinnoh at some point," Richard said as the trudged along the street towards the pokémon centre.

"That's not the same," Nicola replied. "It was exciting because you can't normally find starly down here."

"She's right," James said. "Think of how boring pidgey are back in Kanto – I'd be excited to see some over here if it's not normal."

"Would you really though?" Will asked sceptically. "I mean, these are pidgey you're talking about."

"No more boring than the starly!" James replied with a grin.

"I wonder if pokémon migrations like that are common," Nicola said thoughtfully, gazing off to the east in the direction the starly had gone.

"I think it happens a lot for some pokémon," Richard said. "What do you think, James?"

"I can't remember," James replied. "Pokémon do all kinds of things." He, too, looked off in the direction the starly had gone. "But I guess that these sorts of things must happen quite a bit if people are used to them."

"Do you think we might run into another migration?" Nicola asked eagerly. "I'm hoping for bellsprout!"

"You think that bellsprout would migrate this far?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe lapras?" Will suggested. "Water pokémon travel a long way."

"Isn't it too warm for them down here?" James said. "Lapras prefer cold water."

"Maybe it's easier if we just keep travelling and see what we run into!" Richard grinned as they walked into the lobby of the pokémon centre. "Who knows, maybe we'll even see some pokémon migrating away from here!"

"Actually, you might be in luck, Richard," said Will.

"What do you mean?"

"Look." Will pointed to a poster on the wall.

"What's this?" Richard walked over to look at it. "The Carvanha Trail is formally open until Sunday 23rd July for this summer's carvanha migration." He looked back at the others.

"Well, that sounds interesting!" James said.

Nicola giggled. "I guess we've got something planned for tomorrow then!"

"Carvanha…those are those weird fish you were telling me about, right, James?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." James nodded. "Really rough skin and sharp teeth."

"Might be a good idea to keep away from these ones," Richard said. "Maybe watch from the shore?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Will asked.

The four of them laughed as they headed off to book rooms for the night. One way or another, tomorrow would bring even more fresh experiences for them as they continued on their journey.

* * *

 **Eighty chapters down, only fifty to go. Slowly but surely, we're getting deeper into the second half of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Pokémon migration isn't a topic that's really come up so far in** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **and a flock of birds migrating south for the winter seemed like a good opportunity to introduce the idea. I like to think that pokémon outbreaks are the result of this kind of thing. I also thought it would be fairly regular, so the local people would be very used to it. With hindsight, it might have been better to stagger the arrival of the different flocks over several days – it's a bit weird if they all show up and leave at the same time, after all!**

 **I also included a little bit about the group's training regimen at the start of this chapter for the sake of further development. It was fun thinking of how different members of the teams would react to and deal with having to jog around – which ones would be stronger, and which would be weaker, and so on.**

 **Anyway, we'll have the next chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **on Wednesday. There won't be the usual week off next Friday since I need to take the week after that off from writing, so hopefully I'll have Chapter 81 ready for upload for then!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	81. On the Trail of the Carvanha

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group encounter several migrating flocks of starly in a valley on Windrish Island while on their way to Jenarish Town.**

 **Upload Date: 28** **th** **September 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 81: On the Trail of the Carvanha**

 _Jenarish Town, Hoenn_

 _9:33am, 21_ _st_ _July 2006_

Richard had initially thought that a place like Jenarish Town would be quiet and peaceful. It had certainly seemed that way when they'd first arrived the previous evening. Sitting at the head of a large bay carved into the side of Windrish Island, it was sheltered from the elements and was surrounded by fields and rice paddies in the small plain that filled the gap between the shore and the mountains.

But then, the valley yesterday also wasn't the kind of place that seemed like it would suddenly turn busy overnight.

Richard had been awoken, as had James and Will, by the sounds of people shouting to each other outside. A quick glance out of the window had told them that preparations for whatever the carvanha thing was about were beginning in earnest.

After their initial irritation, the group had been caught up in the excited atmosphere in the town and had gone to breakfast in cheerful moods. They watched people passing by outside the window, while listening to the eager murmurings of the other trainers sat having breakfast there. Apparently, the fact that the carvanha were moving was a big deal in this town.

"Here." Nicola reached down to offer Zaggy a morsel of food from her plate, which he started wolfing down eagerly.

"You don't want to do that too often," James warned her. "They'll all start expecting it!"

"I guess you're right," Nicola sighed, looking down at Zaggy's expectant face.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Richard asked, looking around at the others. "Did we have a plan?"

"Well, obviously there's the Vinelodge contest that Nicola and I want to get to," James replied. "That's in three days' time."

"That's quite close," Will said. "Are you sure we'll be able to make it?"

"As long as we get to the ferry by tomorrow morning, we'll be fine," James said.

"So, do we have time today?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." James nodded. "We'll be able to get to the dock pretty easily, so we can take our time here in Jenarish if you want."

"You thinking of checking out this whole carvanha thing?" Will turned to look at him.

"I guess so," Richard replied. "I kinda want to see what all the fuss is about."

"It does sound interesting," James said, fishing out his guidebook to have a look at the entry for Jenarish Town. "Wow! It has a long history – they started this 'Carvanha Festival' over two hundred years ago."

"What kind of things do they do?" Richard asked.

"Hmm." James didn't respond immediately, instead poring over the guidebook again. "It's really just a folk tradition that's been passed down – wishing the carvanha well as they set off and praying to the gods for loads of fish to come to the area. That sort of thing. Oh, but this sounds interesting: the fishermen follow the carvanha out of the bay on their boats and there are spaces for other people to join them."

"That sounds like it could be fun," said Richard.

"Let's do that then," said James, snapping the guidebook shut again. "All agreed?"

The others all nodded.

So, after hastily finishing their breakfast, the four of them had made their way down to the small stone pier by the mouth of the river to find the fishermen preparing for the festival. When they'd tried to speak to one of them, he'd directed them to a stall set up nearby and told them to arrange everything there.

"We normally follow the carvanha out of the bay and around the headland to the beach in the next bay along. If you're heading on towards Erano Town, then we can drop you off while we're there to save you having to walk all the way from here."

After hearing that, the four of them had quickly dashed back to the pokémon centre to grab all their stuff and then rushed back to the dock as fast as they could. Fortunately, there had still been no movement from the carvanha, who were apparently all still in their nesting grounds further upstream.

"I guess we just have to wait now," Richard sighed, sitting back in the boat and gazing up at the summer sky above them.

"It's better than being late," James replied.

"Nature doesn't always work the way we'd like it to," the fisherman whose boat they were sat in said. He didn't look around from watching the mouth of the river intently.

That was something that all four of them had learned while they were travelling. It was hard not to when they spent so much of their time living with and training pokémon.

"So, why are the carvanha so important here?" Nicola asked politely.

"Mostly it's because they're a symbol of the town," the fisherman replied. He continued to keep his gaze firmly on the mouth of the river. "But we fishermen often make our catches by following fish that are being hounded by the wild carvanha – we're all part of the same big system, so the least we can do is make sure that the young carvanha can make it out to sea without any problems."

"Is that why there's no one out fishing today?" James asked.

"That's it." The fisherman nodded. "Though carvanha scales are very rough as well. We wouldn't want our boats to get damaged by a collision, so it's best for both us and the carvanha if we make sure we're out of the way."

That made a lot of sense, though it seemed a little…exploitative of them to charge people to take part in it. The four trainers had had to pay 300 poké each for their places on the boat.

"Why follow them then?" Will asked.

"You'll understand when you see them," the fisherman replied.

Will shared a look with James, who shrugged. If he had no idea, then all they could do was sit back and wait for something to happen. Fortunately, they weren't kept waiting that much longer.

"The carvanha are on their way!" they heard someone shout from the shore.

A loud cheer rippled across the crowd of people gathered on the boats and on the banks of the river as everyone turned their full attention to the water. Silence quickly fell as they concentrated on looking and listening for the carvanha as they approached.

"There they are!" someone shouted. There were gasps and shouts from further up the river as people rushed to the bank to watch them. In the distance, the sound of rushing water was growing closer.

"Here they come," the fisherman said, nodding in the direction of the mouth. Almost as he spoke, a splashing mass of water came powering out of the river, the shapes of the carvanha occasionally leaping with the water as it met the open bay.

"They really look scary up close!" Richard gasped, reaching for his Pokédex.

" _Carvanha, the savage pokémon. Carvanha's strongly developed jaws and its sharply pointed fangs pack the destructive power to rip out boat hulls. Many wooden ships were sunk by this pokémon in the past. They are violent when swarming, but an individual carvanha becomes timid when alone._ "

"They can destroy ships?" Nicola gasped, edging slightly back from the side and catching glimpses of the ferocious fangs as the carvanha passed with a mixture of horror and fascination.

"That's another reason why we're keeping our boats well away from the mouth of the river," the fisherman explained.

"So, why do you follow them?" Will asked again.

"Just look at them," the fisherman replied. "Whenever you see such a display of raw power, doesn't it make you want to follow in its wake?"

Richard wasn't sure if he agreed with that, but the pieces were starting to fall into place now. "Has this got something to do with hoping for a good catch?" he asked.

"Yeah." The fisherman nodded. "Our ancestors always followed the carvanha because it was said to bring them good luck while out at sea. You can see why when we're talking about a such a powerful and destructive pokémon."

They could definitely see that. The water was churning and foaming violently as more and more carvanha streamed past them. After getting used to it, they could appreciate the impressiveness of the scene. Seeing them move past with such ease and with such vigour, it was making them feel more confident. It must have been even more exhilarating for someone who spent their life out at sea.

"Let's get moving!" the fisherman called with a grin, starting the engine on his boat.

As the last of the carvanha passed out of the mouth of the river, some of the boats started pulling away from the dock and followed in the wake of the swarm. Despite how violently the water had churned up around the mouth of the river, the carvanha didn't make anywhere near as much of a scene in the bay – probably because it was open water instead.

Although the carvanha were moving fast, the boats quickly closed the gap. There were no attempts to overtake the pokémon though, which didn't surprise any of them after what the Pokédex had told them.

Instead, they followed behind them like a procession. Many of the fishermen were calling out words of encouragement for the carvanha as they raced along behind them. Many of the trainers on the other boats started calling out as well. In many ways, it felt a bit like a giant party as they sped down Jenarish Bay towards the open sea. Countless people were watching from the shore as well, waving and cheering.

"That there is the Carvanha Trail," the fisherman said to Richard and the others, nodding in the direction of a part of the packed shoreline leading out towards the open sea. "They normally keep the whole stretch closed and only open it so that people can come and wish the carvanha well on their way out of the bay."

"How long is the Carvanha Trail?" James asked. "The guidebook made it seem a bit longer than that…"

"There's another section beyond the village we're stopping at," the fisherman replied. "If you want, you could watch the next batch come through from there."

"There's another batch?" Will exclaimed.

"The Jenarish River is a major carvanha hatching ground," the fisherman replied. "Of course, there were going to be a lot more carvanha than just those ones."

"Maybe we should try and get there then," Richard said excitedly. "It must look impressive from the shore as well!"

* * *

 _Route 118, Hoenn_

 _12:16pm, 21_ _st_ _July 2006_

After landing, the four trainers had said goodbye to the fisherman and made their way to a small visitor centre in the village built along the beachfront. There was a map there and information about the best places to watch the carvanha from on the Carvanha Trail.

There were also all kinds of trivia about past festivals that Richard and Will busied themselves reading about while James and Nicola discussed which route they should take along the coast. Apparently, the busiest festival had been the one in 1983, when seven colonies of carvanha had laid their eggs in the Jenarish River and some five hundred young carvanha had travelled out into the bay.

The shortest on record was a long time ago – in 1914, only five carvanha had swam out of the river and into the open sea. Scientists thought that this was down to a major volcanic eruption that had taken place earlier in the year that disrupted a lot of pokémon breeding patterns.

There was also an interesting story about a man who had once ran along the shoreline alongside the swimming carvanha several years in a row – getting faster and stronger each year until he was eventually able to keep pace with the impressive speed of the fish. It didn't tell them what had happened to him, but it seemed that he'd stopped taking part in the festival after the one in 1868.

They were eventually re-joined by James and Nicola, who had finished looking for a good spot for them to head to. After leaving the visitor centre, they learned that a second colony had departed the river and they watched them pass from the distance of the shore.

"Will there be more?" Richard had asked a nearby fisherman.

"I imagine so. There are normally five colonies that nest in the Jenarish River and only two have left so far."

With this knowledge, they'd set off along the coastal path, chatting happily in anticipation of the next colony of carvanha passing them. There were a couple of tense points where they'd had to loop inland for a short time, but they'd emerged to find that no more colonies had passed yet.

"How much further to the lookout point?" Will asked as they came around a hill and found themselves looking back at the sea again.

"I think it should be further along here," James replied. "We just need to take the right hand turn further along here."

"That's good," said Nicola cheerfully. "I can't believe we haven't missed the next colony though – wasn't the second one quite close behind the first?"

"They all leave at different times," James said with a shrug. "I don't think we need to worry about missing them."

As they continued travelling along the path, they ran into countless other trainers and tourists doing the same thing. In fact, they passed a camping site as they turned right to walk out to the end of a headland. Given how early the first colony had left the river, it made sense that some people would have wanted to stay as close to the lookout spot as possible so that they could make sure they got there in time.

There was already a small crowd gathered at the lookout point at the tip of the headland as the group reached it. There was a buzz of excitement hanging over the area as the countless spectators chatted happily with each other. Others were keeping a careful eye on the shore to the north-east as they waited eagerly. As Richard and the others quickly learned, some of them had been here since before the first colony had passed and intended to stay until the final colony had reached them.

"How long does that normally take?" Nicola had asked.

"It really does depend," said the woman she was talking to. "Last year, they were all gone before five o'clock, but the last colony didn't arrive until almost nightfall the year before that."

What really surprised Richard was the variety of people around. It wasn't just pokémon trainers and overenthusiastic locals: there were elderly couples, parents with young children, a group of university students clutching cameras, and businesspeople who had been in such a rush to get here that they were still in their work clothes.

"Here they come!" someone from the front shouted.

Everyone dropped their conversations and moved across to find spaced at the shoreline. It wasn't an easy task, but Richard and James managed to force a gap for themselves in a relatively good position.

"Here!" Richard reached out and grabbed Nicola's wrist to pull her forwards.

"Thanks," Nicola replied, wincing as she squeezed herself in between him and Will, who James plucked from the crowd behind.

All eyes were fixed on the headland on the opposite side of the bay, where the water had started rippling and splashing. It only took a matter of seconds before they could start making out the now-familiar shapes of the carvanha leaping and rushing forwards.

"Wow!" Nicola gasped as they started rushing past them, skirting the headland so closely that it seemed possible to reach out and touch them for a moment. Behind them, they could hear the sounds of clicking cameras and excited whispers as people pointed out the carvanha to their companions.

It was strange, Richard thought. Even though it had been more exciting and a better view to be following in the carvanha's wake on the boats, there was something spectacular about seeing them rush past from the shore. Maybe it was seeing them from this angle, truly appreciating how fast they were going? More perhaps, being slightly more distant, it was possible to appreciate the sight far more than they had when they'd been caught up in the exhilaration of the boat ride?

Either way, there was no doubt that everyone crowded around the lookout point was captivated by the carvanha racing past on their way to the open sea.

* * *

 _Erano Town, Hoenn_

 _7:49pm, 21_ _st_ _July 2006_

The group got a bit more caught up in the enthusiastic atmosphere at the lookout point after the third colony had left and ended up staying to watch the fourth as well. By that time, it was well into the afternoon and James had rushed then into action as he realised what the time was.

Despite the delay, they still managed to reach Erano Town on the south-eastern tip of Windrish Island before it got dark, thanks mainly to James's determined pushing to keep moving quickly. They found themselves walking into a mostly unremarkable port town, its opposite number on the far side of the channel visible in the distance.

"I guess we're too late for the ferry today then," Nicola said with a sigh.

"Didn't you say that you were planning for us to get the ferry tomorrow anyway, James?" Will asked, watching Grum as she bounced along in front of him.

"That's right." James nodded. "But I wanted us to get here today – it'll be easier getting the first ferry tomorrow."

"Ugh. Early start, right?" Will groaned.

"You bet!" James grinned at him.

"Well, today could have been worse," Richard said. "And to be fair, you were the one who said we could afford a few delays today."

"Can't deny that," James replied with a shrug. "All's well that ends well."

"I guess we need to start thinking about the Vinelodge contest," Nicola said. "It's back on the mainland, right? Are you sure we'll make it there in time?"

"The next island is connected to the mainland by a bridge. We won't have to worry about catching a ferry," James replied. "As long as we get across on the ferry tomorrow, we shouldn't have anything to worry about."

They reached the pokémon centre and stepped through the automatic doors. The lobby was mostly deserted – the handful of other trainers were either eating in the restaurant or had returned to the trainers' lounge to hang out. Thinking about, Richard supposed that they needed to get their dinner soon as well, otherwise all the good stuff would be gone. This was always the horrible disadvantage of arriving late in the day.

"We'll book rooms and quickly head up to dump our stuff," James said. "After that, meet back down here as quick as you can so we can go for dinner."

"Understood!" Nicola and Will both replied.

As they walked towards the stairs up to the rooms after getting their keys, Richard caught sight of a poster advertising the Carvanha Festival. He smiled as he walked past. For some reason, the excitement of the festival had taken him away from the usual routine of their journey. It had been fun though, and they'd had the chance to see the carvanha up close, which definitely wasn't something that happened every day.

Once they'd dropped off their stuff, the four of them returned to the restaurant in a rush. It was only once they'd sat down with their food that they truly let themselves relax and they started talking about everything they'd seen today with the same enthusiasm from earlier.

* * *

 **I wanted to focus a little bit more on background information and so on this chapter. I enjoyed coming up with ideas for this tradition of Jenarish Town and thinking over the possible history of it. I felt like this kind of behaviour suited carvanha quite well – they live in both rivers and the sea across the games they appear in, so aiming for a mix in that regard seemed like a good idea.**

 **So, this chapter is also the last in my little island arc, with the group moving back to the mainland at the start of next chapter to get back on track for the contest and gym battle scenes. As much as I've enjoyed the break, I guess I need to get back to coming up with interesting combinations and developments for the Vinelodge contest!**

 **As I said last chapter, there will be a break between now and Chapter 82 being uploaded. This is because I'm having a minor operation on my eyes on Tuesday that will get in the way of my ability to write. I hope to have Chapter 82 written and uploaded for the week after, though (as usual) I will make no absolute promises.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	82. The Flowers of Vinelodge

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group loosely taking part in the festivities surrounding the departure of the young carvanha from the Jenarish River into the open sea.**

 **Upload Date: 14** **th** **October 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 82: The Flowers of Vinelodge**

 _Vinelodge Town, Hoenn_

 _4:16pm, 23_ _rd_ _July 2006_

After crossing the strait onto the next island, James, Richard, Nicola and Will had eventually reached the bridge back to the mainland and joined Route 123 heading north towards Vinelodge Town. The guidebook described this town as a place 'dominated by nature', which certainly sounded impressive. In fact, they'd noticed that the vegetation was much thicker and lusher as soon as they arrived back on the mainland. The roads seemed more limited and large areas of forest appeared to have been fenced off to keep them free of humans.

It was a similar story when they reached Vinelodge Town itself. There was green everywhere as trees and bushes filled the gaps between the grey concrete buildings. Every balcony on every apartment block seemed to have at least five potted plants and it felt a lot like the forest had simply grown over the town. At the same time, it didn't feel like an abandoned city that had been consumed by nature – there was a sense of harmony here.

"I'm really glad we decided to come this way," said Nicola.

"Agreed," said James. "But don't forget why we're here – the contest is tomorrow, and we need to make sure that we're ready for it."

"Understood!" Nicola replied. "What's the plan?"

"We're going on ahead to the pokémon centre while you guys register at the contest hall," said Will. "We'll meet up with you later."

"That's what I was thinking," James said, nodding. "It's been a little while since we last took part in a contest, so I thought we'd need some time this afternoon to get used to it again."

"Can we make some pokéblocks while we're there?" Nicola asked. "I'm starting to run low again."

"Sounds good to me," James replied. "I was thinking the same thing."

"Sure you guys don't want to come and help us?" Nicola asked, turning to look at Richard and Will.

"We're good," Richard replied. "I thought I'd have a look in the Poké Mart to see I can pick up any of the things we need."

"More repel and a new rope," James told him. "Once we hit Route 119, it's going to be tough going."

"On it!" Will said. "We'll see you two back at the pokémon centre."

The group divided and walked off in different directions. Nicola stuck close to James as they walked; it would be very easy to get lost in a place like this. Many of the buildings all looked the same with all the plants and trees everywhere. They passed by several attractive-looking parks on their way with neatly cut lawns, playgrounds for younger children and magnificent fountains, all of which appeared to also be full of grass-type pokémon happily playing around. Some were clearly with trainers, but it looked as though there were some that were wild as well.

"Looks like they're having fun," Nicola said, watching them as they passed.

"Yeah." James nodded. "I guess it makes sense that grass types would love it here."

They continued on to the contest hall, the sloping, domed roof of which was covered in grass. There were more potted plants than usual in the lobby as well. James couldn't help but notice that most of the other trainers who were milling around in the lobby were accompanied by grass-type pokémon. In fact, it was difficult to spot any non-grass types.

"Registering for the contest?" the receptionist asked them as they reached him.

"That's right," Nicola replied. "Here's my trainer card!"

"Excellent." The receptionist quickly swiped it and tapped away at his keyboard. Then he did the same with James's. "It looks like you're both from out of town. Do you know the particular rules of the Vinelodge contest?"

"I'm not sure," Nicola replied, glancing over at James, who shook his head.

"It's quite an important one," the receptionist said. "This contest was originally started as a way of celebrating Vinelodge's close connection with nature and is something of a festival for grass-type pokémon. As such, we ask that you only enter with a grass-type pokémon of your own."

"We have to use a grass type?" James said, frowning.

"Those are the rules," the receptionist said apologetically. "And I'm afraid that the judges are very quick to enforce them."

* * *

 _4:43pm, 23_ _rd_ _July 2006_

"…So, that's what happened?" Richard sighed as Nicola finished recounting what had happened at the contest hall.

"That's tough on James," said Will. "Couldn't you lend him Dish, Richard?"

"I mean, I could if he asks," Richard replied. "It wouldn't be the first time that he's borrowed one of my pokémon. But he hasn't asked me, so I'm guessing he's probably got something planned."

"He didn't back out when the receptionist told us about the rules," Nicola said thoughtfully, glancing idly around at the many coordinators and their grass-type pokémon sat around in the trainers' lounge.

"Where is he now anyway?" Will asked, also looking around.

"He said that he was going to use the videophone as soon as we got here," Nicola replied. "I came on in here and found you guys. What?" she added as Richard and Will shared a grin.

"I think I've worked out what his plan is," Richard said.

"Huh?"

"The problem is that James doesn't have a grass type on his current team," said Will. "But the pokémon James has with him now aren't his only ones…"

"You mean…?" Nicola began.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

The three of them looked around to see James approaching them. There was a paras perched on his shoulder, clicking happily.

"Took you long enough!" Richard grinned. "Hey, Ayra! How are you doing?"

Ayra the paras made some clicking noises back at him and waved his two pincers slightly.

"Wow! You have a paras?" Nicola exclaimed, pulling out her Pokédex.

" _Data not found._ "

"Ugh," Nicola groaned. She turned to Will. "Wiiill!"

"Yeah, yeah," Will replied, pulling out his own Pokédex.

" _Paras, the mushroom pokémon. A paras has a parasitic tochukaso mushrooms growing on its back. They grow by drawing nutrients from the host pokémon. They are valued as medicine for long life. Paras themselves burrow into the ground to gnaw on tree roots and suck nutrients from them._ "

"This is a grass-type pokémon?" Nicola asked cautiously, looking at Ayra.

"Yeah, he's both a grass- and bug-type pokémon," James replied. "One of my trusted partners from when we were travelling in Kanto last year. I thought he'd be happy to help out!"

The paras certainly did look happy, if his constant clicking was anything to go by. Now that she was getting over her surprise at seeing a new pokémon, Nicola was starting to feel a little concerned. Even if he was technically a grass type, would the contest officials still accept him? And even if he was, the unassuming Ayra didn't look like he'd be able to put up much of a fight against other, better looking and contest-trained pokémon.

That thought seemed to be travelling around the rest of the trainers' lounge as well. Everyone was looking at the new arrival, with most of them reacting with derisive snorts or shaking heads.

"You see that pokémon over there? You think that guy is actually going to enter it in the contest?"

"Look at its creepy eyes. I've heard that paras are like a zombie pokémon because of the mushrooms on its back…"

"Well, that's one less rival to worry about tomorrow."

"Not cute at all."

Nicola couldn't help but grimace as she heard the barely-whispered reactions. If James was affected by them, though, then he was doing a good job at not showing it.

"Right!" he said, turning to Nicola. "Let's head back to the contest hall and make some pokéblocks for Ayra. After that, we're going to train until dinner, understood?"

"R-right!" Nicola nodded, hurrying to follow him out of the room.

* * *

 _2:41pm, 24_ _th_ _July 2006_

Training turned out to be far harder than either Nicola or James had imagined. James had overlooked just how ingrained all of the training he'd done with Ayra before had become and it was difficult getting Ayra to use his moves to heighten his appeal instead of swiftly ending the battle. It had been getting late into the evening before they started making some progress.

During the training the following morning, they'd finally started to crack it, but James was still a little worried. It was one thing to perform an odd move during practice and completely another to put on a show on a stage in front of an audience. He'd gotten used to it, as had the rest of his on-hand pokémon. Fortunately, Charka, Kacha, Nulin and Muro had been happy to pitch in with the training as well, and James had been relieved to see how quickly Ayra befriended his new team mates.

He still had some tricks up his sleeve. An old technique he'd devised for Ayra back in Kanto called 'Spore Shield' would surely be worth a few points with the judges. They'd practised using Giga Drain to focus on appeal as well. The appeal round performance had only been loosely choreographed so that Ayra wouldn't panic as much if he forgot what was to come next. It was going to be tense and the appeal round would be the toughest part of the contest. If they could get through, though, then James was confident that Ayra's extensive battle training would give him the advantage against his remaining opponents. He had also deliberately kept some of Ayra's moveset a secret, just in case he was drawn against Nicola at any point.

"His sheen looks a lot better than it did yesterday," Will said as they walked down the street towards the contest hall. "Those pokéblocks really did the trick, huh?"

"Nicola's gotten really good at making high-quality ones," James replied. "Ayra's really looking like a contest pokémon now!" He patted Ayra on the head.

"I hope I don't come to regret helping you!" Nicola said, grinning at him. "I'm not going to hold back if we get drawn against each other!"

"Same here!" James said. "Let's make sure we give it our all."

They walked into the lobby to find it alive with activity. There were countless spectators milling around, excitedly chatting together and slowly making their way towards the upper level. There was still a sizeable line of coordinators waiting in line to finish registering. Some of them threw dismissive looks over at James and Ayra as they approached. He hadn't even noticed it yesterday when he'd been caught up with having Ayra with him again, but it was starting to sap at his confidence. They all expected him to fail hard.

"I guess we'll be off then," said Richard. "Make sure you both get through the appeals round – it'll be embarrassing otherwise!"

"It'd be like that for us as well!" Nicola snapped. "You're so bad at encouragements!"

"Eh, you don't really need them," Richard replied with a shrug. "Good luck!"

"You'd do fine," Will said. "It's just a shame that only one of you can win the ribbon."

"There'll be no hard feelings either way, right?" Nicola said, turning to James.

"Yeah." James nodded, getting the sneaking suspicion that Nicola didn't think much of his chances either.

They waved goodbye to Richard and Will, who set off the join the crowd of people heading for their seats inside and turned to join the line to finish their registration. They were both silent for a while as the line shrank in front of them.

"The moment of truth," Nicola said as they started to get close to the desk.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Well, we'll see if they'll accept Ayra," she replied.

"He's a grass type!"

"I know, but…"

Fortunately, the receptionist didn't so much as bat his eyes when he saw Ayra and immediately finalised James's registration. Even so, he was filled with a sense of trepidation as he set off with Nicola down the passage to the holding room.

* * *

 _3:02pm, 24_ _th_ _July 2006_

Just like the rest of the city, the interior of the Vinelodge contest hall was decorated with grass types in mind. Potted plants lined the aisles between rows of seats, while flower baskets occasionally hanging from the ceiling and attached to the sides of pillars. This had the pleasant side effect of making the room smell particularly good, even with all the people who had crammed in to watch the contest.

Richard and Will were less happy than most of the other members of the audience. They hadn't been lucky with their seats and it was difficult to get a good view of the stage. A poorly-placed potted plant was blocking most of Richard's view as well. Even though they still weren't particularly enthusiastic about contests, they'd grown steadily more interested as time had worn on and the poor seats felt a little like their commitment to watching James and Nicola was being mocked.

On the plus side, it meant that they had an excuse to zone out whenever a weak appeal was going on, which seemed to happen quite a lot. There were also a lot of participants though, so that was kind of to be expected. After the first few performances, Richard was left with the impression that the Vinelodge contest was the kind of thing that all kinds of people piled into, even if they weren't actually on the contest circuit.

Some time after the appeal round began, they finally heard Nicola's name announced and tried their best to peer at the stage past all of the obstacles. She and Mushy marched out confidently, having also noticed that a lot of their competition seemed to be fairly weak. Sharing a nod, they began their performance.

Mushy started by leaping forwards and shooting out her fists rapidly to show her strength and speed. She followed up with a powerful headbutt while cloaking herself in the green glow of a Mega Drain. There was a lot of twirling and spinning, with an emphasis on fast strikes for showing off the smoothness of her movements. Nicola had put a lot of thought into how to make an attractive appeal using Mushy's new, martial style.

There was a wobbly moment in the middle of the performance as Mushy's attempt to catch the stage lighting with a Mega Drain didn't work as well as they'd hoped. Instead of creating a flickering, green-and-white effect similar to sunlight through a canopy of trees, they ended up just turning the light green. Fortunately, the audience still seemed to love it.

Nicola and Mushy left the stage to loud applause from the spectators, after which Richard and Will resumed their long wait as more participants came out and performed. There were lots to get through before it was finally James and Ayra's turn.

Richard and Will could tell that a similar vibe was passing through the audience as the other coordinators back at the pokémon centre – Ayra didn't seem to make a good first impression. Things didn't improve when he jumped down from James's shoulder and scuttled forwards across the stage, clicking his mandibles as he did. He simply wasn't the image most people had when they thought of a grass-type pokémon.

The whispers of the crowd continued as Ayra started his performance. He surrounded himself with a green, energetic glow and started scuttling from side to side. He scattered spores from the mushrooms on his back, creating a shimmering effect as the light shone down on them. As the spores dropped down close to the ground, he swiped at them with his pincers, sending them flying back into the air around him.

After repeating this strange dance for a few seconds, Ayra turned to face the side of the stage and fired out a dense cloud of spores ahead of him. Keeping it topped up, it formed what looked like a shifting, moving wall in front of him. There were a couple of 'oohs' and claps from the crowd. Whatever the paras's appearance, there was something almost mystical about his performance.

As a final flourish, Ayra suddenly fired a green beam of energy up at the stage lights. Skilfully manipulating it, he managed to achieve what Mushy had failed to do and created a similar effect to light passing through a tree canopy. For his first time on the stage, Ayra seemed completely at ease and hadn't been put off at all by his initial reception.

There was polite applause as he and James left the stage again. Maybe some of them were warming to him, but he was still just a bug masquerading as a grass type to most of them. Richard didn't see how the judges had reacted, but they would be more professional than the audience – there was still a good chance that Ayra could make it through to the battle rounds.

Admittedly, Richard and Will didn't pay as much attention now that James and Nicola had both had their turns, but there was nothing that really jumped out at them among the remaining participants. It really did feel like a load of amateurs had jumped onboard alongside the coordinators this time. And it felt really weird for both Richard and Will that they had grown able to see this…

* * *

 _6:21pm, 24_ _th_ _July 2006_

It took the judges a while to sort through all of the performances they'd seen in the appeal round to come to their own decisions on how they ranked. The audience vote was very strange – it looked like popular local participants did well whatever the quality of their performances. A lot of them were weeded out when the judges' ranking were combined with the popular ranking, though it seemed to Richard like a handful of undeserving appeal round performers had still managed to slip through.

Fortunately, both Nicola and James made the cut for the battle rounds and set to work fighting their way through to get towards the top. Early battles were easy since both of them were drawn against inexperienced opponents who apparently only knew slightly more about battling than they did about contest appeals.

However, they quickly started running into difficulties after that when they came up against seasoned contest veterans again. James and Ayra almost succumbed to a particularly tough roselia in the semi-finals but managed to put her to sleep at the crucial moment to move on to the final. Nicola was less fortunate – she and Mushy were up against an impressive pokémon called a tropius that kept leaping out of range of Mushy's attacks and fought back by flapping the leaf-like wings on its back to summon up gusts of wind. They'd made a great effort to fight back, but they simply couldn't keep up with it and ended up losing on points when time ran out.

That left James and Ayra to face off against this daunting opponent. It wasn't going to be an easy battle, and James was furiously thinking over his possible tactics as he moved up to stand in his position on the stage.

"On my left, Lily Willis! On my right, James Burton!" the MC announced. "With them are the pokémon that have astounded us all through the afternoon: Ferris the tropius and Ayra the paras!"

It was time for the final to start. Both coordinators sprang into action the moment the MC shouted "Begin!" and the timer started counting down.

"Gust!" Lily called.

"Spore!" James yelled.

Ferris had already started flapping her wings by the time Ayra fired out a cloud of spores. There was a great rush of wind and the paras was flung into the air, his spores swirling all around the stage. Lily and Ferris immediately took the lead as James and Ayra's points started dropping sharply.

"Spore again!" James shouted as Ayra started plunging down towards the stage again.

With a nod, he fired out a dense cloud of spores at Ferris, who reacted quickly and whipped her wings to summon up another gust of wind. It immediately caught the descending cloud of spores and blew them back.

As they blasted upwards and Ayra tore through them, he surrounded himself in a green glow and continued dropping down towards Ferris. It was a stunning effect by itself, but it improved even further as Ayra's pincer suddenly started glowing a bright white colour. Before Ferris could really react, the paras plunged towards her with a burst of speed. With a powerful and elegant strike, he slashed at one of four leaves making up her wings. She cried in pain and the leaf went limp.

"Use Stomp!" Lily cried.

Ferris spun around and slammed her foot down, only for Ayra to jump back just in time. He dove underneath the tropius and skidded around once he reached the other side. With another powerful leap and a smooth slash, he knocked out a second leaf.

The points were looking more even: Ayra's impressive display had really cut down Lily and Ferris's score. They were still behind, but they had plenty of time to turn it around.

As Ferris and Ayra continued exchanging attacks and darting around each other, James allowed himself a brief moment of relief. Striking Ferris's leafy wings had greatly reduced the power of her gusts, which were the biggest threat to Ayra. It also kept her firmly on the ground, where Ayra could outmanoeuvre her.

The battle stayed pretty even for the next two minutes, with both sides losing points at roughly the same rate.

"Use Magical Leaf!" Lily shouted as they ticked down to just a minute left.

With a roar, Ferris summoned a cluster of leaves glowing different colours and fired them towards Ayra. The paras responded by firing a green beam of energy, which struck the leaves on their approach. It didn't stop them, but the sight was beautiful enough to start draining Ferris's points.

Ayra then quickly fired out a dense cloud of spores in front of him. The leaves plunged through them, the impact reducing their speed and power slightly. They raked Ayra and knocked him back, but he quickly recovered, and, with his pincer glowing white, he surged forwards towards Ferris. The tropius raised her foot and tried to stamp down, but Ayra leapt to the side just in time. He sprang up into the air, passing Ferris's shoulder. Instead of striking with his pincer, he spun around in the air and fired a blast of spores into her face as she turned to follow him. There was a crash as she slumped to the ground, asleep.

The timer ticked down to zero and started buzzing.

"And that's the end of the battle!" the MC announced as James and Lily spun around to look at the scores. It was close, very close, but Ayra's final burst had given him the edge. There were slightly more points left in his bar than in Ferris's. "And our winners tonight are James Burton from Pallet Town and his paras, Ayra!"

"Phew!" James let out the breath he'd been holding and grinned at Ayra. "I knew I could count on you, Ayra!"

"So close," Lily sighed miserably, recalling Ferris to her poké ball. "We should have hit harder at the very start…" She shook James's hand before backing away to the rear of the stage.

"Congratulations on your victory, James," said the head judge. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who was captivated by Ayra's wonderful performances today."

"Thank you," James replied. He patted Ayra, who had climbed up onto his shoulder.

"It's my pleasure to present you with the Vinelodge ribbon," the head judge said, beckoning to an aide, who brought forwards a small box. There was a green ribbon lying inside. "I wish you the best for the future and I hope to see more performances like this one again." The head judge fastened the ribbon onto Ayra.

* * *

 _6:51pm, 24_ _th_ _July 2006_

"I still think you could have told me that Ayra knew Aerial Ace," Nicola said.

"And give you an advantage?" James replied, raising an eyebrow. "I thought that I'd have to fight you at some point."

"You're still on about that?" Will asked. "You were talking about it all the way back from the contest hall."

The four of them were in the restaurant in the pokémon centre. After all the time they'd been in the contest hall, they'd all been eager to get back and have something to eat. James was still basking in the glow of victory and Ayra had a very sizeable bowl of pokémon food in front of him.

"More importantly, where are we going to go next?" Richard asked.

"I was thinking of heading up Route 119," said James, pulling out the guidebook. "If we keep following it, then we'll eventually end up in Fortree City, where there's another pokémon gym."

"Anything else on the way?" Will asked.

"Plenty," James replied. "I was thinking that we could set off for Rubello Town tomorrow – there's a contest hall there as well and I _think_ there's a contest there soon too."

"I'm okay with that!" Nicola said eagerly. "I want to win another ribbon as well!"

"Rubello Town is at the foot of Route 119, where Route 123 meets the coastal road coming from Mauville," James added, turning to Richard and Will.

"I'm fine with it," said Richard. "It's not like we're going out of our way for it or anything."

"I wonder if there's anything interesting for us two to do there?" Will said.

"Want to have a look at the guidebook?" James asked, offering it to him.

"Don't mind if I do," Will replied, taking it.

"So, is Ayra going to be joining us from now on?" Nicola asked, reaching down and patting the paras on the head.

"No, he's going home," James replied. "He did a great job, but I want to spend more time training my new team. It's easier to do that if Ayra is back in Kanto."

"Aww, that's a shame," Nicola sighed. "It's been fun having him around."

"It's always fun having my pokémon around," said James. "But I can't keep all of them with me all the time, or the new members wouldn't be able to keep up." He smiled down at Ayra, who clicked back. "Ayra understands. And he knows that this isn't going to be the last time we fight together – there's still a lot of that to come!"

"I'm still a little surprised that he was able to beat that tropius," said Richard. "Wasn't it amazing?"

"I know right?" said James. "There are still so many incredible pokémon like that for us to see out here in Hoenn. It makes me wonder what we'll find on our way up Route 119!"

"It's pretty wild, isn't it?" Will asked, looking up from the guidebook. "One of the toughest routes in Hoenn."

"Sounds like fun!" Richard grinned. "I bet you we'll find all kinds of interesting things there."

"I can't wait to get started!" Nicola nodded.

"Well, looks like it's time to send you back to Pallet Town," James said as he and the others got up. "It's been fun, Ayra. Make sure you and the others take care of yourselves!"

Ayra called up to him with a dutiful nod. A second later, he returned to his poké ball. James took him over to the transfer machine at the back of the centre and, after a brief conversation with his mum, transferred the poké ball back. It was a little sad to see Ayra go, but James knew that there were other new friends to make on his journey. He didn't want Ayra to steal their limelight!

* * *

 **Another contest down! I liked the idea of having something that was type-focused since it forced James and Nicola to try new things in their performances. Ayra coming back seemed like the best option for James since they work much better together than James could have done with Dish. Hopefully his victory over Ferris the tropius doesn't seem too forced. Unfortunately, he does have to go back to Pallet Town, but hopefully this has been a helpful reminder that I haven't forgotten about the old teams. We may well end up seeing them again sometime…**

 **Moving on, I have a news announcement this week…**

 **As you may or may not know, I applied to the JET programme (which brings people from English-speaking countries to teach English in Japan) last year. Though my application was unfortunately not successful, I instead applied for a job with a separate company that does the same thing. I was interviewed back in May and, at the end of June, I was offered a job. I'd been holding off making any kind of formal announcement about this since I was waiting for more concrete details about my placement, but I recently found out that I'll be heading out in late December for a January start and that I'll be in Chiba Prefecture, which borders Tokyo and is part of the real-life Kanto region.**

 **As excited as I am, I also have to recognise that this will have a big impact on my writing. I'm unlikely to have the same amount of time available to produce chapters and I really feel that I'll need to throw myself entirely into my new life at the start – if I'm torturing myself over self-imposed** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **deadlines, then I'll make things difficult for myself. As such, I expect that uploads will stop entirely for at least the first month that I'm out there and may not be as regular afterwards. Obviously, I still have no idea exactly how things will pan out, so I'll write more updates when I know more.**

 **With this in mind, I've been trying to rush and finish all the remaining chapters for** _ **Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **(currently working on Chapter 27 of 32) and if I can, then I'll try and get ahead with** _ **Hoenn**_ **so that I've got some chapters stocked up for the very start of my placement. I won't make any guarantees though!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	83. Tail Break!

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **In the last chapter, James temporarily added Ayra, his paras, back to his active team so that he could compete in the grass-type-only Vinelodge contest. Despite facing difficulties, he and Ayra's battle experience managed to net them a victory and James's third ribbon.**

 **Upload Date: 19** **th** **October 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 83: Tail Break!**

 _Route 123, Hoenn_

 _12:15pm, 25_ _th_ _July 2006_

"Psychic!"

"Ancient Power!"

Both Pincer and Grum hurled attacks at each other in the middle of a small field by the side of the road and surrounded by trees. The ground was dry and hard, and perfect for moving around quickly – not that either of them needed to. The attacks that Will and Richard wanted to focus on were distance ones.

"Not bad!" Richard grinned as Grum managed to seize the boulders Pincer had thrown and sent them flying back.

"Keep it up, Grum!" Will shouted as Pincer dove to the side to avoid the counter attack.

"I don't know how they can still train," Nicola said, fanning herself as she sat next to James on the short slope down from the road.

"It's always good to have enthusiasm," James replied. "I'd probably join them if we weren't preparing for the contest."

"Did you come up with any good combinations?"

"You think I'd tell you if I did?"

"Fair." Nicola looked up at the bright blue sky overhead. She wouldn't have appreciated it a lot more if she hadn't been dripping with sweat. She envied the fire-type pokémon, who didn't have to suffer like this. Both Charka and Mule were relaxing at the bottom of the slope. Charka was holding his tail up – it was dangerous to be lax with his flame in the summer.

The rest of her pokémon were scattered about, most of them practising for the upcoming contest. She didn't have a solid performance plan yet, but they were too antsy to sit still. Mushy had been particularly bothered by their loss in Vinelodge Town – when she wasn't jogging about to increase her speed, she was trying to create pretty patterns using Mega Drain.

After watching her for a couple of seconds, Nicola got up and pulled a bowl and a bottle of water out of her backpack. She walked over to Mushy. "Have some water," she said. "You'll dry out in this sun. You too, Kipa."

Mushy nodded gratefully, while Kipa came over as Nicola was pouring the water into the bowl. As they both started eagerly drinking from it, Nicola started pouring more water onto Kipa's skin.

"I think we should get moving soon, guys!" James called to Richard and Will. "We want to get to Rubello Town _before_ the contest begins!"

"Got it!" Will called back.

The rest of the pokémon started gathering back around where James was sat. The grass and water types were quickly recalled to their poké balls, as was Zaggy. It was too hot for them to be out walking. As for Zaggy, Nicola didn't have the energy to chase after him in this weather.

"So, have you guys come up with any new combinations for the contest?" Richard asked as they set off again.

"I was thinking sticking with the basics for now," Nicola replied. "It's a different audience each time, so I can get away with doing the same things."

"I was going to do something like that too," James said. He frowned. "But we both have three ribbons now – we might actually make it all the way to the Grand Festival. I don't think we can get away with just the same old tricks there."

"The Grand Festival, huh?" Nicola murmured, feeling a shiver running down her spine. Whether it was from excitement or fear, she couldn't tell.

* * *

 _Rubello Town, Hoenn_

 _1:29pm, 25_ _th_ _July 2006_

Rubello Town was a small and mostly unremarkable place. James, Richard, Nicola and Will passed several abandoned buildings on the outskirts, but the heart of the town was bustling with people going about their business. It sat at the point where Routes 123 and 119 met the coastal path from Mauville City – lots of people needed to pass through here. The streets were narrow and the houses small and compact. There was a quaintness to the town that they could appreciate, even if a lot of the buildings looked like they could use a new coat of paint. And possibly some repairs as well…

It took them a while to walk all the way to the central square, where both the contest hall and the pokémon centre were conveniently opposite each other. There was a fountain in the very centre, surrounded by thin, well-groomed trees. Unlike the rest of the town, this place was immaculate.

"We'll go in and register," James said as they walked towards the glass doors at the front of the contest hall. "You two wait here for us."

"Can't we go to the pokémon centre?" Will asked.

"We won't be a second!" Nicola called back.

"I bet it takes longer than that…"

"Hey," said Richard, looking around. "Doesn't it seem a little quiet to you?"

"What do you mean?" Will asked. "There are lots of people here."

"Yeah, and what are they doing?" Richard asked.

Will looked out at them. There was a mother and her daughter playing on a patch of grass near the fountain, an old man carrying shopping bags as he left the square, a young couple sat on a bench gazing into each other's eyes, a group of teenagers chatting loudly, and a woman wearing smart work clothes talking on her phone. "Who cares?" he said, turning back to Richard.

"I mean, I can't see many people who look like coordinators," Richard said. "And why is no one queuing up to get tickets for the contest?"

"What time does the contest start?" Will asked.

"James didn't say."

They waited in silence for a couple of minutes before they heard the sound of the automatic doors whir open behind them. James and Nicola both came out, looking slightly disappointed.

"What's up?" Will asked.

James sighed. "I got the dates mixed up. The contest was actually almost a week ago."

"When's the next one?" Richard asked.

"Three weeks," Nicola replied, hanging her head. "I was all fired up as well…"

"Well, there's always next time," Richard said, trying to sound upbeat. "How about we go to the pokémon centre and book rooms for the night? Then we can work out where the soonest contest is being held."

"Sure," James said. "Let's go."

* * *

 _1:41pm, 25_ _th_ _July 2006_

Without a contest going on, there wasn't all that much for pokémon trainers to do in Rubello Town. The group had come out of Vinelodge Town with their bags bulging with supplies, so there was no need to go shopping. Exploring the town sounded kind of fun, but they didn't really know if there would be anything worth seeing. After their trip across the islands of Route 118, they were tired of the sea and didn't feel like going down to the seafront.

Inevitably, Richard and Will quickly left the pokémon centre after dropping off their things so that they could get back to training their teams. There was a part of James had was tempted to join them as he gazed aimlessly out of the window.

"Hey, pay attention, James!" Nicola said, fixing him with a firm look. "Did you even hear what I said just now?"

"About swapping out the Mud Shot part of Kipa's performance? Yeah, I was listening."

"Then, what did you-"

"Not a bad idea, but aren't you still thinking too small?"

"You've got a better idea?" Nicola asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Well, I don't know." James turned away from her again. Missing the contest had taken the wind out of his sails. Now he just wanted to go out and train for battles, really. He'd already been sat in the near-deserted trainers' lounge with Nicola for over ten minutes.

"Let's take a break." Nicola sat back and sighed. "Did you work out where there's another contest?"

"There's one a week from now in Nordris Town," James replied. "Straight up Route 119 on the way to Fortree City."

"That was quick!" Nicola exclaimed. "How long will it take us to get there?"

"I think about three or four days." James reached for the guidebook. "Yeah, about that. There's one town between here and there."

"We'll have plenty of time to prepare then," said Nicola.

"Yeah."

The two of them fell into silence again and gazed out the window at the square. A couple of minutes passed with them alone with their thoughts.

"Hey," Nicola said. "If we're both running out of ideas for combinations, why don't we go and find help?"

"Find help?" James looked over at her. "You mean another coordinator? I don't think we'll have much luck finding one at the moment…"

"Books!" Nicola interrupted him. "We could look in some contest books for ideas for new combinations."

"That's a good point," James said. For all the time they'd spent practising combinations, they didn't know that much about the theory behind them. Maybe that would give them something interesting to try.

"Is there a bookshop here in Rubello Town?" Nicola asked. "Let's go and look for one!"

"Sure." James jumped to his feet, his face full of renewed enthusiasm. "I've got an idea of where we could look."

* * *

 _2:04pm, 25_ _th_ _July 2006_

After a while spent looking, James and Nicola finally tracked down a bookshop and had started looking at contest books. It had been even more interesting than James had first thought, and he'd quickly decided to buy a book called _Performing Under Pressure: A guide to contests and combinations_ by an apparently renowned former coordinator called Ruth Elkins. There were all kinds of handy tips and tricks in there that he was dying to try out.

Nicola bought her own copy – said she didn't want to be dependent on him, which was fair enough – and a book full of pokéblock recipes. She was particularly keen to try one that contained tamato and grepa berries, as well as one oran berry. It required delicate handling and could easily go wrong.

"You don't mind if I go and try this myself, do you?" she'd asked James as soon as they'd got back to the pokémon centre.

It hadn't bothered James. He was too busy with _Performing Under Pressure_. Since it was a nice day, he and his team decided to head out to the square and relax in the sunshine. While Charka, Kacha, Nulin and Muro played, James sat on the grass not far from the fountain with his back against the smooth trunk of one of the leafy trees.

There was so much advice in the book that he didn't quite know where to begin. There was a section on teaching fire types to handle pressure on stage that might give him some ideas for helping Charka improve his performances, but then the section on normal types would be good to find ideas for Muro. He'd seen an interesting combination involving Stomp earlier and he wanted to read more about it.

In the end, he was drawn to a smaller chapter close to the beginning entitled _One-of-a-kind Moves_. This was all about changing and shaping moves so that the pokémon was doing something different with it to normal. The example was Ember – rather than just having a pokémon fire embers around, they could instead store them up to create one big mass of embers that would break apart when it hit the opponent. It was all about thinking of a unique way of using it to stand out from the crowd.

He looked up from the book and watched his pokémon. Muro was taking it easy and was flaked out on the grass, but the other three were all darting around each other and practising. Charka narrowly jumped back out of Kacha's reach as the pikachu threw a powerful punch towards him. Kacha squeaked in annoyance at the miss and swung his tail round, batting Charka lightly on the side of his face.

James caught himself wondering if there was a way to make a powerful move like Brick Break seem more appealing to a contest audience. Kacha's front paws always glowed an attractive, dark-red colour whenever he focused his power there for the attacks. If only his punches could look as appealing as when he batted Charka with his tail.

… _tail?_

An idea came to James suddenly. He jumped to his feet, dropping _Performing Under Pressure_. "Hey, Kacha!" he called. "I've got an idea for a new move."

Kacha stopped fighting with Charka and Nulin and turned around to look at him. He squeaked and tilted his head to one side curiously.

"Instead of focusing power into your fists for Brick Break, try focusing it into your tail!"

Kacha seemed a bit bemused by the suggestion. He gave James a blank look for a couple of seconds before frowning. Clearly, he didn't feel it would be as easy as James thought. Still, he shut his eyes and concentrated on focusing his energy. A dark-red glow appeared at the base of his tail and crept up about a quarter of the length before fading away.

"Sorry, I forgot," James said apologetically. "Your tail's bigger than your paws, isn't it? I guess it's a lot more effort to do it this way."

Kacha quickly squeaked to get his attention. He started focusing his power again, but still couldn't get the glow beyond a quarter of the way up his tail.

"Hey, if you like the idea, then let's keep working on it," said James.

He quickly lost track of time as he and Kacha kept working on the new technique and it was only when Nicola suddenly appeared that he realised how long they'd been at it.

"I guess it must be a good move if you spent an hour practising!" Nicola said cheerfully.

"An hour?" James exclaimed, glancing at his watch. "Wow, time really flies, huh?"

"You can say that again," said Nicola.

"How did your pokéblocks go?"

"Not… perfectly."

"What do you mean?" James asked.

Nicola frowned. "I think I got my timings mixed up. The taste is quite smooth at first, but then, well… you need to experience it really."

"I'm game," said James, holding out a hand. Nicola handed him one of the bright red pokéblocks and he popped it into his mouth.

It didn't taste that bad. The flavours seemed well-balanced, like the neutral flavour of the oran berry was keeping back the others. Then, as he bit into it and it crumbled in half, he felt an intense flavour emerge from the centre. For a moment, he actually thought his mouth was on fire.

"See what I mean?" Nicola asked him as he thrashed around, eyes watering.

"Those tamato berries are nothing to mess with!" he croaked between deep breaths. He wiped his eyes. Mercifully, the burning sensation hadn't lasted long.

"Anyway, since I'm here, do you want some help practising?" Nicola asked.

"I'm not sure how much you can do," James replied. "This is something that Kacha needs to figure out himself."

Kacha frowned at him and let out a sigh. He closed his eyes and focused again. A dark-red glow lit up on his tail, slowly travelling up it until it suddenly faded about two thirds of the way up. About the same as the previous attempt.

"Give it another shot!" James called. "Focus as hard as you can!"

Taking a deep breath, Kacha nodded and started focusing again. He felt power surging through him as though rushing back towards his tail. He kept straining himself as hard as he could. It felt as though the power was about to overwhelm him and his muscles screamed at him as he forced them to hold himself in place. Glancing behind him, his heart gave a jolt as he saw that his tail had finally become completely covered in the dark-red glow.

"You did it, Kacha!" James shouted eagerly. "Great work!"

Kacha grinned back at him. A split second later, the glow faded away and his tail returned to its usual yellow colour.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Kacha," James said as the pikachu hung his head. "You'll get used to it, just like you got used to using Brick Break in the first place!"

"Wow! That looks really good!" Nicola said enthusiastically. "It's like an entirely different move!"

"I'm calling it 'Tail Break'," James said, turning to her. "I think it'll be a great move for battles as well as in contests."

"Why's that?"

James grinned at her. "Surface area. Kacha's tail is much larger than his front paws, so he can do much more damage this way."

"Less focused though."

"True, but I don't think that will matter much," said James. "Besides, we can always switch things around if we want." He glanced over at Kacha. "Shall we give it another try?"

Kacha nodded eagerly. He got ready to resume his practice.

* * *

 _7:09pm, 25_ _th_ _July 2006_

Another couple of hours of practice was enough to get Tail Break to be workable, if still a little rough around the edges, and both James and Kacha had returned to the pokémon centre feeling very satisfied. It was just a shame that there wasn't a contest for them to use it in.

"Sounds like that book was worth getting," Richard said as he sat down at a table in the restaurant with his plate of chilli and rice.

"It's been really useful," James replied. He reached for his knife and fork and started cutting a chunk from his meat. He blew on it briefly before popping it in his mouth. He quickly chewed and swallowed it. "How was your training today?"

"We got a lot done, didn't we, Will?" Richard said.

Will nodded. "Arro and Gulpy worked really hard today. They're much stronger than they were before."

"We should probably spend some time doing some battle training as well," Nicola said with a sigh. She prodded her carrots idly with her fork. "You up for helping out, Will?"

"Always!" Will said. "I was thinking that it's been a while since Toya and Kipa had a good spar." He paused to take a bite out of his burrito. "Waff bowt tumo?"

"Finish eating before trying to speak," James replied.

Will quickly swallowed. "What about tomorrow? What's the plan?"

"We finally get to hit Route 119!" Richard said with a grin. "I've been looking forward to this!"

"It's one of the toughest routes in Hoenn," said James. He took a bite of meat. "I hope you guys are ready for a challenge."

"Can't be any worse than the desert, right?" Nicola asked.

"Different challenges," James replied. "Make sure you take it seriously."

Nicola looked at his serious expression for a couple of seconds before returning to her food. She scooped up some chilli and rice with her fork.

"When aren't we careful?" Richard asked. He looked around at his companions with a grin.

"True enough," said James. "The guidebook says that the scenery is supposed to be pretty spectacular as well…"

They were silent for a minute as they continued eating. Around them, the restaurant was full of chatter thanks to the handful of other trainers there. It wasn't as lively as they were used to, but at least there hadn't been a rush to get their food before it ran out!

Richard finished first, as usual, with the giant mouthfuls that he somehow managed to get in his mouth. "Going to get seconds!" he declared, standing up and heading over to the counter again.

"Bring me some ketchup on the way back!" James called after him.

"Will do!" Richard gave him a thumbs-up as he left.

The other three silently returned to their meals for a few seconds before Nicola spoke. "So, about the next town…"

"Oh yeah," said Will. "Where exactly are we heading next?"

James wiped his mouth with his napkin. "There's a contest in Nordris Town next week. It's on the way to Fortree City. I think the closest town is Crossgate Town though…"

"How far away is that?" Nicola asked.

"Two days, I think?" James said, frowning as he tried to remember. "Not too far."

"Is it going to be an early start tomorrow?" Will asked cautiously.

"It always is for you," James replied sternly. "We should make sure we get to bed early tonight – we don't want to be too tired on the road tomorrow."

"Understood!" Nicola nodded.

They moved on to talk about other things for a couple more minutes before Richard came back.

"Here you go!" He put the ketchup down in front of James.

"Thanks!" James grabbed it and squirted some over his chips. He started wolfing them down eagerly. The day had started out being pretty disappointing, but he was feeling pretty satisfied now. It was going to be interesting to see how Kacha's performance would go down at the next contest!

* * *

 **So, while I hope that this chapter was still enjoyable, I'd like to highlight it as a textbook example of** _ **Hoenn**_ **'s flawed planning. Learning a new move isn't enough to support a chapter on its own – learning a variation of an existing move even less so. If I'd had the foresight to look over the chapter plan again** _ **before**_ **uploading Chapter 82, then I probably would have axed this chapter and merged it with another one instead.**

 **On a more positive note, I asked one of my reviewer friends to read through a short 'character introduction' for Livvi that I wrote for the** _ **Kanto**_ **rewrite and some of the suggestions he made for that have had a positive influence on some of the content in this chapter as well – particularly description towards the end of the chapter (think dinner and testing the pokéblock).**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	84. The Overgrown Wilderness

**Hello and welcome back to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James and Kacha worked on creating a variant of Brick Break that involved Kacha using his tail instead of his fists to increase his appeal in contests.**

 **Upload Date: 26** **th** **October 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 84: The Overgrown Wilderness**

 _Route 119, Hoenn_

 _11:21am, 26_ _th_ _July 2006_

After setting off early from Rubello Town, the group had quickly discovered that the guidebook referred to the 'path' up Route 119 in the loosest definition of the word. There were no smooth, tarmacked roads, no clear paths made of gravel. Even dirt tracks were surprisingly hard to come by out here.

The valley didn't seem particularly different to the countless others they'd travelled along during their adventure, but for whatever reason there was thick foliage everywhere they looked. Grass taller than them covered the route and there was little support underfoot as they crossed over into the boggy land along the river. The slopes of the surrounding mountains were covered with trees so densely packed together that it seemed impossible that anyone could possibly get past them. And then they had all the cliff faces and rocky outcrops ahead of them to look forward to as well.

It was hard to believe that the four of them had all readily agreed with each other that the valley was indeed beautiful when they'd first looked down into it from the ridge at the western end. The plants were greener here and the contrast with the brown rock of the distant cliffs and ridges was striking. Looking down on the valley, it seemed like a natural paradise – there were very few buildings out here. Just the occasional ranger base and the homes of a few hardy farmers.

The beauty of the area was lost on James, Richard, Nicola and Will as they continued fighting their way through the thick grass that loomed over them and hid all kinds of potential dangers.

"Another one!" Richard shouted as a wild linoone suddenly sprang out of the undergrowth to attack them.

"Tail Break!" James called.

Kacha jumped off his shoulder and swung his tail at the linoone. There was a brief flash of dark red light and the wild pokémon was thrown back into the murky undergrowth again. The grass shook loudly and violently as it cut its losses and sprinted away.

"Thanks, Kacha," James said, grinning at the pikachu as he jumped back up to his shoulder and rubbed his face against the side of his cheek affectionately.

"I think I'm stuck!" they heard Will call.

"I'll help you!" Nicola's voice emerged from somewhere among the grass. The sound of soggy footsteps filled the air, accompanied by the shuffling of the grass.

"Wait where you are, guys!" James called, nodding at Richard. The two of them started pushing their way through the grass in the direction of the voices.

There was a sudden chirp from Blu, no doubt still perched atop Nicola's head.

"Whoa! It's a vileplume!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Don't provoke it!" Richard warned her, peering through the grass to try and spot them. Without a path to follow and the grass so thick, it was getting difficult to keep everyone together.

" _Vileplume, the flower pokémon and the evolved form of gloom. Vileplume have the world's largest petals. They are used to attract prey that are then doused in toxic spores. Once the prey is immobilised, this pokémon catches and devours them. Vileplume's toxic pollen triggers atrocious allergy attacks. That's why it's advisable never to approach any attractive flowers in a jungle, however pretty they may be._ "

James and Richard heard a sudden, angry cry from somewhere nearby, followed by Nicola yelping in shock.

"L-look out, Blu!" she called.

"Hold on!" Will shouted. There was a sudden loud splash and something that sounded like someone thrashing about on the marshy ground trying to get up. Then the sound of stamping on wet ground filled the air, along with the confused cries of Nicola, Will and their pokémon.

"Come on!" James called to Richard, who nodded. The two of them raced forwards through the grass, trying not to trip over any loose blades and looking around frantically for any sign of their companions. They tried listening out for them, but it was impossible to hear anything with the noise they were making themselves.

Finally, James emerged into a relatively open part, his shoes splashing on the sodden ground. The surrounding din – the vileplume's angry cries, Nicola and Will's shouts, the footsteps and the rustling – had all died down again but there was no sign of the two of them. They must have run off in a different direction. He hoped that they hadn't gotten far.

"Which way should we head?" he asked, turning to look at Richard.

There was no one else with him.

Stunned, he and Kacha looked around frantically. Richard had been right beside him just now, and they'd both been running in the same direction: how could they have gotten separated? Where had Richard gone?

"What do we do?" James mumbled, more to himself than to Kacha. "We managed to lose everybody…" He was the only one with a guidebook. Will still had his map, but he was out of practice using it. Richard had a compass – at least, James thought that he did. Nicola had nothing but _might_ be with Will. If only there was some way to track them all down again…

An idea suddenly came to him!

"Kacha, can you use your tail to work out where they are?" he asked.

Kacha grinned back and nodded. He clambered up onto James's head and stuck his tail into the air. It twitched occasionally as he focused and tried to pick up any signs of the other three trainers.

"You're not getting anything?" James asked, concerned. If Kacha was struggling to find them with radar, then what else could they do? Nulin might be able to spot them from the air, but it would be difficult to actually spot them with all this long grass around. Although, the grass would move when they walked through it and that would make it easier to spot, and Will and Nicola might send up Turkey and Blu, so it would be possible for the three flying types to meet in the air and guide each other to their trainers' locations.

Just as James was about to pull out Nulin's poké ball, however, Kacha suddenly twitched his tail again and squeaked at him. He patted James's forehead with one paw and waved the other straight ahead of them.

"You found someone?" James asked, his eyes moving up even though it didn't help him see Kacha better. When the pikachu nodded, he started moving cautiously forwards. Now that he was paying attention, he thought he could hear quiet noises coming from further ahead.

He brushed through the grass, following the sounds as they started to get louder and nearer. Kacha kept twitching his tail and confirming that they were on the right course. They kept moving forwards until a figure suddenly loomed out of the foliage right in front of them.

"Huh?"

"Whoa!"

Before either of them had a chance to really react, James and the figure collided, and both were knocked to the ground. A shudder ran through James's body as the cold, foul-smelling water seeped into his clothes. He shot back to his feet as quick as he could.

"Sorry," he said, offering his hand to the other person, a boy with his long fringe hanging low over his face. "Are you alright?"

"Urgh, I think so," the boy replied. "Would it hurt to watch where you're going?"

"I guess I was in a bit too much of a rush," James sighed. "Sorry about that. I got separated from my friends just now and I was trying to find them…" He trailed off as he spotted the tall, imposing form of a sceptile that was stood by the boy.

"I guess that makes two of us," the boy said, eyeing Kacha with equal curiosity. "It's hard to keep track of everyone in all this grass. I kept telling them that we should have taken a different road."

"I think it's supposed to get better if we can get up the cliffs," said James, pulling out his Pokédex. "It's not as marshy up there."

" _Sceptile, the forest pokémon and the evolved form of grovyle. A sceptile has seeds growing on its back. They are said to be bursting with nutrients that revitalise trees. This pokémon raises the trees in a forest with loving care. The leaves growing on a sceptile's body are very sharp edged. It is a very agile pokémon – it leaps all over the branches of trees and jumps on its foe from above or behind._ "

The boy did the same with Kacha, pointing his Pokédex at him.

"Any idea where your friends ended up?" James asked him.

"None at all." The boy shook his head. "One moment they were there, the next they were gone."

"Do they know where they're going?"

"Eh, probably. We said that we were going to head for the cliffs."

"It might be useful to get higher up – makes it easier to look out for anyone below," James said thoughtfully. "Want to work together to get to the top of the cliffs?"

The boy considered the offer for a second. "Well, even the best need some help every now and again. I accept."

"Cool," James said, offering his hand. "I'm James Burton."

"Nice to meet you," the boy replied, grasping James's outstretched hand. "I'm Corey Sanderson."

* * *

"Wow, I have no idea where James disappeared off to…" Richard mumbled as he looked around. He'd managed to get to a large tree stood on a patch of relatively dry and stable ground in the middle of the bog after wandering aimlessly for a while, but there was no sign of any of the others. "Any clues?" he asked, looking down at Vortex and Pincer, who were spinning or scuttling along around the base of the tree.

Pincer shook his head – his sense of smell wasn't good enough to pick up anything at this distance, especially with all of the foul-smelling water around.

Vortex didn't seem able to pick anything up either. It would be better to wait for Chena to return – he was capable when it came to tracking things down. If he couldn't find them, then there was no way that Richard would be able to.

As he leant back against the tree idly, Richard pulled out his compass. Livvi had given it to him as a birthday present, telling him to learn how to use it so that he could actually navigate. But without a map to help him, he wasn't sure how much he'd be able to do with it. At the very least though, he knew that they needed to head east…

There was a noise from the grass. Richard looked around eagerly, hoping that it was Chena returning.

The mightyena lurched out of the vast green, hindquarters first. Much to Richard's surprise, he was dragging someone along by their sleeve.

"Ow! Where are you taking me?" It was a girl. Not someone Richard knew, but someone who seemed vaguely familiar. Maybe one of the countless other trainers they'd run into on the road before?

"Come on, Chena, let her go!" Richard called, leaping over towards them. "Sorry about this – I was trying to get him to look for my friends…"

Chena released the girl's sleeve and wagged his tail eagerly at Richard.

"That's weird," said Richard. "Maybe he recognises you from somewhere?"

"Maybe?" the girl replied uneasily. "My name's Suzy."

"Doesn't ring a bell." Richard shook his head. "I'm Richard."

"Maybe we bumped into each on the road at some point?" Suzy suggested. She looked just as bewildered as Richard felt. "Did you lose your friends as well?"

"Yeah. We got split up in the long grass."

"Same here," Suzy sighed. "I'm the only one with a map – I don't know how my friends are going to find their way through…"

"Do you all know which direction you're heading?" Richard asked.

"East," Suzy replied. "Sort of…"

"Cool. That's kinda the same as me and my friends. I've only got a compass, so…" Richard held out his compass sadly.

"I guess we should work together then," said Suzy. "We definitely need to make it to the cliffs and I'm sure there'll be some road signs that'll help them once they get there."

"Let's get moving then," said Richard, beckoning to his pokémon. "Come on, guys!"

* * *

 _12:23pm, 26_ _th_ _July 2006_

Much to James and Corey's disappointment, they didn't see any real sign of their companions as they continued trekking through the bog. Every now and again, they'd see signs of a battle having happened: torn and flattened grass, deep marks gouged into the mud below. No people though. It really was looking like heading all the way to the cliffs would be the best option.

It was going to be a long walk through the murky swamp, fighting through the long grass and the mud. Fortunately, they could talk to pass the time.

"So, this is your first year as a trainer?" James asked. "Looks like you're pretty motivated!"

"Sure, I am!" Corey nodded eagerly. "I've been dreaming of becoming the champion of the Hoenn region for as long as I can remember – now's finally my opportunity to show the world what I'm made of."

"Your sceptile is pretty impressive," James said with a nod. "Had him for long?"

"My first pokémon," Corey replied. "I'd never have made it this far without Koret! There's something about your first partner, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that." James nodded. "I'm the same with my first pokémon as well. Charka's a charmeleon, so he's a handful at times though!"

"A charmeleon? Really?" Corey asked excitedly. "I've always loved the charmander line – is he difficult to train?"

"I think it helps how I got him from the professor in my hometown," James replied. "Apparently, they're _really_ tough to handle if you catch them wild."

"They're really rare as well though," Corey said wistfully. "Anyway, where's your hometown?"

"Pallet Town in Kanto," James replied.

"What made you come over here instead of going for the Kanto League?" Corey asked.

"It's my second year as a trainer," James replied. "I went around Kanto last year, so I figured it would be nice to get a chance in scenery."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense." Corey nodded. "Did you make it to the Kanto League?"

"Yep! Got knocked out in the Third Round though. By a sceptile, actually."

"They're tough pokémon," Corey said with a grin. "Still, getting to the Third Round in your first year is pretty impressive. I mean, I'm dead set on winning this year's competition, but I know it'll be _really_ tough. I might not manage it…"

"I think goals are something you need to work hard towards," said James. "If you go in thinking that you'll succeed in one shot, then that just makes it harder if you don't. I haven't seen you battle, so I have no idea how good you are, but I'm sure you could win the competition sooner or later as long as you keep pursuing it!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Corey replied. "Anyway, got many Hoenn League badges? The season is moving on quickly now…"

* * *

Elsewhere in the swamp, Nicola had quickly lost contact with Will in the chaos of escaping the wild vileplume. Fortunately, she, Blu and Tricky had managed to escape without accidentally inhaling any spores and had quickly put as much distance between themselves and the vileplume as possible.

Now they were completely lost as they stumbled through the undergrowth looking for any sign of the others.

"Can you get their scent?" Nicola asked Tricky, who was sniffing the ground ahead of her.

Tricky kept sniffing for a second before raising his head and giving her an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it," Nicola said. "I guess we'll just have to try and track them down…"

As they kept moving, however, they suddenly spotted someone else up ahead, also feeling their way uncertainly through the marsh. Nicola's face brightened for a second, hoping that she'd finally tracked down Will, but the clothes were different. She was still no closer to finding the others.

As she got closer and the other person spotted her, she realised that this _was_ someone she recognised after all – it was that guy who hung out with Corey. His name was Dan, wasn't it? Not that seeing him made Nicola feel any better – the last person she wanted to run into right now was Corey.

"Oh?" Dan immediately came over to her. "Hey, Nicola! Long time, no see!"

"Y-yeah," Nicola replied uneasily, glancing around.

"This marsh is a real maze, isn't it?" Dan asked with an awkward grin. "I ended up getting completely separated from Corey and Suzy. I'm not even sure which way I'm supposed to be going…"

"Oh, same here," Nicola said, her face brightening as she realised she didn't need to look out for Corey. "I don't suppose you have a map on you?"

"No, I don't," Dan replied. He let out a sigh.

"A compass?"

"No…"

"That makes things more difficult," Nicola sighed. She glanced over at the distant cliffs, the brown rock standing out against the grey sky and green hills around the valley. "I remember that we need to get up there somehow. Maybe if I head there, the others will head in the same direction?"

"Oh, I think we were supposed to be heading that way as well!" Dan said quickly. "M-maybe I should come with you. I could protect you from any of the wild pokémon hiding in the swamp!"

"Err, thanks," Nicola said idly. She patted Tricky on the head. "I've got Tricky for that though. If you want to come along anyway, then I don't mind."

"S-sure," Dan replied, sounding a little disappointed as Nicola and Tricky walked past him.

"Do you want to look out for the others, Blu?" Nicola asked, reaching up to pat the little swablu on top of her head.

Blu chirped in response and took off with a vigorous flap of her fluffy wings.

* * *

 _1:26pm, 26_ _th_ _July 2006_

"…So, if you focus on training endurance rather than just strength, then you can outlast an opponent that's stronger than you."

"Wow! That sounds like a really good idea! That's for letting me know about it," Corey said, grinning enthusiastically at James. "That was actually a problem for me in my last gym battle."

"It's a sort of 'best of both worlds' kind of training," James replied, nodding sagely. "Also, lots of gym leaders expect you to come at them with brute force and know how to prepare for it. Although, there was a tough gym leader back in Kanto who tries to trick you by going for brute force as well…"

"I think I've heard of him – Lt. Surge, right?"

"That's the one. He flattened me the first time we fought."

"Tell me all about it," said Corey. "Even if I never fight Lt. Surge, it'll be good to know what kind of tactics are good for fighting that strategy!"

"In short, don't be orthodox," James replied. "I used some irregular moves to try and counter him and it worked out in the end."

"I see." Corey nodded. The two of them fell silent as they pushed through the marsh and found themselves standing on a riverbank.

The river didn't look appealing – it was full of brown, churning water. It was flowing quickly as well. Actually, now that James looked at it, it would be dangerous to try and wade through it.

"We should try and find somewhere else to cross," he said to Corey, glancing over at the still-distant cliffs.

"Agreed." Corey nodded. "Do you think there's a bridge further along we could use?"

"I think there should be one somewhere," James replied, glancing at the guidebook. "Ah. It's further downstream."

"How about crossing using those stones up there?" Corey asked, pointing as some large rocks spanning the river. As the two of them got closer though, they realised that these rocks weren't spread the whole way across.

"I guess we'll have to head back down the river and cross there," James said.

"Hang on!" Corey said. "I reckon my kirlia could hold a log in place for us to get across the rest of the river. We just need a massive log…"

"How about that tree over there?" James asked. It was kind of spindly, but the trunk looked firm enough that it would hold their weight.

"We're cutting down a tree?" Corey exclaimed.

"We can handle it," James said, grinning at Kacha. "Use Brick Break."

With a squeak, Kacha jumped forwards. His fists glowed dark red as he slammed into the base of the tree with two powerful punches. There was a loud cracking sound as wood split. It wasn't enough to break through in one go though.

"Tail Break!" James called.

Kacha nodded as he jumped back. This time with his tail glowing, he slammed into the tree once again. The increased force shattered the base of the trunk. There was a groaning and cracking sound as the tree toppled over and thudded to the ground.

"Nice work, Kacha," said James, high-fiving him. "You're getting good at that!"

"That was a sweet move!" Corey grinned. "I need to try and come up with some stuff like that for my own team!"

"They're a great way of catching your opponent off-guard," James replied. "Anyway, reckon this will be enough?"

"Only one way to find out," Corey said. "Come out, Tsua."

Tsua carried the fallen tree with telekinesis as he, Corey and James all hopped carefully across the rocks. Once they reached the last one, Tsua climbed onto Corey's shoulder and placed the tree trunk down atop the water and held it there while the two trainers carefully walked across it.

"Thanks, Tsua!" Corey called as he jumped off the other end. He reached up to pat the kirlia on the head. "Nice teamwork," he added to James.

"Yeah." James nodded. "That went much better than I was expecting."

"Now we're a step closer to get up the cliffs!" Corey grinned. "Let's get moving again!"

* * *

At the foot of the rocky cliffs and foothills, Will gazed up at the rough and difficult paths leading up to the ridge. He was already exhausted after walking through the swamp, something which had probably taken him even longer since he hadn't been able to work out his position on his map. There weren't many landmarks in the swamp to use as a reference point.

He hadn't seen anyone since he'd watched Nicola vanish into the long grass in a panic. It felt like a very long time ago now. He thought he'd seen Blu or Nulin a couple of times, but whatever was in the sky disappeared from sight before he could get a better look. He was hoping that he'd be able to get a better look at his surroundings if he made it to the top of the cliffs.

Fortunately, he had an alternative plan to get himself to the top. He pulled out Turkey's poké ball and let him out. "Could you fly me up to the top of the cliff, Turkey?" he asked.

Turkey cried out and nodded. He jumped into the air and started hovering, beating his wings as he waited for Will to grab on.

Will was a little hesitant, even though it as his idea. Turkey had learned to use Fly quite a while ago now, but this was the first time he'd tried flying with the swellow. He'd need to make sure that he held on tight and didn't get knocked off while they were in the air.

Before he could grab on though, Turkey grew bored of waiting and swooped around to seize him by the back of his jumper.

"Whoa!" Will exclaimed in alarm as he felt himself being jerked suddenly into the air. Feeling as though he'd left his heart behind on the ground, he reached up and clasped his hands around Turkey's legs. The wind rushed around them as they shot upwards.

* * *

 _2:01pm, 26_ _th_ _July 2006_

James and Corey climbed the steep paths leading up the cliff. It was tiring work, but they didn't feel particularly worn out by it. They chatted happily to each other as they kept moving, helping each other up particularly tough spots

"Where do we go when we reach the top?" Corey wondered aloud.

"There should be a road sign somewhere," James replied. "Whereabouts are you heading after this?"

"Apparently, there's a cave full of strong pokémon to the north of here," Corey replied enthusiastically. "My friends and I were going to go and do some training there. What about you?"

"We're on our way to Nordris Town," James replied. "So, we're going to be following signs for Crossgate Town."

"Ah, that's a shame," Corey said. "I guess we'll be going our separate ways once we reach the turnoff.

"Well, this happens a lot when you're travelling," James replied with a smile. "Still, we might run into each other when we're challenging gyms and there's always the league after that – as long as you manage to get enough gym badges, of course!"

"You don't need to worry about me!" Corey grinned. "I'll already be waiting for you when the league starts!"

It didn't take them long to find the turnoff. They were finally back on the main road up Route 119. And this time, it was clearly marked and not made of foul-smelling mud. A great relief.

"I'm going to head on this way then," said Corey. "I don't want my friends to miss me."

"Fair enough," James said. "It was fun travelling with you for a bit."

"Yeah, kind of a shame that we've got to split up again," Corey said, shrugging. "Thanks for all the advice you gave me – I'm going to work hard to get even better at battling!"

"Happy to have helped!" James grinned back. "We'll definitely have to have a battle the next time we meet!"

"Sounds good to me!" Corey nodded. "Anyway, see you around sometime!"

"See you!" James called after him as he turned and walked away up the north path. Then he turned and started walking along the path towards Crossgate Town, looking for a good place to sit and wait for the others.

Fortunately, he wasn't waiting long. There was a sudden screech from overhead and Turkey and Will had dropped down practically next to him.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" James gasped.

"Sorry about that!" Will grinned. "We were having so much fun up there that I almost didn't want to come down!"

"You're finally getting Turkey to fly you places," James sighed. "Better not let Blue see what you're doing."

"I think she enjoyed it as well," Will replied, patting the bagon's poké ball. "Anyway, no problems getting up here then?"

The two of them were still talking when first Richard and then Nicola joined them as well. Blu came fluttering down from the sky to settle on Nicola's head again – they were all back together again.

"Looks like we all finally made it," Richard said, grinning around. "That was much tougher than the guidebook said."

"I don't get why people compare it to the desert though," Nicola said, frowning. "The desert's worse because you've got nothing but sand. We all found our way here because of the cliffs."

"People like to exaggerate things," James replied. "Besides, I can see why people would think it's dangerous to get stuck in the swamp. We're lucky that we all made it through without any real problems."

"How about we get moving?" Will suggested. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to get to Crossgate Town as quickly as possible, so I can have a proper shower."

"Agreed." Richard nodded.

"Let's go then," said James. "No reason to stick around."

He thought about telling his companions about the trainer he'd met while searching for them but decided against it as they started moving again. He didn't think they'd appreciate knowing that he'd actually quite enjoyed today. There'd always be another opportunity to tell them anyway.

* * *

 **It was fun writing about the swamp this chapter, though a part of me wishes that I could have spent more time delving into it a bit more. I feel like there's all kinds of potential with a place like this in terms of lore and whatnot. Really missed an opportunity to do something vaguely spooky in time for Halloween, but whatever.**

 **So, did anyone remember that James has never met Corey before this chapter? Though I successfully managed to keep him out of the picture every other time Corey has shown up, I didn't feel I was being particularly obvious with it. As for how he, Corey and Nicola will react when they find out the truth, that'll be something to save for another day.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page. I'm also on Twitter now as well – there's a sort-of link on my profile – so feel free to follow me if that's your preferred social media site.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	85. Crossgate Gulpin Contest

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter saw the group separated from each other as they traversed the unpleasant swamps of Route 119. But on the plus side, James made a new friend who he really got along with.**

 **Upload Date: 2** **nd** **November 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 85: Crossgate Gulpin Contest**

 _Route 119, Hoenn_

 _12:21pm, 27_ _th_ _July 2006_

After an uncomfortable night camped out at the side of the road, the group were relieved to catch sight of their next destination, Crossgate Town, further down the valley. With water limited, none of them had been able to properly wash since their trek through the swamp. The smell had gotten worse overnight instead of better and most of the pokémon had insisted on staying in their poké balls today. All except for Zaggy and Gulpy.

"Ugh, it kinda creeps me out how weirdly affectionate Gulpy is acting," Nicola said, jumping to the side as Gulpy attempted to rub herself against her leg.

"Maybe she thinks we're trying to be more like her?" Richard suggested.

"She's just happy that we're letting her stay out for once," Will said. "She probably wouldn't get like this if you'd let me keep her out more often."

"We all agreed to the rules when you caught her, Will," Nicola replied firmly. "Gulpy did as well."

Giving up on Nicola, Gulpy moved over and slid along next to Will. He was right – it wasn't often that she got to spend some time out and about with them. As comfortable as her poké ball was, it was suffocating to be kept in there for too long. It was nice to feel the dirt and grass beneath her as she moved. Even she could appreciate the beautiful green of the countless pine trees that lined the path and covered the mountain slopes.

The path was winding from side to side as it continued down the valley, but it was more-or-less a straight run to Crossgate Town. The light colours of the buildings stood out starkly against the lush green surroundings.

"Does the guidebook say anything about Crossgate Town?" Richard asked, turning to James.

"There's not a lot here," James replied. "The guidebook says that farming is still important around here, but most of the people who live here work elsewhere. They have a harvest festival in the autumn. Oh, and they also have a pretty famous local competition called the 'PokéRinger Tournament'."

"PokéRinger? What's that all about?" Nicola asked.

"Some flying-type competition," James replied. "I guess we could enter it with Nulin, Turkey and Blu when we get there, if you're interested."

"Does it say anything about the competition?" Richard asked.

"It's all about speed and agility," James said, flicking over the page. "The pokémon have got to race each other to try and drop rings onto a target. It sounds quite technical…"

"Turkey and I are always up for a challenge!" Will grinned.

"Let's get to Crossgate Town first," said Richard. "I don't think anyone will be happy to see us as we are right now."

"There _is_ a pokémon centre in Crossgate Town, right?" Nicola asked desperately, turning back to James.

"Yeah." James nodded. "That was the first thing I checked. You don't need to worry about that."

"What a relief," Nicola sighed. "I can't stand staying like this any longer than I have to!"

Aside from the lingering smell on them, they also had to deal with their dirty clothes from the previous day. It really would be a relief to get back to civilisation.

* * *

 _Crossgate Town, Hoenn_

 _1:18pm, 27_ _th_ _July 2006_

Pokémon centres were a real godsend for any trainer on the road, but even they couldn't accommodate every issue that might come up. Providing food, beds for the night, medical treatment and training facilities all cost a lot – there wasn't the budget for public laundry facilities as well.

So, after stopping off at the pokémon centre to book rooms and have much-needed showers, the group had set off to find a laundrette out in Crossgate Town. It seemed like a nice enough place – the streets were clean and well-maintained and there was an attractive park in the town centre, complete with public training arenas. There were also lots of shops catering for trainers. It was a town that very much reflected being on one of the routes trainers often used on their journeys.

James and Nicola had gone off to scout around the town and find out more about the PokéRinger competition, leaving Richard and Will to wait in the laundrette while their clothes were washed. It didn't take them long to arrive back though.

"We're too late," James said, looking downhearted. "This year's competition was three weeks ago."

"Really?" There was disappointment in Will's voice – he'd been looking forward to the opportunity to compete.

"Afraid so." Nicola nodded. "The guidebook doesn't mention exactly when it takes place and apparently most trainers pass through here earlier in the season."

"Hard luck, guys," Richard said, looking between the three of them. "Still, it's not like we missed a gym battle or anything."

"Can't argue with that," James said with a shrug. "There _was_ something else that we found out about while we were out though."

"What's that?" Richard asked.

"They host another kind of competition here, and there's one taking place later today," Nicola explained. "It's called the 'Crossgate Gulpin Contest'."

"A gulpin contest?" Will asked, looking between her and James.

"Not exactly a big draw is it?" James grinned. "You can see why it would get left out of the guidebook."

"Is it just like a pokémon contest, just with gulpin?" Richard asked.

"Totally different," Nicola replied. "It's a little like a sports festival."

"Only gulpin can enter," James said. "But I guess that was obvious from the name."

"Sounds like something for me and Gulpy to do!" Will grinned. "What time does it start?"

"Around two, I think," James said. "If you want, I can take you to where they're registering participants."

"Sounds good to me!" Will nodded. "Let's go!"

Nicola and Richard watched the two of them as they left.

"Think it'll be interesting?" Richard asked.

"Interesting, definitely," Nicola replied. "Entertaining? I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm wrong though."

There was a ding as one of the washing machines finished.

"Ours," said Richard, going over and opening it so he could put his, James's and Will's clothes into the nearby tumble dryer. "I guess we'll be going to support Will and Gulpy either way."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded. "He's sat through all our gym battles and contests, so it's only fair that we repay him."

"I wonder what kind of things will happen in the Gulpin Contest? Will there be different events?"

"I think so." Nicola nodded. "They seemed very… _gulpin-y_."

"Well, that helps," Richard replied. "I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens."

"I just hope the smell doesn't stick to us," Nicola said, frowning. "I don't want to go back to the pokémon centre in that state again."

* * *

 _2:05pm, 27_ _th_ _July 2006_

It was only when they saw all the competitors lined up at the starting line that the reality of the Gulpin Contest sank in for James, Nicola and Richard. This _really_ was a thing.

Will and Gulpy were in the number six position about of eight spaces on the racecourse, closer to the other side of the track than to where James, Richard and Nicola were stood watching. All positions were level – there was no particular advantage to starting anywhere. Though James thought that Gulpy might benefit from being further away from the spectators.

This racecourse was only the first stage of the contest and seemed like quite a tough prospect for a gulpin. Hurdles had been set up at regular intervals for the competing pokémon to jump over. They were much lower than they'd have been for a human (the highest reached about halfway to James's knee), but still a tough prospect for a pokémon with no legs.

The racecourse itself was different to ones that humans used. The ground was much softer and looser, which would probably slow the gulpin down a little bit but would make it much easier for them to crawl across. The track was also much shorter – just fifteen or so metres. Somehow, James suspected that they weren't going to be treated to an exciting race.

Over by the start line, Will was feeling more confident though. Gulpy was used to training alongside the other pokémon and that normally involved having to crawl alongside them when they were on a run. She usually managed to keep pace with them and had become very capable. If she could get over the hurdles quickly as well, then she would definitely be able to win.

"Contestants, on your marks!"

"Do your best, Gulpy," Will said as he stepped back from her.

Gulpy nodded at him and tensed herself up in preparation for the start.

"Get set!"

The line of gulpin looked like it was frozen in time, each one tensed up and just one move away from shooting off.

"Go!"

"Whoa!" Richard exclaimed as the gulpin suddenly rushed forwards. They weren't as fast as human runners, but they all reached the first line of hurdles in a matter of seconds.

"You can do it, Gulpy!" Nicola called.

"Yeah, go for it, Gulpy!" James yelled.

Gulpy could scarcely hear them. The crowd was yelling furiously, all cheering the contestants on. It was easier for her to just shut them out and focus on what was in front of her. The ground shifted slightly under her as she strained forwards, offering practically no resistance as she moved. Dropping her body low, she suddenly launched herself up. She cleared the hurdle and landed on the other side with a soft thud.

She continued moving forwards, not risking a glance at her fellow competitors. She was starting to build some momentum now. She cleared the next two hurdles with no trouble at all. There was one other gulpin who was ahead of her – he was really travelling fast. She was going to have to give it her all if she wanted to overtake him.

After the sixth hurdle, she started feeling her fatigue catching up with her. The ground was starting to feel rough and irritating to crawl over. The hurdles were the same size, but they felt like they were getting bigger. Each impressive leap over was draining more of her energy.

Looking ahead, she noticed that the gulpin ahead of her was crawling over the hurdles instead. He was keeping up a good pace and didn't seem to be tiring at all. Perhaps that was what she needed to do as well?

Gathering up her remaining energy, Gulpy threw herself at the next hurdle and crawled over it. It was more tiring than she'd expected, but at least her insides weren't getting thrown around. She strained to keep herself moving but could feel her speed dropping.

Two hurdles to go. She was almost at the end. She might not be able to win the race, but second place was a good result as well. And it wasn't like this was the end of the contest either. She continued pushing herself, dredging up every last bit of energy.

As she crossed the penultimate hurdle, she realised that the gulpin on the left had caught up with her and was inching into the lead. Just like Gulpy, she seemed to be getting exhausted though. As long as she could keep up the pressure…

They were both level as they reached the last hurdle. Both strained as hard as they could as they hauled themselves over it and onto the soft dirt on the other side. Pulling, sliding, crawling, both of them were giving it their all.

Gulpy crossed the line. She'd fallen back ever so slightly at the last moment and her opponent inched across ahead of her. Third place. It could have been worse, but it was disappointing all the same. She let herself catch her breath and sagged with disappointment.

"That was great, Gulpy!"

She looked up to see that Will had come over to the finish line and was grinning down at her.

"We just need to crush the others in the next round – I know you can do it!"

Gulpy nodded. As long as they had a rest, she was feeling confident that she could claw back a win.

* * *

 _2:20pm, 27_ _th_ _July 2006_

With the end of the first round, there was a ten-minute break to let the gulpin recover. The points earned from the first round were calculated and the rankings were put up for everyone to see. Gulpy's performance in the first round had earned her the third-place position. If she earned enough points in the next round, then she could turn things around and secure the top spot.

There would be no racing this time. The second round was to take place on a small target range not far from the racecourse. All the competitors gathered at one end of the range, with a series of targets on the other side. The goal was simple: hit as many targets as possible by firing clumps of sludge.

As she and the other gulpin lined up to begin, Gulpy was filled with a sense of trepidation. A good performance here would be crucial, but that also meant that failure would be a huge deal. If she wanted to win the whole contest, then she would need to focus as hard as she could on hitting as many targets as possible while denying them to the others. She'd spent a long time training with Will to use moves like this in battle – it should come naturally to her.

"Begin!"

The gulpin all immediately started firing bursts of sludge through the air. Most of the first shots fell way short, but a couple managed to score some hits. Gulpy's first was one of the ones that fell short, but she didn't let it bother her. Focusing, she took aim and fired a second shot. This time, she scored a direct hit on one of the higher-value targets towards the back of the range.

The unpleasant sound of the gulpin firing their attacks filled the air, as did the awful stench that accompanied them. The small crowd of spectators was stood further back than at the last round, but that suited Gulpy just fine. This way she wouldn't have any distractions to stop her from hitting her targets.

Despite the accuracy of her shots, she was starting to feel tried and worn out again. Will's training put a lot of focus on power, so Gulpy had learned to fire fewer, more powerful blasts when it came to attacks. She needed to switch to using smaller and less tiring attack instead.

Fortunately, her opponents also seemed to be focusing on heavy attacks, realising too late what a disadvantage they were. The only one who had used light attacks from the start had performed poorly in the previous round, so he was less of a threat.

Gulpy fired another string of attacks, managing to precisely hit several of the high-value targets at the back. Even if she got tired and couldn't keep up with the rate of the others, she'd surely have amassed a lot of points from these hits.

"Stop! The round is now over!"

The gulpin all stopped firing, and all started panting to regain their breaths. It had been intense and there was sludge strewn all across the firing range. Some of the targets that had been hit had started rotting away. It didn't look like any of them had done particularly badly.

"We'll be taking another ten-minute break while we add up the scores from this round. Trainers, you should have your gulpin rest up as much as possible for the final round. We'll put up the scores once we've put them together!"

The crowd started to disperse again, probably to get away from the foul smell that was hanging over the target range. The trainers all returned to their gulpin to offer words of encouragement.

"You did really great in that round, Gulpy," Will said, patting her on the head. "Just keep it up and you'll win the last round for sure as well!"

Gulpy gave him a weary nod. She didn't know what lay in store for her, but she knew that it would only be one final push. As long as she rested, she was sure that she'd be able to fight her hardest in the final round.

* * *

 _2:46pm, 27_ _th_ _July 2006_

After another, much-needed break, the contestants and their trainers all returned to the town centre, where the final round was due to take place. It was more surprising than perhaps it should have been to discover that this last round that would decide the outcome of the competition was in fact an eating contest.

There were some truly colossal piles of pokémon food placed in front of where the competitors would be. Will couldn't decide what was more stunning – that the organisers had decided that the gulpin would manage to get through this much food, or that they'd been willing to buy all this food in the first place.

With all the points from the previous rounds added up, Gulpy had a slight lead over the others. She had the advantage, but it was going to be an intense final round – several other gulpin were still in for a shot at victory.

Still, she was confident in her ability to eat, as was Will, who had experienced her sometimes ravenous appetite on several previous occasions. As she lined up with the other gulpin, staring at the mound of food pellets in front of her and listening for permission to start, she focused herself and felt her enthusiasm and energy surging through her.

"Begin!"

With that shout, the gulpin all shot forwards and started devouring the food in front of them. All of the piles suddenly dropped sharply as they all took big mouthfuls of pellets on the side facing them, causing the tops of the piles to slide down towards them.

Though the spectators were cheering loudly – even louder than they'd been during the earlier rounds – Gulpy could barely hear them. She'd gotten herself completely focused on the food in front of her and was scarcely aware of the other gulpin on either side of her. She settled into a rhythm, biting and breathing in a perfect pattern. As she hauled even more pellets into her mouth, she had the strange sensation that she wasn't really eating. This was just too different to what she normally did when she ate something.

The pile was starting to drop quite rapidly now. Gulpy didn't dare look around to see how her competitors were doing. She needed to stay completely focused on what was in front of her. The dryness of the pellets was starting to get to her a little, but that wasn't going to be a problem. She could just scoop them up and swallow them whole – make it a problem for another day.

The real problem was that she was starting to get tired. All the effort that had gone into the earlier rounds was starting to catch up with her and she could feel the pace of her bites dropping. She tried her hardest not to look around at the others – she didn't need discouragement at this stage.

She just needed to dig deeper and tap into more energy. Will was relying on her and she didn't want to let him down. One final effort and she could win this contest. It was hers to lose, she knew that.

Lurching forwards for a particularly big mouthful, Gulpy suddenly found herself surrounded in light. Her body-wide stomach lurched as she started to change. She felt herself growing bigger, stronger. Yet a strain fell upon her body as it pulsed and shifted – it felt as though all the muscles in her body were being stretched out as completely as they could be. She became unaware of what was going on around her. All she could see what the bright light. It started to hurt a little, but it was more just exhausting as her body strained and changed.

After what felt like a while, her body was stabilising. The light died down and she could suddenly see again. She was exhausted and panting, but she could feel that her body was bigger and stronger. She staggered forwards and open her mouth. It was much wider than it had been before. She scooped up a colossal pile of pellets and instantly swallowed them. In only two more mouthfuls, she'd almost cleared the rest of her pile.

"Time's up!"

Hearing those words, Gulpy finally let herself relax. Her body sagged down in relief. She was so tired – she just wanted to return to her poké ball and rest.

"That was great, Gulpy!" Will cried enthusiastically, patting her on the head. "You ate more than any of the others and you even evolved as well!" He pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at her.

" _Swalot, the poison bag pokémon and the evolved form of gulpin. When a swalot spots prey, it spurts out a hideously toxic fluid from its pores and sprays the target. As it has no teeth, nnce the prey has been weakened, this pokémon has to gulp it down whole with its cavernous mouth._ "

Gulpy gave Will a weary smile in response.

"Wow, nice work there, Gulpy!" James said as he, Richard and Nicola came over to join them. "You really dominated in the last round."

"Managing to evolve while eating food," Nicola said, smiling and shaking her head. "That seems like the perfect way for you to evolve."

"I guess we just have to wait for all the scores to be tallied," Richard said.

"Excuse me." One of the organisers was hurrying over towards them.

"Is something wrong?" Will asked.

"I'm really sorry to have to tell you this," the organiser replied apologetically. "But the Gulpin Contest is strictly a contest for gulpin and only gulpin. Since your Gulpy evolved into a swalot before the end of the competition, this unfortunately means that we have to disqualify her from the final round."

"What?!" Will exclaimed in shock. "B-but, what about our points?"

"Gulpy will keep her points from the first two rounds since she completed them as a gulpin," the organiser replied. "But I'm afraid we can't give her any points for the final round. Swalot can eat a lot more than gulpin can, so her evolution gave her an unfair advantage."

"Ugh," Will groaned as the organiser, apologising again, took his leave. "We were going to win, I'm sure of it."

"Hey, at least it's not a serious competition," Richard said cheerfully, grinning at him.

"It _does_ say that contestants are disqualified if they evolve," Nicola added. "It was one of the smaller rules."

A short while later, all the points were tallied, and the final scores were put up on the leader board. Despite her strong showing in the first two rounds, Gulpy's disqualification from the final round meant that every other gulpin had managed to overtake her, with the nearest competitor just scraping enough points to overtake her. They'd been on the verge of victory; now they'd finished in last place.

"Stupid competition anyway!" Will growled as he and the others made their way back to the pokémon centre. "Gulpy was cheated! Cheated! She deserved to win!"

"Win what?" Richard asked. "It's not like there was a decent prize for it."

"That's not the point!" Will replied angrily.

"Oh well, easy come, easy go!" James grinned, patting Will on the back. "Why don't you take Gulpy for a check-up? We'll go and hang out in the trainers' lounge."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Will replied stiffly.

Once they'd ducked into the trainers' lounge and were sure they were out of earshot, James, Richard and Nicola all burst into a fit of giggles.

"I know it's mean, but it is _very_ funny," Nicola said, fighting to get her face straight again. "It's just the sort of thing that would happen to Will!"

"He'll learn from it, somehow," James said. "Even if it's just not to put too much stock in small competitions like this."

"And hey, learning to cope with defeat is an important lesson," Richard added. "And he still got an evolved pokémon out of it – I think that he and Gulpy gained a lot more from the contest this way than they would have done from winning the whole thing."

"Agreed." James nodded. "That's partly why it's so funny watching him throw a tantrum over it!"

"Who's throwing a tantrum?"

"No one!" James, Richard and Nicola all exclaimed as Will appeared to join them.

"A-anyway, let's talk about how awesome Gulpy is now that she's evolved," said Richard.

"You still can't keep her out of her poké ball at mealtimes," Nicola said firmly.

"We can never catch a break, can we?" Will sighed. The end of the Gulpin Contest had been frustrating, but there was nothing he could do now. He just had to work harder with Gulpy so that they could achieve even greater things together. They'd both grown a lot together on this journey, and they still had a lot more growing to do before it would be over.

* * *

 **No PokéRinger competition for you!**

 **I had more fun than I thought I would writing this chapter. I wanted to try writing most of the competition from Gulpy's point of view and hopefully it worked out well. The events surrounding her evolution into a swalot have been in the plan since very early on and it seemed like the perfect way of having her evolve – while taking part in an eating contest. There's also some consolation for both her and Will this chapter – they lost a contest because Gulpy was just too good!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): male, modest, good endurance, likes dry food, rock-bug type, Battle Armour ability, knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass-fighting type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): female, brave, strong willed, likes spicy food, normal-flying type, Natural Cure ability, knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): female, naughty, hates to lose, likes spicy food, psychic type, Own Tempo ability, knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	86. The Fruits of Success

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, Will entered Gulpy into the Gulpin Contest in Crossgate Town. On the verge of claiming victory, however, Gulpy evolved into a swalot and unfortunately had to be disqualified.**

 **Upload Date: 9** **th** **November 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 86: The Fruits of Success**

 _Crossgate Town, Hoenn_

 _9:46am, 28_ _th_ _July 2006_

"We're not going to Nordris Town?"

"That's not what I said, and don't shout – everyone's looking at us."

Her cheeks turning pink as she realised that the eyes of the other trainers in the trainers' lounge were on her, Nicola hunched down in the sofa and spoke more quietly. "I thought we were heading for the contest in Nordris Town next!"

"Again, that's not what I said," James replied. "Listen again: we're taking a detour further north before heading back down to Nordris Town. I checked the date of the next contest and we've got plenty of time to spare."

"Why the detour then?" Nicola asked. "Where are we heading?"

"Well, I was originally intending that we'd head straight for Nordris Town," James said. Beside him, Muro scratched his side lazily. "But then Richard and Will saw _this_ in the guidebook." He held it out for Nicola to see.

"The Battle Tower?" Nicola read the caption on the photo. It was of a sleek, grey and blue tower that gleamed in the sunshine. It was modern and advanced. The description claimed that it was a state-of-the-art pokémon battling facility in LaRousse City and hosted small-scale tournaments all through the year.

"Since we've got time before the contest in Nordris Town, I thought it would be okay to go to LaRousse City first so that we could see the Battle Tower," James said. "Both Richard and Will were really keen, and it sounds like LaRousse City is one of those places to see once in your life."

"And you're absolutely sure that we won't miss the Nordris contest?" Nicola asked, tossing the guidebook back to him.

"Positive," James replied, nodding. "I've worked out how long we've got and how long it'll take to get there from LaRousse City. We'll have time to spare."

"As long as you're sure," Nicola sighed. She looked around the trainers' lounge. "Where are Richard and Will anyway?"

"I packed them off to do some last-minute shopping," James said. "We're short on gas for the stove."

"Shouldn't we be thinking of leaving soon?" Nicola asked.

"They'll be back soon, I reckon."

Nicola turned around and gazed out of the window at the street beyond for a few seconds. "Well, I guess I'll head back upstairs and finish getting all of my stuff ready. Should I meet you guys back down here in, I don't know, twenty minutes?"

"Don't worry, we'll knock for you," James replied.

"Cool. See you in a bit." Nicola got up and started walking off towards the lobby.

James watched her go before absentmindedly reaching over and scratching Muro's head. The loudred grunted contently and drew closer to him. On his other side, Kacha was curled up in a ball. The only sign that he was still awake was the occasional, purposeful twitch of his tail.

"I suppose we should get ready to go as well," James murmured to himself. Gently coaxing his pokémon up, he closed the guidebook and started walking back towards the lobby as well.

* * *

 _Route 119, Hoenn_

 _11:57am, 28_ _th_ _July 2006_

What James hadn't mentioned to the others was that the road leading up from Crossgate Town to LaRousse City was mountainous and full of thick vegetation. The path mostly followed the bottom of a valley, the steep, rocky slopes and cliff faces looming over them as they walked. It often felt a little like it was only the trees and bushes on the slopes that were stopping the cliffs from collapsing down onto them.

Other than that intimidating sight, it was a much nicer road than the one up from Rubello Town. A nice, firm, and clearly-marked path and no sign of the swamps that had made their lives so difficult over the last couple of days. The sun was shining. It was getting hot as they approached the middle of the day, but it wasn't unbearable.

Even better, the guidebook said that the path went through a tunnel not too far from here. They'd be able to get out of the heat and cool off a bit!

"I'm telling you, with Gulpy on my side, I'm going to absolutely _dominate_ at the Battle Tower!" Will said cheerfully, holding up the swalot's poké ball and gazing at it. "You saw her during last night's training, didn't you?"

"Sure did!" Richard nodded. "She's far more powerful than she was before. Even Naro was having trouble with her!"

"What about your team?" Nicola asked. "Are you feeling confident?"

"Of course!" Richard said, turning to her and grinning. "I feel like we could take on anyone right about now."

"That's good," James said. "Make sure you save some of that enthusiasm for the gym battle in Fortree City."

"I've got plenty to spare!" Richard grinned.

They could see the entrance to the tunnel up ahead of them, the bright green leaves of trees clumped around it. Unexpectedly, there were a couple of people with hi-vis jackets milling around outside it. As the group got closer, they realised that they were putting up a line of tape across the entrance.

"Did something happen?" James asked as they approached them.

"There's been a cave-in further down the tunnel, so it's shut until we can clear the blockage and make sure that the tunnel is safe and secure," one of the men explained. "We've got some experienced men and pokémon working inside, but it's going to be a while."

"How long?" Richard asked.

"Maybe a week, if we're lucky," the man replied. "But we can't say at the moment. If you're trying to get to South City and LaRousse City, then there's another path that leads up the side of the valley and over the ridge." He pointed out a smaller, dirt path leading off to the left of the tunnel. "A bit more difficult, but it'll only get you into South City slightly later."

"Thanks for the help," James said. He looked around at the others. "I guess we're heading this way now."

There was a murmur of agreement. No one was particularly keen on the idea, but it would be better than heading back to Crossgate Town again.

* * *

 _1:36pm, 28_ _th_ _July 2006_

The path leading up the mountain wasn't even marked in the guidebook.

At first, James had just thought that it was because almost no one would use it with the much easier and more accessible main road below.

After a while though, he had realised that it was a really rough and challenging path. Perhaps this was the reason why it wasn't listed in the guidebook after all? The description it had used for the cliffs was a 'vertical forest' and it certainly lived up to that. Trees and bushes extended from between rocks before shooting upwards. It was a surreal experience, made even more intimidating by the sheer cliff face on the other side of the path. James had even decided to use one of their ropes to tie the four of them together, just in case someone slipped and fell on the narrow path.

"Everyone alright?" he called, glancing back at his companions as he led the way up the path.

"Yeah, yeah!" Nicola, second in line, nodded quickly. "L-let's just keep moving and get off this path quickly, yeah?"

"We're all good back here as well!" Richard called from the back.

"How much further to go?" Will asked.

"I'd say we're about halfway up now," James replied. "Hang in there, guys!"

Even without the added stress of the cliff, it was exhausting walking up this steep path. It was so narrow that there weren't any opportunities to sit down and rest properly. It might even be the toughest path in all of Hoenn!

They continued climbing, reaching the end of the traverse and turning to follow the path as it pointed straight towards the ridge. It was still a long way away, but they were probably over the worst for now.

At least, they thought that until they spotted it looping around again to climb further up.

"Just great!" Nicola groaned.

"Don't worry, we'll reach the top eventually," James replied. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How is everyone? Anyone need a rest?"

"I think we're still fine…" Richard gasped.

"Let's just get moving," Will said, staggering slightly. His feet were worn out after all the uphill walking.

"Right." James nodded. "Stick behind me then."

They continued climbing. The path was zigzagging backwards and forwards more than Zaggy did when he was allowed out of his poké ball and seemed to have become even steeper. They could only hope that the top of this path would be the end of the climbing.

"Hold on a second!" Richard called. "Just gotta re-tie my shoe lace!"

As he stopped, however, the sudden jerking of the rope caused Will to stumble. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he tumbled over the side.

There wasn't even enough time to shout. By the time the others had registered what was happening, the sudden force on the rope had hauled Nicola over as well. James had enough time to make a desperate grab for a nearby rock before he was wrenched over as well. Woefully unprepared for suddenly having to bear everyone's weight, Richard found himself being pulled over as well.

For a while after that, everything was a dizzy blur. James was tumbling, feeling every rock and tree branch as he slammed into it and hearing the sound of leaves as he tumbled through them. After what felt like a long time, he finally landed with a crash.

* * *

It felt like he was lying there for a while, feeling pain wash over his body as he got his mind around what had happened. He couldn't recall hearing the others land, but now that he was able to focus his eyes, he could see them laying nearby.

"I-is everyone alright?" he called croakily.

"Everything hurts!" Nicola groaned.

"I'll live!" Richard called.

"Same here!" Will added.

Fortunately, it seemed that they'd landed on a ledge further down the slope. It could have been worse – if they'd fallen just a few metres back, they could have plunged all the way back into the valley.

That was the only bright side though. Bumps and bruises were the least of their concerns as they tried to move around and assess the situation. There was a nasty gash above James's eye and he'd bitten his tongue on the way down. The iron-like taste of blood had filled his mouth. His arms stung if he tried to move them around, but he was starting to think it might not be as bad as he'd originally feared. He taken a nasty hit to his hip as well, which ached painfully with every movement.

Nicola had hit her head on landing and it seemed to James that she might be concussed. One of her arms had taken a nasty knock on the way down as well. Aside from that, she seemed to have gotten off relatively lightly, possibly because she was the lightest of the four. James had had her sit down to give her a chance to recover.

Richard had hurt his chest on the way down. James was worried that he might have cracked or even broken a rib. It was harder for him to breathe than normal, though he was still insisting that he wasn't in too much pain. His shoulder was hurting him more – possibly it was sprained.

Will had sprained his ankle, which was a serious injury out here. Attempting to walk was almost impossible. Climbing was out of the question, as was safely being able to walk along the narrow paths. He was going to need to be supported the whole way along, if they were going to keep going.

Exactly where to go was a difficult question though.

In theory, they might be able to pick a path along the mountainside until they reached the ridge. The odds of that working out perfectly were low though. Will probably wouldn't be able to walk all that way and, quite likely, the others would struggle as well. And that wasn't counting the fact that they needed to carry their equipment with them. The predicament was starting to look more serious the more James thought about it.

Still, he tried his hardest to stay calm. There had to be a way out of here. They'd managed to escape collapsing in the desert that one time – this would be no different.

"Will, do you think your arms will be alright?" he asked.

"Arms are fine," Will said, blinking back tears and wiping his eyes. "It's just my leg…"

"How about we try and get Turkey to fly you over the ridge?" James suggested. "Not ideal, but it'll get you off the mountain."

"I'm not sure," Will replied fearfully. "I don't think I could hold on that long."

"If only Turkey could carry more than one of us!" Richard wheezed. "Or if Blu or Nulin could carry us as well."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Nicola said, reaching up to pat Blu, who was perched on her hair and holding an ice pack against her head.

"We'll have to walk then," James said grimly. He could tell that the other three were all stretched to their limits by the stress. As much as he wanted to just cry, he needed to keep it together. "Could Mule carry all our equipment?"

"I-I think so." Nicola nodded. "But it'll be really hard for her to move around up here. She might not even be able to follow us…"

"Could Turkey carry some of it?" Richard asked. "He's pretty strong now."

"Maybe," James replied. "Grum and Vortex could help out as well using Psychic…"

"What about me?" Will asked, wincing as he tried to move his ankle. "I can't walk on it."

"Naro could carry him, maybe?" Richard suggested.

"It won't be easy, but it looks like that's our best option," James said, nodding. "Let's work out what Turkey should carry…"

"Whoa!" Nicola exclaimed.

The others looked around to see the green and brown form of a tropius soaring through the air not too far from them. He spotted them and changed direction, swooping down towards them. The leafy wings on his back looked fragile, but they beat the air powerfully and allowed him to keep himself flying easily. If they hadn't already seen one back in Vinelodge Town, it would have stunned James that such a bulky pokémon was capable of flight.

The tropius landed on the ledge and looked at them curiously, perhaps trying to decide why these humans had climbed up to this isolated ledge. He apparently noticed that Will was injured and lent his neck down towards him. A clump of yellow bananas hung down from it.

"Wh-what?" Will looked back at the tropius in confusion.

"I think he's offering you one of the bananas," James replied. He pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Tropius, the fruit pokémon. The bunches of fruit around a tropius's neck are very popular with children. This pokémon loves fruit, and eats it continuously. Apparently, its love for fruit resulted in its own outgrowth of fruit. This pokémon flies by flapping the leaves on its back as if they were wings. In the spring, it scatters pollen from its neck._ "

"…Thanks." Will reached up and gently pulled one of the yellow fruits from the tropius's neck.

Grunting in reply, the tropius drew back and then presented his neck to Richard and Nicola, who both took the remaining two fruits. Richard split his with James. For a few moments, there was silence as the four trainers ate the fruit and the tropius silently watched them.

"Hey." James gulped down his last mouthful and turned back to the tropius. "Do you think this tropius could help us?"

"Ah, maybe." Nicola nodded.

"We need to get off this mountain," James said. "We're trying to get over this ridge, but we're injured and it's hard to walk. Could you help us?"

The tropius looked a little reluctant, but he looked around at them, taking in the various injuries that they clearly had. After a couple of seconds, he hesitantly bowed his head.

A plan was quickly formulated. Nicola and Will would travel on the tropius's back, while Turkey would take Richard and some of their equipment. James would stay behind with the rest of the equipment and the tropius would return to pick him up once he'd dropped off the others.

No one felt tenser than James did as he watched Turkey and Richard fly away, and Nicola help Will up onto the tropius's back.

"Take care of Will!" he called to Nicola.

"I will!" Nicola nodded. "No need to worry!" She gave him a little wave before grabbing onto the tropius as he started to take off.

Seconds later, they were soaring off through the sky and disappeared from sight.

* * *

James felt as though he was waiting a long time, surrounded by the equipment that they'd left behind. He'd quickly let his pokémon out to keep him company. Nulin occasionally flew out from the ledge to see if he could see any sign of either the tropius or Turkey returning.

Kacha curled up in James's lap so that he could stroke him. He'd worked out the situation while in his poké ball and immediately knew that his trainer was injured. At times like this, they needed to stick together and support each other.

Charka and Muro, on the other hand, had immediately taken advantage of the break to spar with each other. James didn't mind too much: all of the bags were out of the way and it gave him and Kacha something to watch while they waited.

Eventually, Nulin flew back in, squawking loudly as he did. A few seconds later, the tropius appeared and landed softly on the ledge, causing Charka and Muro to scatter and retreat back over to James.

"Nice to see you again," James said, grinning at him. "You got Nicola and Will there all right?"

The tropius dropped his head in a nod.

"That's a relief," James sighed. "Let's get out of here."

He recalled Charka, Kacha and Muro to their poké balls and gathered up the remaining bags. He carefully hung them over the tropius's back and then climbed into position just behind his neck. Nulin flew past them as the tropius beat his wings and took off.

James's stomach lurched as he felt them lift into the air. He grabbed onto the tropius's neck and dug his legs into his flanks to hold himself in place. He could barely hear anything – just the wind rushing past him. The wind was so intense that it was difficult to keep his eyes open. He let out a shout that he could barely hear as they dived down, but the tropius regained height quickly.

After a short while, James found himself getting used to the sensation of flying on a pokémon's back. He found himself able to open his eyes a little bit more and looked around in wonder at the tiny trees, rocks, paths on the mountainside below. With the wind rushing past him, it felt much cooler than it had on the ground.

Nulin called out to him as he flew alongside them. He seemed to be struggling to keep up. The tropius really was flying fast. It was harder to tell when they were high up above the ground, but it was actually rushing past quickly.

James looked out in front of them and was immediately struck by the beauty of the surrounding mountains and valleys. "Wow," he said. He'd said it louder than normal – it was hard to hear himself over the wind. "Thanks for all this!" he called to the tropius. "I thought we were in real trouble back there!"

The tropius turned and grinned at him. He didn't seem all that bothered about stopping to help out. Maybe he was enjoying ferrying James and the others across the mountain? It probably wasn't the most interesting of lives like flying around a valley.

James absentmindedly patted the tropius on the side of the neck as they sped on towards the next valley.

* * *

 _3:49pm, 28_ _th_ _July 2006_

It didn't feel like they were flying for all that long before James felt the tropius start to swoop down towards the valley below. As they got closer, he could make out the other three on the ground, waving up to them. Turkey flew up to guide them in, shooting a smirk at Nulin on the way. For some reason, Nulin kept trying to grab and carry James's backpack as they descended after that.

"Good to see that you made it!" Richard called as the tropius dropped down and landed with a thud that almost sent James flying off his back.

"Good to be here," he replied. His arms and legs were both tingling and, as he slid off the tropius's back, he found it a little difficult to support his weight. The adrenaline that had been pumping through his blood was starting wear off now that he was back on the ground.

"The exit to the tunnel is just down there," Nicola said as she started hauling the bags off the tropius's back. She winced slightly as she used her injured arm but tried not to let it show. "We were really lucky that the tropius agreed to help us."

"Yeah." James nodded. "How is everyone?"

"Looking forward to a proper rest," Richard replied.

"Yeah, don't mind me!" Will called, wincing as he tried to move. He was sat against a tree by the side of the road.

"Ah, sorry!" Nicola rushed over to help him.

"So, should we get moving?" Richard asked. "There must a pokémon centre near, right?"

"I think so. But first…" James turned to face the tropius. He clasped Kacha's poké ball tightly in his hand. "I challenge you!" he called, holding up the poké ball.

The tropius gave him a surprised look, but then smiled and nodded. He jumped back, beating his wings powerfully, as James threw out the poké ball.

"Use Thunderbolt!" he called.

"You're fighting him?" Nicola cried, supporting Will as she hobbled back over. "Why?"

The tropius shot into the air to avoid the attack and fired back a cluster of razor-sharp leaves.

"He seemed strong," James replied as Kacha dove to the right to avoid the leaves. "Kacha needs a good opportunity to test out his moves."

A powerful gust of wind suddenly blew and Kacha was lifted into the air. He squeaked in fright as he was hurled around but managed to stabilise himself and fired another blast of electricity towards the tropius.

Too busy flapping his wings to whip up the wind, he couldn't react in time and was hit directly. He roared as the electricity coursed through him. Below, Kacha hit the ground with a thud. The injuries weren't that bad, and both were back to it in only a couple of seconds.

"Use Agility and then Tail Break!" James called.

Kacha nodded. A split second later, he vanished from sight and reappeared close to tropius. He swung his tail and smashed into the side of his neck with a fierce blow.

The tropius was knocked back slightly, but immediately slammed one of his large feet into the ground by Kacha as he landed. The pikachu was blasted back with a cry.

"Thunderbolt!" James ordered.

Kacha recovered and fired back a blast of electricity. He hit the tropius again, who roared in pain, but it seemed like it was doing less damage this time. Perhaps it was because the tropius was on the ground?

The exchange of attacks continued. Kacha managed to dodge most of what the tropius was throwing at him, but he was starting to get exhausted from all the dodging. And no matter how many attacks he threw back, the tropius seemed to recover quickly, even though he was clearly just as exhausted.

"Keep it up, Kacha!" James called. "Use Tail Break!"

With a weary nod, Kacha rushed forwards again. Dodging a volley of leaves hurled back his back, he sprang into the air and slammed his tail into the top of the tropius's head. Both pokémon separated, panting heavily.

As Kacha jumped back, James pulled out a poké ball and threw it at the tropius. It struck the base of his neck and sucked him inside.

For a couple of seconds, there was silence as the ball rocked about on the ground. Finally, there was a click as it sealed.

"You caught it?" Richard turned to James.

"Didn't you see how much he was enjoying fighting Kacha?" James replied, grinning at him. "I'd feel bad sending him back to that empty valley again after all that. Besides, we've got a lot to carry with us now and having him will be a big help."

"I guess that's true," said Nicola. "And he was pretty powerful."

"Worried about the Fortree Gym?" Richard asked with a grin.

"Ha! You wish!" James retorted. "I'm just happy we've made a new friend." He walked over and picked up the poké ball. "I'm going to call him Kelaar from now on."

"Well, better get him out so he can help carry the stuff!" Nicola called. "We need to find our way to a pokémon centre!"

"Yeah, sure!" James nodded, turning to go over and join them. There were good days and bad days when travelling, and even days which were a bit of both. However, it was rare to have one which changed so drastically.

The group was still battered, bruised, and injured from their fall, but they'd made it across the ridge and they'd made a new friend along the way.

* * *

 **You can stop pestering me now.**

 **I'm not sure exactly how well this chapter title works out now that the chapter itself has been written. Maybe something emphasising the peril would have been better? Oh well, more lessons for the future.**

 **With LaRousse City's prominence in both the film and the TV series, I felt like I definitely needed the group to detour in its direction. Quite what they'll find there, you'll have to wait until next week to find out. Suffice to say that it'll appeal to anyone who's been pining for gym battles! And on that subject, we're starting to get close to the Fortree Gym battle as well.**

 **I've also made a tiny tweak to the way the team listings are formatted starting this week – not a big deal and probably not even that noticeable. If you do spot any inconsistencies, then let me know so I can fix them.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Lairon): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Normal-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	87. The Battle Tower

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, the group started their journey towards LaRousse City, only to run into difficulties after falling down the side of the mountain. In the end, James befriended a wild tropius who helped fly them over the ridge and later joined James's team after a battle with Kacha.**

 **Upload Date: 17** **th** **November 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 87: The Battle Tower**

 _South City, Hoenn_

 _3:48pm, 30_ _th_ _July 2006_

It had been a difficult journey after crossing the ridge, even with Mule and Kelaar to help carry things. It had been late by the time James, Richard, Nicola and Will had arrived in the nearest town and had the opportunity to visit the pokémon centre. A quick stop at a hospital in town had been a relief as well.

Though Richard had injured his chest, it was just bruising and James's fears of a fracture or a break were proved wrong. It was still painful for him to breathe but some rest and time to recover was all he needed.

Similarly, Nicola was all right as well. Though she'd been dazed and confused after the fall, James had noticed that she was much better after reuniting with the others. Aside from her bruises and scratches, there was nothing wrong with her.

Will's ankle still hurt him. The doctor had bandaged it but advised him not to put too much pressure on it for the next couple of days. Fortunately, he could ride on Kelaar's back and they'd still be able to travel together to LaRousse City.

It had been a relief for all of them that there were no serious injuries, but they'd stayed put for an extra day while everyone recovered. Even so, when they'd finally set off earlier today, they'd made slow progress and it was approaching the evening when they finally arrived in South City.

"How do we get to LaRousse City from here?" Nicola asked as they walked wearily down a street.

"I think our best bet is the monorail," James replied. "The guidebook says it's the quickest and cheapest way in."

"A monorail, huh?" Richard said. "You don't see them very often."

"Apparently it links up with another city close to Mauville," James said. "If we wanted, then we could have come here almost directly from there!"

"Where's the fun in that?" Richard grinned.

"Yeah, 'fun'," said Will, who was still sat on Kelaar's back. The tropius was looking around curiously at all the tall buildings around him. He'd probably never been to such a big place.

"You both doing okay?" James asked.

Kelaar grunted and nodded. He lowered his head so that James could pat it.

"I'm fine," Will replied. "Still can't walk though…"

"There'll be seats on the monorail," James said reassuringly. "Don't worry."

"Didn't say I was worried," Will muttered.

"Anyway, I think we should hurry up!" Nicola ran forwards a couple of paces. "Let's get to LaRousse City this evening!"

"Agreed." James nodded. The monorail journey would be nothing compared to the time it had taken to get here from the last town. It should be more comfortable as well. To be honest, he was looking forward to seeing LaRousse City as well – the pictures he'd seen looked impressive and the guidebook said that the monorail was one of the best ways to see the city.

"Just need to find the monorail station," Richard said. He suddenly winced and gently touched his chest.

"Take it easy," James said as he pulled out the guidebook. "You're still recovering as well."

"Sure, sure," Richard replied dismissively.

* * *

 _4:12pm, 30_ _th_ _July 2006_

The summer evening was still quite bright as the monorail pulled out of the station and rolled out over the river. They could see LaRousse City clearly in the distance.

"It's beautiful," Nicola murmured, pressing her nose against the glass window as she stared at the gleaming buildings in the distance.

"There's the Battle Tower," Richard said. His eyes were firmly fixed on the impressive tower that stood higher than any other building in the city. Even from this distance, it was obvious that a lot of money had gone into the facility. What would it be like inside?

"Can't wait to see what kind of trainers we'll battle!" Will grinned. He'd turned around as best as he could to see out of the window with the others. "A place that big will have tons of trainers, right?"

"Yeah." James nodded. He was gazing at the Battle Tower as well.

LaRousse City was on an island in the middle of a large river flowing west towards the sea. At the heart of the river valley, it was somewhere that was visible for miles around – the route that they'd taken to get here was one of the few that didn't have good views of the city. It wasn't hard to see why an advanced facility would be built here, where it could truly command attention. Maybe LaRousse City would one day host the Hoenn League at this facility?

"I can't wait to get there and start exploring the city!" Nicola said cheerfully. She turned to the left, following in the same direction that the monorail was moving and inadvertently met the eyes of one of the other passengers. "Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It's Mia!"

"Huh?" James and the others looked around as Nicola jumped up and marched over towards her. It really was Mia.

"You guys?" Mia got up and gingerly walked over towards them. "You're heading to LaRousse City too?"

"We wanted to compete in the Battle Tower," Nicola said. "What about you? There isn't a contest we didn't know about, is there?"

"I just wanted to see the city," Mia replied. She looked cautiously at Nicola. "How… how have you been sleeping lately?"

"Ah!" Nicola's expression darkened. "You fed me that fortune just to mess with me!" she cried angrily. "Now you're rubbing it in my face that I fell for it!"

"Th-that's not it!" Mia replied quickly. Her eyes briefly darted towards James before back to Nicola. "I-I didn't think you'd take it seriously, but I should have known better." She turned away and looked out of the window. "Sorry. I was in the wrong."

"Well, it's not like you lost _that_ much sleep over it," Richard said.

"She almost pushed you down a mountain because she was panicking about her bad luck!" Will piped up.

"Oh yeah…" Richard said thoughtfully.

"I don't know… 'sorry' is an easy word to say…" Nicola gave Mia a stern look.

"Why doesn't she show you she's sorry?" James suggested. "You wouldn't mind helping Nicola out, would you, Mia?"

"That depends on what she's asking," Mia said uneasily. "But if it's something I can do…"

"Then I want you to help me out with my contest planning!" Nicola said firmly. "Pokéblock recipes, combinations, tactics – I want you to help out with it all."

"If you're happy with that, then I can do that." Mia nodded. "Are you staying in LaRousse City for long?"

"Maybe a day or two," James replied.

"Two," Richard and Will added.

"I was planning on sticking around for a little while as well," Mia said. "We can talk about contests while we're there."

"Yes!" Nicola grinned. "Now I'll definitely be able to beat you at the next contest!"

"You think you'll be able to pick everything up just like that?" Mia raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm not going to upset you with the truth."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nicola demanded. "C'mon, Mia! You said you'd help me!"

"Oh, I will," Mia replied with a smile. "But I can only do so much." She quickly turned to James. "I-if you want to join in as well, then I'm happy to help you as well."

"That'd be great, thanks," James said.

* * *

 _LaRousse City, Hoenn_

 _4:27pm, 30_ _th_ _July 2006_

LaRousse City was much different to any other city that the group had visited in Hoenn. Even getting around was a new experience – the pavements moved like conveyer belts and it took them a while to get used to them. Both Mia and Richard almost tripped and fell several times. On the plus side, they made it much quicker to get around and they ended up outside the Battle Tower very quickly after leaving the monorail station.

Upon arriving, they'd learned that the Battle Tower hosted a new tournament every day – not surprising, but still impressive. It was rare to have so many trainers present in a city that it was possible to host a proper tournament like this.

Obviously, they were too late to register for the tournament that had started that morning, but they'd compete tomorrow instead.

"What are you going to do?" James asked Will as Richard and Nicola went up to register.

"Not sure," Will replied, twitching his ankle and frowning as he felt a twinge of pain shoot through it. "I really want to take part in the Battle Tower though…"

"Well, you're the only one who can make that decision." James stepped back from him and glanced over at the registration desk.

"No pressure then," Will sighed.

"You're not competing?" James said, turning to Mia.

"I don't like battling," Mia replied, shaking her head. "My pokémon aren't that great when it comes to brawls."

"I don't know, they're pretty good in contest battles," James replied.

"It's not the same thing." Mia shrugged. "You know that, right?"

As James and Mia spoke, Will continued twitching his ankle and trying to decide if he would be able to stand on it for most of tomorrow. Normally, it would probably be fine, but he'd most likely be walking on it again on the journey to Nordris Town afterwards. Would it be better to leave it to heal for now?

"Oh? You're here?"

Will looked up upon hearing the familiar voice and saw Geoff standing nearby.

"You're here as well?" he replied coolly.

"You bet. The Battle Tower is a no-brainer if you want to take on the Hoenn League," Geoff said. He smirked. "I should've guessed that you wouldn't be taking part."

"Will's got a sprained ankle right now," James said firmly. "If he doesn't battle, then it's because of that."

"Ah, that's fair." Geoff nodded. "Disappointing though. You doing anything about the gym challenge?"

"I took on the Lavaridge Gym a while back!" Will retorted.

"How'd that go?"

"It was…" Will trailed off.

"Uh-huh." Geoff raised a knowing eyebrow.

Will was about to retort when Nicola suddenly came running back over with Richard. "Will, it's a doubles tournament! Enter with me!"

"I guess we're a team then?" James said, turning to Richard.

"If that's cool with you."

"No problem."

As James and Richard bumped fists, Will looked between Nicola and Geoff before unsteadily getting to his feet. "Sure, I'm up for taking part as well."

"Thank you! You're a lifesaver!" Nicola grinned. "I'll help you over there…"

"Hope we get to battle each other tomorrow," Geoff said. "I'm looking forward to getting revenge for that time on Dewford Island!"

"Aren't you full of yourself?" Will said sharply, glancing back. "We beat you last time. We'll beat you again."

"I'm glad to see that he's more fired up now," James said to Richard and Mia as Nicola, Will and Geoff walked off. "He's been looking a little lost ever since he hurt his ankle."

"Yeah." Richard nodded. He absentmindedly reached for his chest. "As long as he's not making it worse, there's no harm in it, is there?"

"What time do you start in the morning?" Mia asked.

"Err, ten, I think," Richard replied. "Early."

"That's a good point: are we going to have enough time for training?" James asked.

"You're right!" A look of realisation crossed Richard's face. "We haven't trained properly since we were in Crossgate Town!"

"D-don't worry!" Mia cried. "I'm sure there's still time to do some training this evening."

"We'll have to settle with that," said James. "I mean, our teams are still pretty tough, right?"

"I can help as well," said Mia. "I might not fight battles, but I'm sure some of the things that are good in contests would be useful in battles as well."

"We'll head to the pokémon centre first and work things out from there," said James. "Anyway, we still need to register first…"

* * *

 _5:41pm, 30_ _th_ _July 2006_

After heading to the pokémon centre and booking rooms for the night, the five of them had trooped back out into the warm July evening to find a practice arena to use. Not an easy task in a city that was swarming with other trainers who were here for the tournament. It was only after they ventured further away from the city centre that they eventually found somewhere and set to work.

It didn't take long for the sounds of battle and intense fighting to fill the air. James and Will were particularly keen to put Gulpy and Kelaar through their paces and get used to their battle styles.

"Use Razor Leaf!" James called.

With a grunt, Kelaar fired a cluster of leaves towards Arro, who flinched as they struck him.

"Now use Gust!"

Kelaar beat his leafy wings powerfully and whipped up a gust of wind that battered Arro, but otherwise did little to him. The tropius fired another cluster of leaves which slashed at the lairon's sides. Despite his steely exterior, Kelaar was still dealing damage. He had a lot of potential and he was good at following directions. James got the feeling that they'd do well together.

"Hey, James."

"Hmm?" James looked around to find Mia approaching him. "What's up?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

James glanced back over at Richard, who shrugged. "Sure, that's fine." He turned to Kelaar. "Make sure you keep practising until I get back."

He followed Mia away from the rest of the group to one corner of the arena. Charka and Nulin were practicing together, while Muro cheered them on. A number of pokémon were loitering by the side of the arena – they were resting after their own training sessions. Will and Nicola were guiding Gulpy and Mule, who were practising their aim with long-range attacks.

"Have you got your pikachu with you?" Mia asked.

"Oh, yeah." James snapped his attention back to her. He glanced over at the group of pokémon at the side and called out, "Kacha! Get over here!"

"To tell you the truth," Mia began hesitantly. "There's a move that my family have mastered – a powerful electric-type attack that pikachu can learn. I… haven't picked it up perfectly, but I thought I could try and teach it to Kacha. I-if you want, of course!"

"A powerful electric-type attack?" James frowned. "I mean, I can see it being useful. What kind of move is it?"

"It's called Volt Tackle," Mia replied. "It's a really violent and powerful attack. It looks good in contests though and it's great in battle as well."

"Well, I'm game if Kacha's up for it," James said, smiling at Kacha as he ran up to join them.

"Sure." Mia nodded. "But it'll be hard. And I'm not even sure if I could teach it properly either…"

"It's worth a shot," James replied. "It'd be really helpful if he could learn a powerful new attack."

"I'll try and teach him as best as I can then!" Mia said, relieved at his positive reaction. She smiled down at Kacha.

At that moment, they suddenly heard a shout from back over hear the others.

"Look at Arro!"

The lairon had suddenly been enveloped in a bright light. He suddenly reared up onto his hind legs and stayed there as his body grew larger and sturdier. He let out a mighty roar as the light burst.

"Wow! Great work, Arro!" Richard called enthusiastically, running forwards to pat him on the side. He pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at him.

" _Aggron, the iron armour pokémon and the evolved form of lairon. Aggron are surprisingly protective of their environment. If its mountain is ravaged by a landslide or a fire, this pokémon will haul top soil to the area, plant trees, and beautifully restore its own territory. It vigilantly patrols its territory at all times._ "

"I'll be counting on you then, Mia!" James grinned at her before running off towards Richard. "Congrats, Richard!"

"I'll do my best…" Mia murmured. She glanced back down at Kacha. "Shall we get started?"

Kacha flicked his ears curiously and nodded.

* * *

 _1:49pm, 31_ _st_ _July 2006_

Inside the Battle Tower was every bit as impressive as the outside and the lobby. The gleaming walls and polished floors reflected the dim lights in the ceilings. Everything felt very high-tech and advanced – a lot of money had been poured into this place.

The arenas were made of a flexible material that was hard enough to sustain pokémon attacks but didn't hurt _too_ much to land on. It made James feel more like they were fighting on a futuristic spaceship instead of in a room here on Earth.

But this also created an insanely tense atmosphere. The dim lighting and the too-perfect rooms put everyone in the tournament on edge. Even with the knowledge that the arenas were specially designed to withstand heavy pokémon attacks, there was a reluctance to actually use them.

James had been hoping that this uncomfortable feeling would disappear as he and Richard continued battling during the day. He was wrong. Even with countless battles behind them and now moving on to the semi-finals, the feeling remained.

Will and Nicola were having more difficulty. After fighting through several rounds, Will was exhausted. Nicola had to physically support him during battles now. The competition was tougher now as well. For the quarter-final match, they'd been drawn against Geoff, who was partnering up with someone they'd never met called Finley. The battle had been fierce and all four pokémon were completely worn out.

"Use Sludge Bomb!" Will called to Gulpy.

"Silver Wind!" Geoff shouted.

Jam the beautifly flapped his wings and blasted a powerful wind towards Gulpy. The sludge the swalot had fired lost height and plunged to the ground. She cried out as the silver particles in the wind started pummelling her.

Nearby, Blu was flying in circles around Finley's vulpix, Pixel, and avoiding the jets of flame being fired into the air. She dove down to peck at her flanks, but quickly had to retreat again before Pixel could catch her at close range.

The crowd cheered with each exchanged blow and the weary pokémon tried desperately to keep outmanoeuvring each other.

Nicola and Will shared a nod and had their pokémon swap targets. Gulpy lurched towards Pixel and spat a blast of sludge towards her, while Blu dove from the air and slammed into Jam. The two flying pokémon tumbled to the ground and continued struggling. Jam was putting up a terrific fight, but Blu was on top. And her beak gave her something to use this close.

Pixel sprang to the side with her remaining strength and narrowly avoided Gulpy's attack. She pulled herself back up and shot back a powerful burst of flames. Gulpy attempted to sway to the side but the attack caught her flank and burned her. She winced in pain as she prepared to fire another blast of sludge towards Pixel.

On the other side of the battlefield, the brawl between Blu and Jam was coming to an end. After a punishing volley of pecks, Jam was too exhausted to continue.

"Beautifly is unable to battle!" the referee announced.

Blu chirped loudly and triumphantly, shooting back up into the air and flying in circles. She looked round to see that Gulpy had been blasted with another jet of flames. This time, the swalot couldn't take anymore and sagged down to the ground.

"Swalot is unable to battle!" the referee announced.

"Sorry, looks like we're done," Will said as he recalled Gulpy to her poké ball.

"Don't worry about it," Nicola replied. She turned back to look out at Blu. "Blu, give it everything you've got!"

Chirping loudly, Blu torpedoed herself towards Pixel. She sped towards her like an arrow fired from a bow. Her cotton wings flowed behind her as she got faster and faster.

Then Pixel jumped. She climbed just high enough to pass over Blu, who had to suddenly pull up. As she spun around and looped back for another attack, her opponent landed on the ground and turned to face her. Blu flew straight at her, beak extended and wings tucked back once again. She chirped shrilly as if hoping to intimidate Pixel.

Pixel kept her cool. At the right moment, she opened her mouth and spat a cloud of flames out in front of her. Blu had scarcely enough time to register what was happening before being engulfed by the inferno.

"Swablu is unable to battle!" the referee announced as Blu dropped to the ground with a thud. "Both Nicola and Will no longer have pokémon left who can battle, so this match goes to Geoff and Finley!"

The crowd cheered as the four trainers walked across the arena and shook each other's hands.

"Looks like I won this time!" Geoff grinned. "Starting to wish you were taking the gym challenge now?"

"That doesn't count," Will replied coldly. "Jam already went down before Gulpy did."

"Are they always like this?" Finley asked Nicola.

"I guess so?" Nicola replied uncertainly. It certainly _seemed_ normal going off what she'd seen the last time they'd met.

* * *

With Nicola and Will out of the competition, they joined the crowd so they could watch James and Richard in the semi-final.

"Make sure you keep it together out there," James said to Richard as they rode the lift up to the arena. "Now we're in the semi-finals, things have gotten pretty serious."

"No need to tell me that!" Richard replied, grinning at him. James had learned to pick up on when he was throwing up a front though – he could tell that he was trying to cover his nervousness.

James felt nervous himself. He was confident in all his pokémon, including Kelaar, but Kacha was still struggling with his new attack. Mia had told them that Kacha needed to electrocute himself and then tackle his opponent, which sounded much easy at first but was actually very difficult. Every time Kacha had tried it, he wasn't able to last more than a few seconds before it became unbearable. Both Mia and James were afraid that it would take a lot of practice and more time than Mia would still be with them before he finally mastered the move.

As the lift stopped as James and Richard stepped out onto the arena to the cheers of the gathered crowd, they spotted their opponents emerging from the lift on the far side of the arena.

"Ah! Isn't that…!" Richard suddenly exclaimed.

James recognised one of the trainers too – it was that boy they'd run into Route 116. The one who'd caught a wild kecleon after Richard had weakened it. What was his name again?

"Oh, it's you guys," the boy said, casting a pitying glance at them.

"You know those two?" his partner asked.

"Just a couple of nobodies I ran into one time," the boy replied. "Nothing to worry about, Ruth."

"That was it," Richard said stiffly. "Mark."

"Ah, I remember now." James nodded. "Let's show him what we're made of."

"Go, Teina!" Mark called, throwing out a poké ball.

"Go, Lile." Ruth also tossed out a ball.

A banette and a cradily burst out of the poké balls and materialised on the arena floor.

"Whoa, look at those!" Richard gasped, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Banette, the marionette pokémon and the evolved form of shuppet. Legend has it that a cursed energy permeated the stuffing of a discarded and forgotten plush doll, giving it new life as a banette. This energy would escape if it were to ever open its mouth. Banette generate energy for laying down strong curses by sticking pins into its own body._ "

" _Cradily, the barnacle pokémon and the evolved form of lileep. Cradily once roamed the ocean floor in search of food, their bodies serving as an anchor to prevent them from being washed away in rough seas. This pokémon freely extended its tree trunk-like neck and captured unwary prey using its eight tentacles. It secreted a strong digestive fluid from its tentacles_."

"Stay focused on the battle," James said as he pulled out his own poké ball. "Go, Kelaar!"

Kelaar roared as he burst from the ball and landed on the ground.

"Got it!" Richard tucked his Pokédex away and pulled out a poké ball. "Go, Arro!"

Arro materialised on the battlefield and roared loudly. He swept his huge new arms impressively. He was full of confidence and seemed as determined as his trainer to put down his opponents.

"Use Shadow Ball!" Mark called.

"Iron Defence!" Richard ordered.

As Teina the banette hurled a ball of darkness through the air, Arro stiffened the steel armour coating his body.

"Razor Leaf!" James yelled.

"Ingrain!" Ruth called.

Lile the cradily anchored herself and let her roots seep into the ground. No one was sure what kind of nutrients she was hoping to find, but maybe there was another plan.

Kelaar whipped his wings and fired a cluster of razor-sharp leaves at both his opponents. They slashed viciously at Teina and Lile as the Shadow Ball smashed into Arro and forced him to take a step back.

Recovering quickly, Teina leapt forwards and darted from side to side, looking as nonchalant as she could. Suddenly, she made a rush for Kelaar and struck him from behind. Lurching forwards, he used the momentum to take off and flew at Lile. There was a crash as he slammed his heavy foot into her, only for him to recoil in pain. The cradily's body was much tougher than it looked.

Arro lumbered forwards, struggling to keep his balance in his new form but swinging his steel-coated tail at Teina. The banette was thrown back, but quickly pulled herself up again. The strike had torn part of her cloth body, allowing a dark, sinister energy to leak out.

The two sides continued exchanging attacks, with the trainers shouting increasingly loud orders. Kelaar took to the air and glided across the battlefield, firing clusters of leaves down at Teina and Lile. He and James quickly took to whipping up a gust of wind at the same time to make the attack even faster and harder to dodge.

Arro was struggling though. His tough defence had become even stronger since evolving, but he wasn't used to fighting on two legs. He managed some early attacks, but quickly fell onto the defensive. He kept Teina at bay with the occasional swipe from his claws. Fortunately, this quickly developed into a proper plan – Richard and Arro would hold down the enemy's attack, while James and Kelaar would stay out of range and strike them from a distance.

One thing that James had to grudgingly concede was Mark and Teina _were_ good. They were dodging the high-speed attacks Kelaar was throwing at them and their quick, critical strikes were whittling away at Arro's stamina. When he'd spoken so highly of himself when they'd first met, maybe he hadn't been just bragging to impress them.

Of course, a trainer in a tag battle was only as good as their partner, and Ruth was definitely a good trainer as well. She was staying cool and decisive even as Kelaar rained leaves down on Lile from above, directing the cradily to counter at precisely the right moment to minimise damage. As the battle developed, James started to get paranoid that Ruth and Lile were biding their time for the perfect opportunity to strike back at Kelaar.

As the battle wore on, the pokémon were starting to get exhausted. The trainers' voices were getting hoarse from all the over-enthusiastic shouting. Voices were less clear, and the confusion of the battlefield was making it harder and harder to understand orders. Trust was starting to play a big part.

An unclear order from James led Kelaar to dip low to attack Teina up close, even though he had no attacks that would affect her. This seemed to be the opportunity that Lile was waiting for. With a shout, she fired a cluster of boulders through the air. Kelaar roared in pain as the rocks crashed into his side, flinging him over and crushing his wings. He slammed into the ground hard.

As he struggled to pull himself back up again, Teina darted forwards and struck him with quick attacks. There was a roar as Arro lurched forwards to try and help his ally. A wild swing of his arm sent Teina leaping back, but Lile suddenly extended her tentacles and latched onto him. Held firmly in place, he could do little as Teina jumped up and hurled a dark ball of energy at him.

As the ball hit his chest and exploded, Arro staggered. Exhausted from the battle, he started toppling forwards. Lile released him and he fell heavily onto Kelaar as he struggled to get up. The tropius cried in pain and slumped down as well.

A cheer erupted from the crowd as Teina and Lile grinned cheerfully at their victory and Mark and Ruth slapped palms in triumph.

"Tropius and Aggron are unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Both James and Richard's pokémon are unable to battle, so this match goes to Ruth and Mark!"

There was another cheer after the referee finished his announcement.

James and Richard recalled their fallen pokémon to their poké balls and walked out bitterly to meet the victors. There was a tension in the air as they shook hands, with James and Mark both gripping each other's hands slightly more fiercely than needed. Richard's handshake with Mark was equally fierce. There wasn't a single word spoken between them.

It was only when they were all heading back to the lifts that Mark spoke. "See? What did I tell you?"

"Yeah, nothing much to see there," Ruth replied. "I was hoping for a tougher battle."

For a moment, Richard made to turn around to face them, but felt James grab his arm.

"Not worth it," he muttered bitterly. "We'll just look like sore losers."

"…You're right," Richard grunted. "I was hoping that Ruth would be a decent person at least."

"Bullies attract other bullies, I guess," said James. "We'll show them. When we meet again, let's crush them!"

"I wish it was that easy," Richard sighed.

The barrier on the lift shot up and they started descending back down to the bottom of the tower.

* * *

 _6:17pm, 31_ _st_ _July 2006_

After the disappointing end to James and Richard's Battle Tower run, they'd met up with Nicola, Will and Mia in the lobby and set off back to the pokémon centre. Failing to win the tournament was weighing on their minds, even though it made total sense that a big tournament like this would attract all kinds of tough trainers. Perhaps they'd hoped that the fact that there was a tournament every day meant that there was a better chance of facing weaker trainers?

The trip back to the pokémon centre was mostly silent as James, Richard, Nicola and Will moped after their defeats, but some time to think helped and they went down to dinner feeling better.

"…Anyway, I learned a lot from watching how Mark battled," said Richard. "I get the feeling that the next time we meet will be different."

"Same." James nodded. "The way that they used us against each other at the end was pretty impressive. Hate to admit it though."

"We beat Geoff. That's all that's important to me," said Will. He took a big bite out of his burger. "Diga si oew Blu…"

"Eat, then talk," Nicola said sharply.

Will swallowed. "Sorry. Did you see how Blu crushed Jam?"

"Yes, I was there," Nicola replied. "Maybe we should think more about how Pixel beat both Gulpy and Blu instead?"

"Jam helped with that, didn't he?" Mia said, idly twirling spaghetti with her fork. "It wasn't that Pixel was stronger than both of them together…"

"That reminds me," James said, looking over at her. "What are you planning to do now, Mia?"

"Me?" Mia pondered as she put her fork in her mouth. There was a brief silence as she ate. "I was going to head to the next contest in Nordris Town."

"Really?" Nicola cried excitedly, turning to her. "So are we – in fact, we were supposed to be heading there instead of LaRousse City!"

"I-is that so?" Mia replied awkwardly.

"Want to travel together?" Richard asked. "If we're all heading the same way then we might as well, right?"

"That sounds like a good idea." James nodded. "What do you think?"

"I-if you're happy to have me, then…" Mia replied, going a little pink in the face.

"It's a promise then!" Nicola said gleefully. "This way you can still teach me and James on the way there!"

"Why would I do that?" Mia demanded. "We're going to be _competitors_! I'm not going to help you beat me!"

"Oh? So, you're not confident that your combinations are better than ours?" Nicola smirked. "That's good to know!"

"Ha! I could make your current combinations perfect and I'd still win hands down!" Mia replied loudly. "Don't get cocky just because you've won a handful of contests!"

Across the table, James smiled. "It's good seeing her like this," he said to Richard, keeping his voice down. "I always feel like Mia gets a bit awkward when she's around us. It's nice to see her relaxing a bit."

"Yeah." Richard nodded. He frowned. "I guess rivals are good for bringing out different sides to you."

"Don't worry about it," James said, patting him on the shoulder. "You're still getting stronger. You haven't hit a wall yet."

"I get it," Richard sighed. "Just hard to swallow, that's all."

James smiled at him. For all the disappointment they were feeling from the Battle Tower, there was one good thing that came out of it. Having a rival, someone who they now desperately wanted to beat, would only push them to train harder and become even better trainers.

Failure was a far greater teacher than success, after all.

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay on this chapter. This week's been somewhat hectic for me.**

 **I didn't get a chance to go into Mia helping James and Nicola with contest practice, so that'll have to come later. Same with Mia trying to teach Kacha how to use Volt Tackle. There's only so much room in a chapter and the battle side of things seemed like the side that should take priority in a chapter named 'The Battle Tower'.**

 **Aside from that, not much to say. Another evolution in the group now that we're closing in on the final stages of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **, and the return on Mark, the trainer that caught the kecleon Richard was after back in Chapter 60.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Normal-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Sing, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	88. Renegade Castform

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group arrived in LaRousse City so they could compete in the Battle Tower, only to find their efforts frustrated by familiar faces such as Geoff and Mark. Fortunately, they also ran into Mia, who started teaching Kacha how to use Volt Tackle.**

 **Upload Date: 24** **th** **November 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 88: Renegade Castform**

 _Nordris Town, Hoenn_

 _9:09am, 2_ _nd_ _August 2006_

After getting the monorail out of LaRousse City again, James and the others had started on their journey back south towards Nordris Town. Will's ankle had still been hurting him, so he'd travelled on Kelaar's back again while everyone else walked. This was just as well, since the route south was tiring. Not as bad as the parts of Route 119, the road through the forested valley was still tough to walk along. It was mostly peaceful though – hardly any aggressive wild pokémon and almost no other trainers. James supposed that most of the other coordinators heading for Nordris Town had either already gotten there or weren't coming via LaRousse City.

Despite being a tough route at times, the novelty of having Mia with them kept the others in high spirits. Mia herself seemed a little less happy – maybe she wasn't used to getting this much attention on the road. She alternated between being cordial and irritated with Nicola when she wasn't gingerly walking alongside James.

There hadn't been many opportunities to train for the contest on the way down to Nordris Town – with the contest so close, everyone knew that they'd needed to get all the way in one day. They'd been exhausted when they'd finally arrived at the pokémon centre in the evening and, after a quick meal, they'd all been happy to head straight to bed.

The usual pre-contest panic caught up with them as soon as they woke up the next morning, and James, Nicola and Mia had all dashed out to the practice arenas as soon as they'd finished breakfast so that they could get started.

"You're not thinking enough about the presentation!" Mia said, pointing at Kipa's hopeless combination involving mud and water. "Even mud can be appealing if you play it right, but you're just treating it like it's fire or electricity!"

"S-sorry!" Nicola cried. There was a part of her that was regretting insisting on having Mia help out. "Kipa, let's try something different!"

Kipa nodded and called back to her enthusiastically. Nearby, the rest of the team was practising their techniques as well. Mushy was shooting out punches at such a high speed that all they could see was green blurs. Mule was spewing embers and dashing around, while Tricky was charging electricity and allowing a dim yellow glow to surround himself. Blu was racing through the air above them, occasionally dipping low to strike at some targets James had set up on the ground. Zaggy was dozing peacefully by the side of the arena. Nicola would deal with him later.

Leaving Nicola, Mia wandered back over to Kacha, who was trying to use Volt Tackle. He would tense himself up on all fours, fixing his gaze firmly on the target on the other side of the battlefield. Then his cheeks sparked with electricity. It crackled and snapped as bolts jumped and darted around him. Focusing, his turned his power on himself, squeaking in pain as the electricity surged back through his body, permeating his fur and shooting off from his tail. He strained to move, his muscles screaming at him. If it weren't for his uniquely resilient electric-type nerves, he was sure that his legs would be spasming from the electric shock. He managed a step forwards before his grip on the electrical surge faltered. There was a blast as he suddenly released the electricity into the air. He felt his muscles sag and almost dropped to the floor.

The whole process had taken no more than three seconds.

"It's a really hard move," Mia said kindly, sitting down next to him and reaching out to stroke his head. "I wish I could think of a better way to help you keep control of the electricity…"

Kacha twitched his ears and gave her a tired smile. At that moment, he started squinting as a ray of sunshine suddenly pierced the thick cloud cover. In only a few seconds, the clouds vanished completely and left a bright blue sky.

"Huh? That's strange," James said, coming over to join them. "Didn't the weather forecast say that it was going to be cloudy all day today?"

"Weather forecasters always seem to be getting it wrong," Nicola said dismissively. "I remember one time when they claim we were going to have a warm, beautiful summer a couple of years ago and we spent about a month indoors because it wouldn't stop raining…"

"I guess it's not _that_ strange for the weather to change like that…" Mia mumbled. She suddenly shuddered as a cold breeze blew past her. Suddenly, the clouds were returning. She flinched as she felt a fat raindrop land on her head.

"Wh-what now?" Nicola exclaimed, wriggling her head down into her T-shirt.

"They _definitely_ didn't say anything about rain today!" James called as heavy rain started hammering down on them. "Let's find some shelter!"

They all quickly ran from the practice arena until they found a crowded gazebo nearby and managed to squeeze under it alongside all the other coordinators and pokémon. No sooner had they managed to get in, the sky brightened again as the clouds parted. Everyone under the gazebo stuck their heads out in confusion, only to feel an intensely cold breeze brush past them.

"Is that…snow?"

Sure enough, white flakes were suddenly blowing past them. For a couple of seconds, everyone was so stunned by the sight that they did nothing. Then they started shivering in their summer clothes as the snowfall increased.

"L-let's go back to the pokémon centre," Mia said to James and Nicola through chattering teeth. "It'll be warm in there."

* * *

 _9:41am, 2_ _nd_ _August 2006_

After about twenty minutes of a freezing blizzard blowing through Nordris Town, the snow vanished and was replaced with hammering rain again. Within another ten minutes, it was bright sunshine. Then it was overcast again. The weather was changing so quickly that no one could keep track of it.

Most of the trainers in Nordris Town had retreated to the trainers' lounge to shelter from the bizarre weather and discuss what might be going on. It had become clear pretty quickly that a pokémon must be responsible. There was no way that the weather would change so extremely on its own.

"Some ludicolo messing about with Rain Dance, you think?"

"Explain the snow then."

"Good point."

"It's all happening too quickly – it might be more than one pokémon."

"Whatever it is, it's getting in the way of _my_ valuable training time!"

Eventually, someone mentioned a pokémon that was supposed to be able to control all different kinds of weather instead of just one.

"A castform? Isn't that just a pokémon that predicts the weather?" one boy asked.

"I heard that too," an older girl replied. "But I know that they can be trained to use moves that affect the weather. They're really rare though – I've never actually seen one."

"I have," another boy said. "Around here as well."

"So, it _is_ a castform then?" the girl asked.

"We don't know that for sure, but…" a second girl said. She pondered for a second. "Why don't we go and check at the Weather Institute and see if something's gone wrong there?"

"The Weather Institute?" The first boy gave her a quizzical look. "What's that?"

"It's one of the most advanced meteorology centres in Hoenn," the second girl replied.

"Meteorwhatogy?"

"Meteorology. Predicting the weather," the second girl explained. "I know that places like the Weather Institute keep castform around to help them predict the weather. It's why the weather forecast in Hoenn is normally really good. Of course, there'd be a lot of castform in Nordris Town, or at least near it. If the castform are causing all this weird weather, then we can go and talk to the meteorologists."

"Well, it's not like we've got anything else to do," said an older boy. "Better head upstairs and grab your jumpers, people – no telling when we're suddenly going to get caught in a blizzard."

"What can we even do?" the first boy asked. "The Weather Institute people have to do something about this, don't they?"

"You never know when a trainer might be useful," the first girl said with a shrug. "I don't think that a capable, trained castform would mess with the weather like this."

There was silence in the room as everyone looked around at each other. That was a thought that had crossed many of their minds – what if this wasn't something that the Weather Institute could easily fix? A castform that wasn't behaving or listening to orders would be difficult to handle. Many thought it was arrogant to assume that the Weather Institute was incapable or unprepared for this kind of problem, but there were some in the trainers' lounge who decided that it was a possibility.

Outside, the thick fog that had appeared out of nowhere about five minutes ago vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. In its place, the sky darkened and fat raindrops started falling again.

* * *

Eventually, a handful of trainers had decided to go to the Weather Institute to investigate what was happening. With nothing better to do, most of the people in the trainers' lounge decided to go with them. Everyone was at least a little curious about what might be going on, and it wasn't like they could train for the contest with the weather being as strange as it was. Distractions were unhelpful at this kind of time.

The way some of the others had been talking, everyone had assumed that the Weather Institute was just down the road. In fact, it was located in a large building sat on a hill overlooking the town. It took them twenty minutes to walk all the way up there, struggling through driving sleet one moment and scorching sunshine the next. Fortunately, the crazy weather seemed weaker up here. It was looking even more likely that something was causing this, and that it was down in the town.

The people working at the Weather Institute were surprised to see the large group of trainers who'd turned up on their doorstep. They were extremely busy with all that was happening, but they managed to spare someone who explained what was going on.

It turned out that one of the castform that lived at the Weather Institute and helped make weather predictions had been acting rebelliously for the last couple of days. When they'd arrived in the morning and let the castform out of the room they slept in, this particular one had run away. As soon as he'd gotten outside, the bizarre weather had started.

"He probably just needs a chance to run around and get it out of his system. He's normally such a sweet pokémon," the employee who'd been left to speak to them, whose name was Tyler, had said as he finished his explanation.

Also, for the safe return of this rebellious castform, the director of the Weather Institute had prepared a small cash reward of 2,000 poké.

So, all the trainers had nobly vowed to track down the castform and bring him back to the Weather Institute, and duly set off back down the hill to scour Nordris Town. At the moment, thick, dark clouds were hanging over the town and the loud rumbling of thunder had filled the air. Immediately after that, it had started hailing, so James, Richard, Nicola, Will and Mia had decided to shelter at the Weather Institute while it passed.

"We need a plan," said Richard.

"Any clues on where we could find this castform?" Will asked.

"None." Mia shook her head. "But I bet the weather will be more intense close to him."

"That won't help us catch him," said Nicola.

"True." James nodded. "But it gives us a place to start looking."

"Chasing him down sounds like a pain though," Will sighed. "My ankle's still not perfect – I don't want to run on it if I don't have to."

"Let's try and make him come to us then," said Mia. "Any ideas?"

"Hmm." Nicola looked out the window as the hail stopped and the sun came out again. "I think I might have an idea…"

* * *

 _10:37am, 2_ _nd_ _August 2006_

Really, it was a relief that the castform had created all this weird weather to distract the other people out on the streets of Nordris Town since it distracted them from what Nicola and the others were doing.

Even so, they still attracted the occasional odd look as they crept around the street close to the heart of the current snowstorm. Every now and again, they dropped pokéblocks on the ground, slowly leaving a series of trails leading out to the middle of an empty plot of land by the river. The open, flat area would be a great place to ambush the castform.

"Do you really think this will work?" Mia asked as they hid by the edge of the plot and watched in all directions for any sign of the castform.

"Dunno," James replied. It wasn't a bad idea, but they didn't know what kind of pokéblocks the castform liked best. Hopefully the ones they'd already put down would be enough but if he rejected the ones he didn't like and didn't follow the trails, then it was going to be more difficult.

"Just be quiet and wait!" Nicola hissed. "He won't come out if he hears you!"

The others fell silent. The morning was starting to move on and there were other things they needed to do. If the castform didn't show up soon, then they'd just have to abandon their search and go back to practising for the contest.

Fortunately, they suddenly spotted a small pokémon with what looked like a large raindrop on his head approaching them. He stopped every now and again to scoop up and eat a pokéblock. He was following the trail right to them.

He was still being cautious though. After every pokéblock, he darted back into the shadows around the base of the nearby houses before peeking out carefully as soon as any nearby people had disappeared.

"So, that's a castform?" Richard breathed as the pokémon crept into the centre of the plot of land. Nicola had left a big pile of pokéblocks there to attract him.

"Now?" Mia asked, looking back at the others.

"Not yet," James replied quietly. "Wait until he starts eating."

The moment the castform started digging in to the pile, the five trainers sprang out from hiding and rushed to surround him. He yelped in surprise and looked around frantically. The rain intensified around them.

"Come on, little castform! We're not going to hurt you!" Mia called, trying to sound as soothing as she could.

"It's time to go home to the Weather Institute now," Nicola added.

Richard, meanwhile, pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the castform.

" _Castform, the weather pokémon. Castform borrow the power of nature to transform themselves into guises of the sun, rain clouds and snow clouds. This pokémon's feelings change with the weather. They gained the gained the ability to use the vast power of nature to protect their tiny bodies._ "

With an angry shout, the castform suddenly fired a ball of watery energy towards Mia, who yelped in surprise and dove out the way.

"Blu, get him!" Nicola shouted, throwing out the swablu's poké ball.

Chirping belligerently, Blu torpedoed her way over and slammed into the castform from behind. He toppled forwards but pulled himself up quickly. He spun around and, with a shout, summoned a vicious hailstorm. He suddenly started glowing slightly as his body shifted and changed.

"Whoa!" Will exclaimed. "Is he evolving?"

"Didn't you hear the Pokédex?" Richard called. "Castform can change their shape depending on the – ow – weather!"

It was really starting to hail now as the castform took on a more cold and wispy appearance. He fired another ball of energy towards Blu. This time, it looked frozen and icy.

Blu cried out in pain as it struck her and blasted her back. An instant later, the hail had stopped, and scorching sunshine was glaring down on her. A third ball of energy, this time shimmering with heat and flames, smashed into her and exploded. Flames scattered about her, burning her wings.

"Are you alright, Blu?" Nicola called anxiously.

Blu chirped back. She suddenly cloaked herself in a green aura. The new burns on her wings started healing and faded away.

"That's Refresh!" Mia exclaimed. "When did Blu learn that?"

"I don't know," Nicola replied. "But great work, Blu!"

Blu flew to the side to avoid another attack thrown by the castform before diving in and striking him with a flurry of pecks. With her wings fully healed, she had no trouble keeping up with the castform as he tried to flee.

* * *

Eventually, the group managed to catch the castform and took him back with them to the Weather Institute, dodging other trainers along the way.

"Thank you so much for bringing him back," the director said as two of his employees tried to soothe the castform. "We were worried when we came in this morning and found him gone."

"It wasn't a problem," James said. "Just making sure we managed to get back here without him making another break for it!"

"Yes, he can be a feisty one sometimes," the director said, sighing as he looked over at the castform. "Plenty of energy and good at weather prediction, but not always relaxed and sometimes inconsiderate. I shall have to get to work on writing a formal apology for the people of Nordris Town." He let out another sigh before turning back to the trainers. "By the way, how did you manage to lure him out? When he gets like this, he normally likes to hide in small spaces."

"Ah, that was Nicola's idea," Richard said, patting Nicola on the shoulder.

"We used pokéblocks to try and get him to come to us," said Nicola, a little embarrassed at the attention. "It worked better than I was expecting."

The director chuckled. "Well, I'm certainly glad that it did! Anyway, I believe that I have a cash reward to give to you. I'll leave it to you to sort out how to divide it."

"2,000 poké…divided by five people is…" James quickly worked it out in his head. "400 poké each."

"I think Nicola deserves a bit more," Will said. "She's the one who managed to capture him."

"Agreed!" Richard nodded. "How about we each have 300 poké and Nicola gets all the rest?"

"I-I don't need that much – it's fine!" Nicola exclaimed.

"Just take it," Mia said. "It's all a bonus, isn't it?"

"Do more work, get more of the reward," James added, grinning at her. "That's the way the world works, right?"

"I-if you're sure…" Nicola reluctantly accepted her increased share of 800 poké.

"Anyway! There's no time to stop!" Mia said authoritatively. "We need to get back to the practice arenas and finish training for the contest!"

"How much longer have we got?" James asked.

"The contest starts at three," Mia replied. "It's quarter past eleven now, so we've got just under four hours."

"Guess we'll be heading off then," Richard said. "Goodbye."

"Thank you again for bringing back our castform," the director said. "And sorry for all the trouble he caused you all while he was out."

* * *

 _3:02pm, 2_ _nd_ _August 2006_

Fortunately, things worked out in their favour.

It took a while for news of the castform's recapture to filter through to all the coordinators searching the town for him. There were few other people using the practice arenas and it was easy to find space to practise. With the erratic weather behind them, Mia, James and Nicola and their teams all threw themselves into training as hard as they could.

When they finally went to the contest hall just before the deadline for admissions, they were all feeling confident and ready for the contest ahead. Other coordinators hadn't had as much time to prepare and the battle with the castform had given Mia ideas for new combinations, some of which she was prepared to share with James and Nicola.

There also weren't as many coordinators competing here as back in Vinelodge Town, so there wasn't as much competition this time. That would help as well.

Of the three of them, Mia was the first to take the stage. She and Mawa showed off with an improved version of the performance they'd made back in Anamarc Town all that time ago. Mawa had become much faster and more skilled with the frisbee. Each time Mia threw it, she would be ready to catch it. Accompanied with smooth jumps and flips, recovering after each one in time to grab the frisbee out of the air.

It didn't take long after Mia's performance ended before Nicola's began. Richard and Will barely had time to settle back and chat before they heard her name announced.

Nicola stepped out onto the stage and threw out a poké ball.

Mushy burst out with a cry. She was already cloaked in a green aura as she landed. She immediately started firing off a series of fast punches, carefully timed and controlled so that they didn't become too blurred. They were putting on a show, after all.

She moved on to fire a green beam of energy into the air, distorting the light and recreating the leafy shade effect that they'd been aiming for back in Vinelodge Town. It created a mysterious atmosphere around her performance as she continued moving around smoothly and showing off her elegant and powerful punches.

Finally, she scattered seeds which sprouted as they flew through the air. Tapping into her full speed, Mushy skilfully struck each of the seeds as they dropped down towards the ground. Each punch sent a blast of air out towards the audience. They were such delicate attacks, but Mushy was showing just how much of a punch she could pack. She didn't need to put of a display of brute force for that.

The crowd applauded loudly as Nicola and Mushy bowed before leaving the stage again. It struck Richard just how much Nicola had improved as a coordinator over the last couple of months. What he was seeing here was so far above the mixed performances she and her team had given back when they'd first started out that even he and Will could see the difference.

James was one of the last to perform. As he stepped out onto the stage, he looked out confidently at the darkness beyond the stage lights where the audience was sat. He threw out a poké ball and Kacha materialised on the stage.

The pikachu started his performance with what had become one of his normal tricks. Shooting out a bolt of electricity, he started messing with the stage lights, making them fade and brighten and carefully controlling the voltage to keep everything safe. He raised his front paws dramatically, making him look like a puppet master manipulating the lights (which, of course, he was, in a way).

Then he cloaked himself lightly in electricity to create a glow around himself. He winced slightly as it shocked him, but this wasn't the same as electrocuting himself for Volt Tackle. He darted around the stage, scattering sparks and trying to enjoy himself as much as possible. The crowd seemed to be getting caught up in the excitement of the performance.

Next, he moved on to the main event. With a loud squeak, he focused energy into his tail, which turned a dark red colour. He leapt about, swinging his tail around and he flipped, rolled and twirled. Every now and again, he switched to his fists and threw the odd powerful punch.

To finish, he leapt into the air and did a backflip. He fired out a blast of electricity as he soared through the air and landed softly on the stage facing the audience again. The glow from his tail vanished.

The crowd applauded and cheered loudly. Richard and Will even thought they heard some people calling for an encore. And it seemed fair to them – they'd seen James and Kacha practising these combinations before the contest but seeing it out on the stage made it look even more impressive.

James was thrilled with how well the performance had gone and bowed gratefully to the audience alongside Kacha. As the pikachu ran back over to him, he reached down and patted him on the head.

"You did a great job out there, Kacha. Seriously, well done!"

Kacha grinned bashfully, scratched the back of his head.

The two of them left the stage to return to the holding room. Not long afterwards, the last of the performances were finished and everyone left for the usual ten-minute break while the judges came to their decisions and the votes from the audience were counted.

* * *

 _3:55pm, 2_ _nd_ _August 2006_

It wasn't exactly the humblest of thoughts, but it didn't come as a surprise to James, Nicola and Mia when all three of their pictures appeared among the coordinators who had made it through to the battle rounds. The bigger surprise was the line-up. Mia was fighting another coordinator who none of them had heard of, but James and Nicola would be going up against each other.

"How long's it been since we last had to battle each other?" James asked.

"I remember you beating me in the Fallarbor contest," Nicola replied. "You better watch out – I'm looking to get revenge for that defeat here!"

"Bring it on!" James grinned.

So, the two friends had found themselves stood on the stage facing each other. Between them, Kelaar and Tricky stood to attention, waiting for the MC to announce the start of the battle.

"Begin!"

"Razor Leaf!" James shouted.

With a roar, Kelaar fired a cluster of leaves at Tricky, who was struck and blasted backwards, However, he quickly recovered and started drawing in electricity with such focus that there was no leakage at all. No loose sparks flying around – just an eerie yellow glow that surrounded him.

"Sweet Scent!" James called.

Kelaar quickly sent a sweet aroma wafting over towards Tricky, who took a deep breath and immediately became slightly more sluggish. Kelaar whipped his wings, sending the pleasant smell floating across the audience as well. Nicola's points were starting to drop quickly.

"Spark!" Nicola called.

With a nod, Tricky sprang forwards. He dodged another cloud of leaves hurled by Kelaar and quickly drew close to him. With a final leap, he slammed into the tropius's front and finally released the electricity he'd been storing up inside him.

There was a bright flash and a bang.

Kelaar roared in pain and crashed backwards, supercharged bolts of electricity still coursing through him. He struggled to pull himself back to his feet as Tricky howled loudly and triumphantly.

"Stay strong, Kelaar!" James called. He knew that the tropius was nervous – this was his first contest after all. Not to mention that he'd already suffered a very public defeat back at the Battle Tower.

Shaking off the electricity, Kelaar rushed forwards and aimed to stomp hard on Tricky, only for the manectric to nimbly dart out of the way at the last moment. With a grin, Tricky shot in and nipped Kelaar with his teeth. It wasn't a hard bite, but it was enough to throw Kelaar off, who jumped sideways in panic and almost toppled over.

Jumping back, Tricky started charging electricity again. As before, there were no loose sparks flying everywhere around him, just a smooth, beautiful glow.

Kelaar got back up and whipped his wings impressively. He fired another cluster of leaves towards Tricky, only for him to dodge and charge forwards. As the manectric got close though, Kelaar suddenly flapped his wings hard and sent a powerful blast of air hurtling towards him.

Tricky yelped in surprise as he was lifted into the air and thrown back. His concentration broken, there was a sudden eruption of electricity around his body and loose bolts flew in all directions. He landed on the stage and rolled back to his feet, where he regained his balance.

"Razor Leaf!" James called.

Kelaar fired another cluster of leaves at Tricky, who cried out as they slashed at him. However, he recovered and gathered the electricity around him back together. With another quick rush forward, he barrelled into Kelaar and knocked him back.

As Kelaar staggered and tried to regain his balance, the sound of the timer filled the air.

"…And time's up!" the MC announced.

Looking up at the scoreboard, James's heart sank. The battle hadn't gone his way though, so he'd expected this, but that didn't make him feel much better.

"Good battle," he said, walking over to the centre so he could shake Nicola's hand.

"You bet!" Nicola said, puffing her chest out proudly. "Tricky and I trained really hard for this, you know!"

"Getting a little full of yourself?" James raised an eyebrow. "This was Kelaar's first contest battle, remember?"

"Y-yeah, so?" Nicola replied. "That was your choice."

"Well, that's true." James shrugged. "Good luck in your remaining battles, Nicola."

"Make sure you cheer hard for me!" Nicola grinned. "I'll need all the support I can get with Mia still in the contest!"

* * *

 _5:16pm, 2_ _nd_ _August 2006_

In the end, the contest came down to a battle between Mia and Nicola, using Turo and Kipa respectively. Despite his efforts, Kipa's moves just weren't able to match Turo's impressive style. The xatu certainly seemed to have a dramatic streak and made all of his moves have that little bit more edge. As ever, Mia and her team were frightening opponents.

"Still think I'm scared of you?" Mia said smugly as she, Nicola and James left the holding room and passed through the lobby to meet up with the others. "Remember that I graciously gave you some combination tips before the contest. And you still lost."

"Urgh, I get it," Nicola replied glumly. "We almost had you though – the head judge came over after the battle to compliment me and Kipa on his techniques…"

"…That you picked up thanks to my training." Mia was in particularly high spirits. "When you think about it, if I'd lost then it still would've been like me winning anyway."

"Well, we all learned something from that contest," said James. "I'm looking forwards to finding another one – there's so much I want to actually use in front of an audience."

"I get that feeling after every contest." Mia nodded.

"What are you going to do now, Mia?" Nicola asked. "Got any plans?"

"I'll stay here in Nordris Town tonight and then set off again tomorrow," Mia replied. "There are contests in Topacra City and Polna City that I want to go to. Although…" She looked at the four ribbons in her ribbon case. "I guess I only need to win at one of them before I've qualified for the Grand Festival." She glanced at James and Nicola, a concerned look briefly flashing across her face.

"You don't need to worry about us," James said reassuringly, guessing what she was thinking. "We'll have five ribbons each in no time at all!"

"We'll be right there with you!" Nicola grinned. "Just you wait!"

Mia smiled. "You better be showing me your fourth ribbons when we next meet."

"Hey guys!"

They looked around to see Richard and Will approaching them.

"Great work out there," Richard said. "Bad luck, Nicola. Same to you, James."

"There's always next time," James replied.

"What's the plan for this evening?" Will asked.

"What do you mean?" Nicola looked puzzled.

"Ah, well, Mia won her fourth ribbon, didn't she?" James said, turning back to his fellow coordinators. "Want to eat out somewhere to celebrate?"

"R-really?!" Mia exclaimed. She stopped herself and coughed as she regained her composure. "Are you sure you want to?" she asked shyly, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Why not?" Richard said with a shrug. "We've got an opportunity to celebrate after all."

Mia shot him a look that suggested she wasn't directing the question at him before looking back at James.

"It's fine by me," James replied. "It's been a pretty rough journey getting up here from Rubello Town, so I think we could all use a treat."

"Th-then I accept," Mia said cheerfully, smiling widely.

They stepped outside into the warm evening air. With the business with the castform dealt with, the forecasted grey clouds had returned, but there was something relaxing about seeing them after all that had happened that day.

"Nice weather, isn't it?" Richard asked, trying to suppress a grin.

"You know, I think it actually is," said Nicola. "Better than getting pelted with snow out of the blue!"

"I hope it's better for tomorrow though," Mia said thoughtfully. "It won't be nice travelling if it's raining." She glanced over at the others. "Where are you guys heading next?"

"Ah, well…" James looked around at the others, who nodded back at him.

That was going to be another thing to worry about. According to the guidebook, the next town along Route 119 was…

"…Fortree City."

Contest ribbons weren't the only thing for them to worry about, after all.

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay on getting this chapter out. Turns out that writing effectively two separate main sections takes longer than just one! Hopefully having a longer and more eventful chapter will make up for that!**

 **I've enjoyed having Mia as a more permanent feature over the last couple of chapters, but I imagine it would lose its novelty after a while. As long as James and Nicola are continuing to gather ribbons though, I'm sure Mia will never be too far away from them.**

 **I know that castform's Pokédex entry doesn't mention any ability to control the weather, but we all know that it can learn moves like Rain Dance and Sunny Day. I assumed that it would theoretically be able to summon other kinds of weather as well. Nordris Town is very lucky that I decided to stop short before unleashing a sandstorm upon it!**

 **On a general note, I have more news about my upcoming move to Japan. My orientation and training starts on 17** **th** **December, so I'll be flying out to Tokyo on 15** **th/16th** **December. I'll put more details in the news section on my profile but suffice to say that I don't expect I'll be able to upload any new chapters for some time after this date.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback your have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Normal-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	89. Duel in the Sky! (Part 1)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last chapter, the group retrieved a rebellious castform that was creating weather chaos in Nordris Town. Afterwards, James and Nicola both lost out in the Nordris contest to Mia, who earned her fourth ribbon.**

 **Upload Date: 30** **th** **November 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 89: Duel in the Sky! (Part 1)**

 _Route 119, Hoenn_

 _4:39pm, 3_ _rd_ _August 2006_

The eastern part of Route 119 was as tough and uncompromising as the rest of the route. Between scaling cliffs and making their way along rocky ridges, the group were all keen to finally reach their destination and then get back onto easier roads. The only relief was that Will's ankle had finally healed and he was walking alongside the others.

"Bet you're wishing you'd stayed shut now, huh?" Richard had said, grinning at him. There was nothing stopping them from using Kelaar – unlike Mule, he could just fly over narrow gorges and slopes.

Will seemed to have recognised this as well. Hence why he was in a bad mood for most of the day.

Mia had set off ahead of them this morning, heading back west towards Crossgate Town. They'd said goodbye over breakfast. In fact, the pokémon centre itself had felt very empty that morning. James guessed that most of the other coordinators had all already left as well.

It made sense when he thought about it – they were starting to close in on the end of the season and it wouldn't be that much longer until they were getting ready for the Grand Festival. There was no time to be sitting around and waiting. There probably weren't that many lucky people who already had the five ribbons they needed.

That being said, it wasn't like they'd been kicking back all morning. In fact, they'd set off from the pokémon centre within the hour after Mia's departure. Part of that was down to the tough road ahead. The guidebook said that Fortree City was one of the most isolated parts of the region, even more so than Lonaba City in the depths of the central desert. Of course, it wouldn't be a piece of cake getting there.

"Are we still not there yet?" Nicola gasped as she staggered over to a large rock on the ridge. They'd been walking for hours but there was still no sign of Fortree City. Instead, much to her dismay, there was a vast, dense forest in the valley below them. A thick canopy of broad leaves made it seem impenetrable. "Are you sure we haven't just ended up in the middle of nowhere?" she asked, turning to James.

"Hmm." Even James was unsure. He pulled out the guidebook and flicked through the pages until he found Fortree City. He studied the map, a frown fixed on his face.

"Well?" Richard asked.

"This is the place," James replied. He snapped the guidebook shut, but the frown remained. "We've followed the road perfectly – this is where we're supposed to be."

"Didn't you say that Fortree City is pretty unique?" Will asked.

"It has lots of buildings in the trees," James replied. "There were lots of pictures of that. I just assumed it would be a city built on the edge of the forest."

"Well, if the guidebook says that this is the place, then I guess this is the place," Richard sighed. "It's not like we need more food or anything, but…"

He'd already decided that the guidebook must be wrong?

Well, it didn't really matter that much. Like he said, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they had to find somewhere to set up camp in the forest.

"Let's go then," James said, stepping forward to lead the way down the hill towards the forest's edge.

* * *

 _4:54pm, 3_ _rd_ _August 2006_

By the time they'd arrived in the forest, it had started raining heavily. The four of them had dashed beneath the trees, using their bags as makeshift umbrellas while they looked around for shelter. There was a large tree not far from the dirt path – plenty of space for all four of them to huddle close to it. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now.

"What now?" Nicola asked, shivering slightly.

"Raincoats?" James suggested. "It would suck to stay here all night."

"Any idea _where_ Fortree City is?" Nicola demanded. "The map says we should be right on top of it, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," James replied.

"Then where?" Will sighed, looking around as if trying to will the city into existence around them.

"Maybe we got here ten years too early?" Richard said with a grin. "They haven't actually built Fortree City yet, but it'll be here in the future?"

"Now's not the time for jokes!" Nicola snapped.

"I think we need to get a bit further in." James took his raincoat out of his backpack and pulled it on. "The guidebook says there's a sign by the road."

"I hope so." Will pulled his raincoat on as well.

The rain was still hammering down as they darted from their shelter, brushing through rain-soaked ferns. Everywhere they looked was green and brown – if they lost track of the path, then it would be easy to get lost out here. It reminded them of Petalburg Woods.

"I can see it!" James suddenly exclaimed, turning to the others and pointing ahead.

Sure enough, there was a wooden sign by the side of the road. "Welcome to Fortree City," it read.

After looking around, the group tentatively stepped forwards. It wasn't until they got a little further that they finally spotted the wooden ramp leading up the trunk of one of the huge trees nearby.

"You don't think…" Will looked around at the others.

"The guidebook said that the city was up in the trees, but I thought it meant that was only one part," James murmured.

"Guess you were wrong," Richard said quietly.

There was nothing else in the forest around them. Nowhere for city to be and nothing that made them think there could be a large city suddenly waiting for them just beyond the trees.

Looking up, they finally saw it. The large wooden platform that was wrapped around the trunk. Even from below it looked impressive. The closer they looked, the more they could make out wooden bridges and other platforms around other trees. It was a hidden city up in the trees.

It was such a realisation, and such a relief, that all their problems seemed to melt away. Suddenly, they hardly noticed the cold rain falling around them, nor the tiredness in their legs after the long walk to get here.

Without speaking, they all set off for the ramp and followed it as it twisted higher and higher around the tree. They finally found themselves stood on a ring-shaped platform around the tree trunk. Several houses had been built into and against the trunk. There were streetlights positioned around the rim of the platform and, slightly further over, were signs giving directions to other parts of the city.

The pokémon centre was a couple of platforms away and the walk gave them the chance to look around at the scenery. Even in the rain, it looked spectacular. It was like stepping into a magical world. The ground was far away, but it didn't feel like they were high in the air. The smaller trees were level or almost level with the platforms, making it feel as though they were sat upon the lower canopy itself.

It had been worth taking the tougher route to get to this place. LaRousse City may have been impressive, but this definitely felt more like one of those top places to visit.

* * *

 _Fortree City, Hoenn_

 _9:23am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

With the bad weather passing during the night, the group awoke to the glorious summer sunshine bathing Fortree City in warm light. After bolting down some breakfast, they'd all dashed outside to explore the stunning city in all its glory. Even thoughts of the Fortree Gym were forgotten in their enthusiasm.

The whole city really was up in the trees. No matter where they looked, there was nothing on the forest floor below the platforms aside from ferns, bushes, and the roots of the trees the city was built around. There was a certain sense of adventure from that – like a city entirely on the sea or in the air. It also felt safe as well. The pokémon roaming in the forest below weren't going to cause too many problems and those that wandered up the wooden ramps to the platforms could be scared off quite easily if needed.

Even seeing what was in front of their eyes and knowing what they did from the guidebook, it was still incredible seeing everything that Fortree City had to offer. There was a public library and one platform that contained nothing but local shops full of interesting herbs, baked goods, toys, clothes, and all sorts. There was even a post office full of wingull who carried letters, and in which Nulin had been keen to stick around for a while, and a shop selling furniture. Apparently, they delivered the furniture they made in their local workshop via PC – it was a favourite destination for those trainers who maintained secret bases in the Hoenn region. They were good at pitching their wares as well – James had been quite irritated when Nicola had walked away after buying a large wooden desk, several stools, and a zigzagoon doll which she'd already named 'Ziggy' and was trying to use as a role model for Zaggy.

"I could spend all day exploring this place," Richard said cheerfully as they strolled along the wooden bridge between two platforms. Time was marching on and they still needed to find the local practice arenas. It was surprising that they hadn't found any yet.

"I know what you mean," Will replied. He pointed to some of the treehouses built even higher up the trees. "I mean, this really is impressive, isn't it?"

"I wonder what it's like to actually live here though," Nicola said. "It can't be easy when you can't use a car or get food in as easily."

"I guess so…" James gave her an idle reply as he gazed off into the trees surrounding them. A flash suddenly caught his eye. "Huh?" He stopped for a moment, looking out into the glade in the gap between two of the other platforms across from them. It looked like there were a pair of pokémon charging around in the air.

"What's up?" Richard asked something.

"Over there." James pointed. "Doesn't that look like a battle?"

"You're right." Will nodded. "Let's go and see!"

They hurried over, passing a small shop that was selling wooden ornaments, and eventually reached the side of the platform.

"Altaria, use Dragon Breath!"

"Chirper, use Peck!"

A swablu chirped and started flying across the gap between two platforms. Opposite him, a much larger, but similar bird flew upwards and fired a light blue blast of energy towards him.

Richard whipped out his Pokédex and pointed it at the larger pokémon.

" _Altaria, the humming pokémon and the evolved form of swablu. Altaria dance and wheel through the sky among billowing, cotton-like clouds. By singing melodies in its crystal-clear voice, this pokémon makes its listeners experience dreamy wonderment._ "

The smaller pokémon cried out in alarm and was hit. There was an explosion and the swablu started toppling downwards. His plunge to the ground was stopped when he was hit by a recall beam and returned to his poké ball.

"Argh, you beat us again, Miss Winona!" the teenage boy on the far side of the gap said, scratching his head. "Thanks for accepting my challenge – I know that you're really busy these days…"

"Not at all," the young woman stood on their side of the gap replied, taking off her grey helmet and shaking out her silver hair. "You're a member of the gym, Jared, so I'm always happy to help you train. We'll have a chat about this battle at the next session at the gym."

"Sure!" Jared nodded and bowed his head slightly. "I'll see you at the next session, Miss Winona!"

Winona waved to Jared as he left before sighing. Her altaria flew back and landed on her shoulder. "Good work, Altaria," she said. "We need to stay in top shape – the league season isn't over yet." She turned and spotted James, Richard, Nicola and Will watching. "Oh? Are you gym challengers? I was just about to open the gym for today's challenges."

"You're the gym leader here?" James asked. "How did you know we were challengers?"

"You're looking for the public practice arenas, aren't you?" Winona said with a smile. "I'm Winona, the leader over at the Fortree Gym. This here is my partner, Altaria."

The bird chirped pleasantly at them.

"Nice to meet you," said James. He and the others quickly introduced themselves.

"So, where are the practice arenas?" Richard asked.

"This is one of them," Winona said, gesturing to the open space behind her. "Most of the people here in Fortree City have grown up with and train flying-type pokémon, so we like to fight sky battles when practising instead of just normal battles."

"Wait a second!" Will exclaimed. "Sky battles? What are they?"

"You really can't work it out?" Nicola asked. "Obviously, it's a type of battle that involves flying types." A very safe guess.

"Have you never seen a sky battle before?" Winona asked eagerly. "It's kind of like a normal battle, but only pokémon that fly or levitate can take part. Ideally, the trainer uses a wingsuit to fly alongside the pokémon as well, but we don't have the right conditions for it here in Fortree City…"

"So, what makes it different to a normal battle?" Richard asked. "Flying types can fly wherever they want in regular battles."

"It's about forcing the kind of battle that only happens between flying-type pokémon," Winona said. "It's much more interesting when the arena is suddenly both high above you and far below you, don't you think?"

"I guess it _does_ sound quite interesting…" James murmured.

"If you want to fight a sky battle of your own, then come along to the gym." Winona reached up and patted Altaria absentmindedly. "I was about to open it anyway."

"I don't have any pokémon that can fly though," said Richard.

"I'm happy to fight you in a regular battle if you want," Winona replied. She walked past them. "Of course, I didn't get to be gym leader by being an expert in just sky battles…"

The four of them watched her go before turning to look at each other.

"What do you think?" James asked, looking more at Nicola than Richard. "Fancy trying a sky battle?"

"Blu's been getting pretty tough lately, so I'm game!" Nicola replied with a grin. "You've got Nulin and Kelaar, so I bet it'll be even easier for you!"

"I don't know about that," James replied, quietly confident. He turned to Richard. "A regular battle for you then? You'll have an easy time – most of your team are rock-types and Winona obviously uses flying-types."

"Urgh." Richard let out a groan. "I mean, you're right, but I kinda want to beat her at her own game, y'know what I mean?"

"I hear you." James nodded solemnly. "But you still don't have a flying pokémon."

"Well, if you're up for it, then I think Turkey would love a chance to stretch his wings," Will said with a grin.

* * *

 _9:40am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

The Fortree Gym, like the rest of the city, was up among the trees. It sat on one of the outer edges of the city on a platform all by itself. Despite the small space, the gym was still a huge and impressive building. It even looked more like a tree trunk had been placed on top of it rather than being built around one.

Inside, the lobby was just as impressive as the other gyms they'd visited. There were pictures of flying-type pokémon and of Winona and various other people who were presumably gym members. The entire room was made of wood, leaving a distinct and oddly pleasant smell in the air. Most of the city still smelt like the nature it was built amongst.

"We'd like to book slots for gym battles," James said as they reached the reception desk.

"Sure. Do you want to fight regular battles or sky battles?" the receptionist asked.

"I think we're all going for sky battles." James looked around at Richard and Nicola, who both nodded in agreement.

"Okay. How does 9:45, ten o'clock, and 10:15 sound?"

"That's fine by me," said Richard.

"Same." Nicola nodded.

"Who's going first?" the receptionist asked, looking between the three of them.

"Me?" Richard asked, glancing at the others.

"Sure, why not," said James.

"I'll go last," Nicola added. "You can have the ten o'clock slot, James!"

"Thanks, I guess."

The receptionist took Richard's trainer card and scanned it. She quickly typed in something on her keyboard before returning it to him. "You've only got one pokémon that can take part in sky battles, so you'll be fighting a one-on-one battle with the gym leader," she said.

"Wait, I've got a pokémon that can do sky battles already?" Richard exclaimed.

"Your baltoy," the receptionist replied.

"O-oh." Richard chuckled awkwardly. Will had offered to let him borrow Turkey, but he'd had Vortex all along. "That's good. That means the gym leader will only use one pokémon as well, right?"

"Yes, exactly," the receptionist replied. "The sky battles take place on the main arena, which you can reach by going straight down the corridor here." She turned to the other three. "If you want to watch, then there's a balcony overlooking the battlefield. You can get to it using this staircase here."

"Thanks. We'll head in now," said Richard.

"We'll join you as soon as we're registered," said James. "Good luck!"

"Thanks! See you in a bit!" Richard gave the others a thumbs-up as he started walking towards the corridor.

* * *

On the far side of the tree, there was a small platform overlooking an empty space above the ground. A wooden bridge linked this tree to one that was just to the right, which in turn was linked to another one opposite the platform containing the gym. Winona was already in position on this platform, while there was a referee on the platform to the right. Maybe it was the fact that they were outside, but Richard felt as though the arena was much larger than the ones he'd fought on at other gyms.

"Glad to see you made it here okay!" Winona called across to him. "I'll introduce myself again: my name is Winona, and I'm the leader of the Fortree Gym!"

"And I'm Richard!" Richard called back, pulling out Vortex's poké ball.

"Okay!" the referee called. "This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the leader of the Fortree City Gym, Winona, and the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City! This battle will be fought using a one-on-one sky format and will be over when one side's pokémon has been defeated! Are you both ready?" When both Winona and Richard nodded, he added: "Begin!"

"Go, Vortex!" Richard called, hurling out his poké ball.

"Go, Pelipper!" Winona threw out her own poké ball.

A pelipper materialised on the opposite side of the arena and immediately started flapping her wings to keep her in the air. She hovered as she watched Vortex materialise on Richard's side.

The baltoy momentarily started fall, but quickly adjusted to their surroundings. They drifted back up and started spinning aimlessly in the air as they waited for orders.

Behind him, Richard heard the sounds of voices and looked up. The balcony was directly above the passage he'd just left. James, Nicola and Will had just arrived.

"Looks like it's already begun," said James, looking out over the battlefield. "Make sure you stay focused, Richard!"

"Stop distracting me then!" Richard called back. He turned to Vortex. "Use Ancient Power!"

"What pokémon is Winona using?" Will asked as Vortex hurled a cluster of boulders across the battlefield.

"That's a pelipper, isn't it?" Nicola replied.

"Looks like it." James nodded.

"Pelipper, huh?" Will pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Pelipper, the water bird pokémon and the evolved form of wingull. Pelipper search for food while in flight by skimming the wave tops. This pokémon dips its large bill in the sea to scoop up food, then swallows everything in one big gulp. They build their nests on steep cliffs facing the sea._ "

Pelipper dropped low to avoid Vortex's attack and suddenly shot up towards them, her wings glowing white. Vortex attempted to drop out of the way, but their opponent was too fast and precise. There was a crash as she slammed into them and sent them toppling downwards.

"Hang in there, Vortex!" Richard called. "Psybeam!"

Holding themselves in position, Vortex fired a multicoloured beam of psychic energy at Pelipper, this time managing to strike her. She squawked in pain but quickly regained her balance.

Vortex gained height and fired another Psybeam. This time, Pelipper instantly dropped lower to avoid it. While Vortex was still trying to readjust their aim, the water bird pokémon spun around and rushed towards them again. She covered the ground before they could react and slammed into them a second time.

"Now use Water Gun!" Winona called.

Pelipper dropped back and fired a blast of water at Vortex as they fought to regain their balance again. There was a loud splash, followed by a crash as the force of the water sent the baltoy flying into a nearby tree trunk. They dropped downwards, then started drifting up again.

 _We're struggling,_ Richard thought bitterly, gritting his teeth. On paper, a sky battle sounded just like a regular battle. In fact, he was sure that his friends watching probably thought it was about the same as well. It was the smaller things that made it different.

The arena was much wider than a normal one and extended out above and below. In a regular battle, almost all attacks came from the front, whereas here, they were vulnerable to attacks from all directions. Worse, the size of the arena meant that there was lots of space for Pelipper to dodge in, making it much harder for Vortex to hit her.

On the other hand, he could use this same advantage against Winona and Pelipper. If he could just increase the speed of their attacks…

An idea came to him.

"Fly higher, Vortex!" he called.

With a nod, Vortex started drifting higher into the sky. They avoided another blast of water from Pelipper and sped up.

"Aerial Ace!" Winona called as the baltoy slowed down again high above them.

Pelipper nodded and shot up towards them, both wings glowing white.

"Ancient Power!" Richard shouted.

Vortex nodded and hauled up a cluster of boulders. They fired them down directly at Pelipper, who was speeding towards them. She and Winona had fallen into Richard's trap.

"Protect!" Winona yelled.

In an instant, Pelipper suddenly stopped and tucked in her wings. A ball of turquoise energy surrounded her. There was a loud crash as the boulders tumbled down onto her, knocking her down slightly with the force of the impact. They crumbled and continued falling past her.

Finally untucking her wings again, Pelipper fired a blast of water up at Vortex. The baltoy didn't even have the chance to react and was blasted upwards. A second later, Pelipper ploughed into them with one of her wings. She quickly changed direction and hit them again from above.

Vortex toppled downwards past the platforms and landed on the forest floor with a crash.

"Baltoy is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Pelipper is the winner. This match goes to the gym leader, Winona!"

Richard felt hollow as he held out the poké ball to recall Vortex. Winona hadn't been lying – she knew her stuff. The battle had been on her terms, but Richard scarcely noticed that. All he could think about was the fact that he'd now lost a second gym battle in a row. He was going to need to do some serious thinking.

"Thanks for the battle!" he called.

"My pleasure!" Winona called back. "Take some time to practise and then come back and battle us again!"

"Will do!" Richard nodded. Then he turned and started walking back towards the lobby. He didn't look up at the balcony above.

* * *

 **I kind of wish I had a spare chapter slot I could use to go into more detail about Fortree City, but I guess I can learn from this. I thought an all-treehouse city would be more fitting than one that arbitrarily had some treehouses and some stuff on the ground. It certainly feels like the most unique city I've written about so far.**

 **Anyway, an early defeat for Richard, but it was his first sky battle and one that was fought very much on Winona's terms. As for how James and Nicola will fare in their own attempts here, we shall have to wait and see.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Normal-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	90. Duel in the Sky! (Part 2)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Richard and Vortex fought a sky battle against Winona, the gym leader in Fortree City, but were outmanoeuvred by the more skilled trainer.**

 **Upload Date: 4** **th** **December 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 90: Duel in the Sky! (Part 2)**

 _Fortree City, Hoenn_

 _9:51am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

Richard felt glum as he trudged back down the corridor to the lobby of the gym. He really thought he'd been onto something good with the final attacks he ordered Vortex to use. His mind was consumed by swirling thoughts, imagining events unfolding differently and what he and Vortex could have done to turn things around. Above all was the familiar sinking feeling that accompanied defeat. It made his heart beat painfully as he thought about it.

"There you are!"

As he reached the lobby, Richard heard the others call out to him. They were coming back down the stairs from the spectators' balcony. They all had reassuring looks on their faces.

"Hey," Richard replied half-heartedly, raising a hand in greeting.

"Hard luck out there," James said carefully as he reached him. "I thought you were doing pretty well, y'know, since it was your first sky battle and all that."

"Well, a loss is still a loss," Richard replied bitterly. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to face Winona again…"

"Stay strong, Richard!" Nicola said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. "You can always battle her in a normal battle – I bet you'd have no trouble wiping the floor with her!"

"Hmm." Richard didn't respond. The thought had definitely crossed his mind. He was sure that Winona wouldn't be so confident in a regular battle against all the heavy hitters on his team. At the same time, did he really want to admit that he couldn't beat her at her own game? "What are you guys all doing down here anyway?" he asked, deciding to put it off until later.

"We've still got, like, ten minutes until James's battle," Nicola replied. "So Will and I thought we'd come back here as well."

"Got any suggestions?" James asked.

"Don't get hit," Richard replied. "Seriously, her pelipper packed quite a punch."

"I'll keep that in mind." James nodded. "I wonder if she'll different pokémon against me though. I have two pokémon that can fly, so that means I get to fight a two-on-two battle."

"You've got Nulin's Ice Beam." Will leant in closer, speaking quietly so that the receptionist wouldn't be able to overhear. "He'll be your heavy hitter in this battle."

"He's really fast as well." Nicola nodded. "Not to mention small – you can just run rings around bigger pokémon like Winona's pelipper and altaria."

"Unless she's got something else up her sleeve," James sighed. "Kelaar, Nulin and I will have to be careful. It's our first sky battle as well."

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the receptionist's voice. "James Burton! The gym leader is ready for you now, so if you'd like to make your way to the arena."

"Got it!" James called back, giving her a thumbs-up. He looked around at the others. "Well, I guess it's time for me to get moving. See you when I'm done."

"Good luck, James!" Nicola said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, do your best, bro," Will added.

"You'll be able to handle her, I'm sure," Richard said, forcing a smile.

James waved to them as he jumped up and headed for the corridor.

* * *

 _10:00am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

James could feel his heart hammering as he stepped out into the open and walked up to the challenger's platform. He knew it was stupid to think in this sort of way, but the memories of his last gym battle were still fresh in his mind. Even a month later, they still cast a shadow over him – he was going to need to stay focused if he wanted to guide his team through the battle.

He was reasonably confident that he could avoid a repeat of what happened in Lavaridge, but there was a small doubt that constantly niggled at the back of his mind. He shook his head to try and clear it and looked across at the sky arena before him.

"So, you're next, huh?" Winona grinned confidently across at him. "I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of battle you'll give us today!"

"Same here!" James called back, trying to keep his normal, relaxed tone. He tightened his grip on Kelaar's poké ball.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the leader of the Fortree City Gym, Winona, and the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!" the referee called. "This battle will be fought using a two-on-two sky battle format and will be over when both of one side's pokémon are unable to battle! In addition, neither side will be allowed to substitute pokémon in this battle!"

"Worried about giving the challenger the chance to switch pokémon?" James called out.

"Worried about losing it?" Winona smiled back, completely unfazed.

"Begin!"

Just as the referee shouted, Richard, Nicola and Will rushed up into the balcony and hurried over to look down.

"We're just in time," said Will.

"Who is James leading with?" Nicola asked.

Down in the arena, James threw out his poké ball. "Go, Kelaar!"

"Go, Tropius!" Winona called, hurling out her own ball.

Both pokémon materialised hovering in the air and looked across at each in surprise. It made James feel a little uneasy. He had spent some time getting to know Kelaar, but he still hadn't learnt exactly how to tell him apart from other tropius. He hadn't thought that they'd have to fight another one so soon.

"You've got a tropius too?" Winona said with an impressed nod. "You've got a great taste in pokémon."

"Glad to hear it!" James called back. "Kelaar, use Gust!"

With a roar, Kelaar swept back his wings and flapped them fiercely.

"Use Aerial Ace!" Winona called.

Tropius rushed forwards. Kelaar's gust battered her from side to side but she managed to stay on course. There was a crash as she slammed into Kelaar with her outstretched wings and knocked him back.

He dropped down towards the ground but managed to recover himself. He soared back up into the air, whipping his wings to fire a cloud of razor-sharp leaves at Tropius, who responded in kind. Leaves flew everywhere, slicing at everything in their paths. Both pokémon retreated back from each other covered in slashes and cuts.

 _This is going to be tough_ , James thought, his eyes darting around the battlefield in search of anything he and Kelaar could use to help them. It occurred to him that this was still Winona's arena and that she'd probably have prepared it in such a way that there wouldn't be anything for him to use. And even if there was, would it be something that would be useful to Kelaar without Tropius being able to take advantage of it too?

While James was concentrating on coming up with a new plan, Kelaar continued duelling carefully with Tropius. The intense opening attacks had given way to a more cautious and measured battle. Neither pokémon wanted to risk giving the other the upper hand. Kelaar guessed that this was why Tropius wasn't attempted to hit him with another close-range Aerial Ace.

Instead, the two of them circled each other and occasionally hurled clusters of leaves at each other. The attacks were light, but the damage stacked up. Continuing to fly when his body was aching was starting to get tiring. Kelaar wished that he could land and take a quick break, but he knew that Tropius would be all over him if he did. Landing probably wouldn't be in the spirit of a sky battle anyway…

Meanwhile, James's face darkened with a grim, determined look. An idea had formed in his mind, but it was going to be risky. There was a part of him that didn't want to risk using it with Kelaar since they still didn't know each other that well, but there was no point continuing the stalemate. "Kelaar, use Sweet Scent!"

With a brief glance back, Kelaar nodded. He started releasing a sweet and pleasant aroma and wafted it in Tropius's direction by flapping his wings.

His opponent started flying more slowly as the sweet smell started making her mind foggy and less clear.

"Use Gust!" James called. "Then use Stomp – aim for the sides!"

With a nod, Kelaar whipped his wings and buffeted Tropius with a strong gust of wind. As she was blown backwards, he shot forwards and flew around in an arc to attack her flank.

"Aerial Ace!" Winona called.

Tropius grunted in pain as she flapped her wings and tried to stabilise herself. Her wings glowed white as she started moving forwards, but Kelaar was approaching quickly.

"Turn to the right!" Winona shouted.

At the last moment, Tropius pulled herself around. Kelaar smashed into her flank but was then caught by her wings coming in from his right. The force of the combined impacts sent the two of them tumbling through the air until they both smashed into a nearby tree trunk with a dull thud.

"Pull back!" James yelled, very aware of how close Tropius's dangerous wings still were.

Kelaar flapped his wings and regained height. As he attempted to flee back to James's side of the arena, he was hit in the back by a cluster of leaves. Tropius was right on his tail.

"Use Sweet Scent and then Gust!" James called. If Tropius kept sticking to them, then they'd eventually run out of energy. They needed to take advantage of Gust and kept her at a distance while he came up with another plan.

With a grunt, Kelaar swept up and spun around. He released the intoxicating aroma and whipped up a gust of wind at the same time. He strained to keep his wings moving as fast as possible. Like James, he knew that he needed to force back Tropius.

Fortunately, she was caught up in the blast and was flung back, a somewhat dreamy look in her eyes as the sweet smell did its work.

"Keep it up, Kelaar!" James called. Normally, he'd prefer to immediately charge in for a counter attack, but he didn't want to risk it this time. Ideally, he and Kelaar could just keep Tropius at a distance like this and eventually blow her into a tree or something to finish the job. He knew that Winona wouldn't just sit back and let him do that though. He needed to think of a way to counter her. Should he wait for her to make the first move and then try to intercept it?

But then, Stomp was much slower than Aerial Ace. Kelaar might not be able to move quickly enough to stop her. Perhaps it would be better to stay defensive and keep Tropius at bay after all. It was better than gambling everything on an attack he couldn't guarantee would work.

"Stay strong, Kelaar!" he called.

Kelaar nodded and started flapping his wings even harder.

Across from him, Tropius was being pushed further and further back. She was still hanging in there, though, and looked back to Winona for directions.

"Razor Leaf!" Winona called.

With a nod, Tropius swung her wings and fired a small cluster of leaves that cut through the wind Kelaar was whipping up.

"Now use Aerial Ace!" Winona ordered.

 _Here it comes!_ James gritted his teeth. They should be able to keep Tropius back if they produced more wind. As he prepared to speak, he suddenly realised with alarm that some of the leaves weren't getting blown away. Instead, they were heading straight for…

"Watch out!" he yelled suddenly, but it was too late.

Several of the leaves made it through without being blown away and sliced at two of Kelaar's wings. He roared in pain, the gust of wind completely forgotten.

In an instant, Tropius was upon him. She slammed into him hard and sent him flying backwards. He smashed into one of the tree trunks with a sickening thud and dropped down to the ground.

"Kelaar is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Tropius is the winner!"

"Argh! Sorry, Kelaar!" James called, leaning over the side of the platform and aiming the poké ball's recall beam at the fallen tropius. "We almost had 'em too!"

"That was a tougher fight than I was expecting!" Winona called. "I hope your next pokémon will put up a good fight too!"

"You bet he will!" James replied fiercely as he tucked Kelaar's poké ball away. He tugged Nulin's ball off his belt and tossed it in the air. "Go, Nulin!"

Nulin squawked loudly as he burst from the ball and started soaring over the arena.

"A wingull, huh? Another good choice," Winona said, nodding her approval. "But not as tough a pokémon as a tropius, I'm afraid. Use Aerial Ace!"

Tropius nodded and, with a roar, shot down towards the smaller pokémon.

Nulin shot to the side and easily avoided her. Her movements were still sluggish; there was some of Kelaar's sweet aroma affecting her. Not only that, the wingull was much smaller and faster than the cumbersome Kelaar – this was going to be a much different-

Tropius managed to swing around with such suddenness that James was momentarily stunned. Of course! He'd forgotten the infamous accuracy of the Aerial Ace technique.

There was a crash as Tropius smashed into Nulin from behind and sent him tumbling downwards. He quickly recovered and gained height though.

"Ice Beam!" James shouted immediately.

Without a second's hesitation, Nulin opened his beak and fired a freezing beam of ice at Tropius.

She attempted to duck low but didn't move anywhere close to fast enough. In a split second, she was hit, and her body encased in a thin layer of ice. There was a shattering sound as it all broke and the grass-flying type started tumbling to the ground.

There was a thud as she landed.

"Tropius is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Wingull is the winner!"

"Alright! Great work, Nulin!" James called, grinning up at Nulin as he did a loop-the-loop to celebrate.

"Ice Beam, huh?" Winona sighed as she recalled Tropius. She bowed her head slightly to James. "I apologise. It seems I underestimated you and your wingull."

"I said that he'd put up a good fight!" James called back.

"My last pokémon will be more than a match for him," Winona replied, a confident smile on her lips. She pulled out another poké ball. "Go, Skarmory!"

"Urgh!" James groaned as the steel bird materialised over the battlefield. Things never seemed to end well whenever he encountered a skarmory. "Use Ice Beam!"

Nulin was quick to react, firing a blast of ice at Skarmory. He scored a direct hit, but Skarmory recovered quicker than he expected. It seemed like her steel-clad body was resisting some of the effects of the ice.

"Use Fury Attack!" Winona called.

With a metallic screech, Skarmory dove towards Nulin. The wingull immediately shot to the side and just managed to escape the first wave of attacks. An instant later, Skarmory had turned and was chasing after him. No matter how fast he flew, his opponent was faster and was gaining on him.

Skarmory finally lunged and managed to strike Nulin, sending him spiralling to the side. She shot closer and struck him with another couple of fierce blows.

Nulin cried out in pain but flapped his wings fiercely and managed to pull himself clear. As he gained height and started circling overhead, he glanced down at James for directions.

This was going to be a little bit tougher than James had thought. Without Ice Beam as a trump card, he and Nulin were going to have to think of something different. Getting in a decisive strike might not be an option – should they try and wear Skarmory down instead?

Rather than hold position, Nulin had decided to attack Skarmory without waiting for orders. He struck quickly and slammed his glowing wing into Skarmory's back. However, he was the one who recoiled in pain – Skarmory's body was tough and it was as though she hardly felt the attack at all.

"Pull back, Nulin!" James called. "Then use Water Pulse!"

Nulin quickly lurched back from Skarmory as she lunged for him. He fired a blast of water at her, knocking her downwards. She quickly surged back up though, and it took all of Nulin's agility to dive clear before she could hit him.

His wings were aching. Even though the battle hadn't been going on very long, Skarmory's attacks had been powerful and he'd been straining himself to keep ahead of her. Fortunately, it seemed like his attacks hadn't left Skarmory unscathed. She was flying slightly oddly and the cold from earlier seemed to be affecting her a little. If he could hold out a little bit longer, then…

"Aerial Ace!" Winona called.

Skarmory screeched loudly and tore up towards Nulin.

"Supersonic!" James yelled.

Nulin opened his beak and emitted a high-pitched sound that dazed and disoriented Skarmory. There was a crash as she slammed into him, sending him toppling downwards.

"Hang in there, Nulin!" James called. An idea had come to him. They had to move fast if they were going to turn the tide before Nulin ran out of energy. James could see that he was already flagging.

Nulin spun and flapped his wings desperately as he fought to pull himself the right way up again. Skarmory attempted to dive after him but missed and nearly crashed into a tree instead. As she flew around erratically, Nulin finally pulled himself together and started to slowly gain height again.

"Use Ice Beam!" James called. "Aim for her talons, and don't use too much energy!"

With a nod, Nulin opened his beak and fired another beam of ice towards Skarmory. She tried to dodge but misjudged the direction of his attack. The slightly weaker-than-normal Ice Beam struck Skarmory's underside and froze solid. The sudden extra weight started pulling her downwards and, in her confused state, she didn't seem to understand what was happening.

As she squawked in confusion, Nulin soared past her and span around. Fixing her with a fierce glare, he fired a ball of water down towards her. As it exploded in the air above her, it sent a shockwave and a torrent of water cascading down on her. She dropped down like a stone and crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

For a moment, there was silence in the arena as everyone watched Skarmory carefully. When she didn't get up again after ten nail-biting seconds, the referee finally stepped up.

"Skarmory is unable to battle! Wingull is the winner! Both of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the winner of this match is the challenger, James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"Phew!" James wiped his forehead and grinned at Nulin as he soared back over to him. "Great work, partner!"

Nulin cried out happily and landed on James's shoulder, where he nibbled his ear affectionately.

"Looks like you were pretty tough after all!" Winona called over as she recalled Skarmory. "Those were some nice tactics to deal with Skarmory's strength and toughness, but I'm sure we weren't far away from victory either!"

"You're definitely tough," James agreed. "We really needed to do our best to pull off that win."

"Well, a defeat is a defeat," Winona sighed. She held up a small, white badge in the shape of a wing. "This is the Feather Badge, proof of your victory here in Fortree! Send Nulin over here to receive it, will you?"

"You heard her, Nulin," James said, shrugging his shoulder to encourage Nulin to take off.

He duly flew across the battlefield and started hovering in front of Winona. She attached the badge to one of his feathers and gently patted him on the head.

"You put up a great fight, both you and your trainer," she said. "Make sure you keep on taking care of each other in the future."

Nulin nodded and flew back over to James, who carefully removed the Feather Badge and placed it in his badge case.

"Thanks for your hard work, Nulin," he said, reaching up to pat him on the head. "You and Kelaar both."

With a final nod to Winona and the referee, both trainer and pokémon turned and started walking back into the corridor behind them.

* * *

 **I quite enjoyed coming up with tactics for this battle, though I feel like the battle between Nulin and Skarmory may have been a little rushed in the end. Having the gym battles in these small, focused sky battles has given me an opportunity to have Winona use different pokémon in each battle, which has been really good. As necessary as it is sometimes, I don't like having to reuse pokémon from previous battles with each protagonist.**

 **(Also, a big thank you to everyone who viewed one or more of my stories last month – we reached a new high of 5,039 views across all stories in November, getting above 5,000 for the first time!)**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Swablu): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Normal-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Safeguard.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	91. Duel in the Sky! (Part 3)

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James fought his gym battle against Winona using Kelaar and Nulin and emerged victorious. His team earned the Feather Badge for their efforts.**

 **Upload Date: 8** **th** **December 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 91: Duel in the Sky! (Part 3)**

 _Fortree City, Hoenn_

 _10:12am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

After James's battle with Winona had finished, the group gathered back in the lobby to sit together while they waited for Nicola's slot. It was more awkward than they'd been expecting.

"So, err, congrats," Richard had said as soon as they'd met up with James.

"Yeah, thanks," James had replied. Neither of them really knew what to do – it was one of the only times when one of them had beaten the gym leader when the other hadn't. It had been the other way round back on Dewford Island, but that didn't help James work out what would be the best thing to say. He was worried he might say the wrong thing and end up upsetting Richard.

Nicola and Will were sat awkwardly between them, not really knowing what to say either. Like James, they were worried that they might upset Richard if they were too enthusiastic about James's victory. But they also didn't want James to get offended either. Instead, they both decided to talk about Nicola's upcoming battle instead.

"Do you think Winona will finally use her altaria?" Will asked. "I kinda feel like she's been holding her back all this time."

"I wish that she wouldn't," Nicola sighed. "But then, I wouldn't be surprised. Blu is tough and loves fighting, but I just don't know if she's strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Winona's altaria."

"It would be a tough battle." James nodded, deciding to get involved. "But I've seen pokémon defeat their evolved form before. It's not impossible."

"Also, you're used to fighting with Blu in the air, aren't you?" Richard said. "The trouble I had with Vortex was that we normally fight on the ground."

"That's true." Nicola nodded. "But Winona's very used to fighting in the air. Even more than me."

"Blu is much smaller than Altaria is," said Will. "I bet that'll be what you need to do – make sure Altaria can't get a hit in and run rings around her."

"Will Blu be happy with that though?" Nicola wondered, glancing down at Blu's poké ball. Dodging wasn't exactly her…preferred style.

"Well, I guess it's down to you to decide, Nicola," said James, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back against the sofa. "You're the trainer and you know your pokémon better than anyone else." This was the ease of giving advice now that he was safely finished with today's battling.

Still, Nicola couldn't exactly resent him for it. Even if it was easy for him to say, she knew that he meant well. Her heart had started hammering with the usual anticipation. She'd hoped that she'd have gotten over this nervousness after fighting and winning a few gym battles, but it never seemed to truly disappear.

"Nicola Hewitt!" the receptionist called. "The gym leader is ready for you!"

"I'll be right there!" Nicola shot to her feet.

"Good luck," said Will.

"Do your best," Richard added.

"You can do it. Get out there and win!" James grinned.

"Sure." Nicola flashed them a nervous smile before turning and starting to walk towards the entrance to the corridor. After all the waiting and watching, it was finally her turn to face this flying gym leader.

* * *

 _10:15am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

The first thing that she noticed was how different the arena felt from down in the challenger's corner. Looking down on it from the spectators' balcony made it feel much smaller. She hadn't really grasped the distance between the challenger's platform and where the gym leader stood, nor how high the platforms were from the ground. She felt her confidence falter slightly, as though she hadn't prepared enough for this battle.

"Number three!" Winona called over to her. "Nice to see you again! Let's have a good battle!"

"Yeah!" Nicola replied, slightly more loudly than she'd intended. She clapped her hands on her cheeks to try and clear her doubts away. She needed to focus if she was going to win here.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the leader of the Fortree City Gym, Winona, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!" the referee announced. "This match will be fought using a one-on-one sky battle format and will be over when one side's pokémon is unable to battle! Are you both ready?"

Both Winona and Nicola nodded. There was no point wasting any more time.

"Begin!"

"Go, Blu!"

"Go, Altaria!"

Nicola's heart sank as she saw the large, blue bird materialise in the air across from her and Blu. It wasn't a surprise, but still not what she wanted to see. "Use Take Down!" she called.

Blu chirped in reply and shot off towards Altaria. She wasn't scared of her in the slightest – she could easily make up for her smaller size with her blazing spirit.

Altaria and Winona seemed a little stunned by the speed and determination of the attack and Blu had already barrelled into them before either could react. Altaria felt a stab of pain shoot through her body as Blu hit her and knocked her back. She saw the smaller pokémon wince in pain as she dropped back.

"Aerial Ace!" Winona called.

Altaria pulled herself forwards and rushed at Blu, striking her hard and slamming her back. However, the swablu quickly recovered and darted low to avoid another attack. She shot up and drove her beak into Altaria.

"Loop around and go for another attack!" Nicola called.

With a nod, Blu lunged back just in time to avoid a counter attack and swept beneath Altaria before striking her from behind. It was another heavy blow and Blu winced as her tiny body slammed into the far larger one in front of her. The adrenaline was surging now though, and the pain was quickly vanishing. She could feel herself breathing faster, but she felt no exhaustion or even tiredness. She could keep going for hours – could Altaria do the same?

Whipping around again, she jabbed Altaria in a weak point between her wing and her body. It was a perfect strike and she watched in pride as the larger bird cried out in pain and started dropping towards the ground.

"Dragon Dance!" Winona shouted.

A red, aggressive aura surrounded Altaria as she twirled and flipped through the air. She gracefully stopped herself from falling and lifted herself back up again. She made a lunge for Blu, flying forwards more quickly and powerfully than she had before.

Blu gave her wings a powerful flap and flung herself upwards and over Altaria. As she prepared to change direction, she suddenly felt a powerful force strike her in the back. The wind was knocked out of her as she was thrown forwards and started falling. Twisting around, she saw Altaria floating above her. She'd spun around so quickly and struck with such force that Blu could hardly believe it. Doubts started creeping into her mind: could she actually win against this? Even though she'd taken heavy damage, she still seemed just as strong and determined as Blu was.

"Stay strong, Blu!" Nicola called loudly, cutting into her thoughts. "You can do it!"

Blu chirped confidently and pulled herself up again. Nicola was right – there was no way that she was finished yet.

Building up strength, she flung herself forwards and charged up towards Altaria. For a moment, the larger bird gave her a half-pitying look before swaying out of the way. Her mind had already shifted to the next phase of the battle as Blu moved past.

Her insides lurching, Blu wrenched herself around at the last minute and plunged towards Altaria, who let out a cry of surprise as the swablu crashed into her. For a few moments, both pokémon plunged towards the ground together, before Blu pulled herself away and shot back up into the air. Breathless, she wearily hovered and looked down towards Altaria.

"Dragon Breath!" Winona shouted.

A blast of turquoise energy shot up from Altaria and struck Blu, causing an explosion.

Blu felt herself sag. She was disoriented, the smoke from the explosion making it hard for her to work out which way was up, and which was down. As she flailed around, she suddenly heard a rushing sound from below. Altaria was coming for her.

There was a crash as the larger pokémon hit Blu and sent her flying from the clearing cloud of smoke. She rolled and spiralled as she tumbled down. Looking back up at Altaria, hazy thoughts started crossing her mind. Just her spirit hadn't been enough. Next time, she didn't just need to be determined – she needed to be stronger.

There was a thud as she hit the ground.

"Swablu is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Altaria is the winner! This match goes to the gym leader, Winona!"

Nicola winced as she heard the referee's words. She'd really thought that Blu had stood a chance during the early part of the battle. She was going to need to think about what they could do for the rematch.

Oddly enough, she felt a strange sense of relief now that the battle was over, even though it hadn't ended the way she'd hoped. It was now whenever she thought about the rematch that her stomach turned over.

"You put up a good fight!" Winona called over to her. "But Altaria just had too much raw power! It's not often that that the reason for my victory, let me tell you!"

"We'll get even stronger for next time!" Nicola called back defiantly. "Just you watch, Blu will come back even stronger in our next match!"

As she spoke, she suddenly noticed a bright glow from down below.

On the ground, Blu's body had been enveloped in a bright, white light. With a flash that filled the arena and made everyone watching shield their eyes, she suddenly reappeared before them. She wasn't a little swablu anymore – now, she was much bigger and much stronger. She had become an altaria, just like the opponent she'd just been beaten by.

* * *

 _10:21am, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

"Hard luck in the battle, but congrats on Blu evolving."

As soon as Nicola had arrived back in the lobby, James had come over to greet her. Richard and Will weren't far behind.

"Thanks," Nicola replied, giving him a slightly dazed smile. Her emotions were so all-over-the-place right now that she scarcely knew how to react. She was still disappointed at losing the battle, yet thrilled by Blu's sudden evolution, and both determined and nervous about the thought of facing Winona and Altaria again.

"How's she doing?" Richard asked, nodding at the poké ball Nicola was holding tightly in her hand.

"Okay, I think." Nicola nodded. "She was already worn out from the battle, but it doesn't look like it took too much out of her."

"Well, she'll need a check-up at the pokémon centre anyway," said Will. "No point hanging around here – should we head back?"

"Yeah, let's," James said, patting Nicola on the shoulder. "There's a lot to plan as well."

The four of them said goodbye to the receptionist and left the gym. There was a cool breeze blowing through the forest as they started walking along the wooden bridge to the next platform.

They were silent on the way back, each of them lost in their own thoughts. There was a lot to think about. Defeat was never easy, not for those who lost, nor for those who indirectly had to share the burden. Mistakes and weaknesses needed to be reflected upon, new plans and tactics drawn up, and resolve and confidence built up again.

But there was still hope. They still had the option to use a regular battle format instead of Winona's sky battles, and Nicola had her newly-evolved altaria to help her as well. For all that they were a time for despair, the aftermath of defeat was also a time for determination and resolve.

* * *

 **Really, I don't think that Blu would have managed to win against Altaria without some serious mistakes on Winona's part. Still, now that she's evolved into an altaria herself, maybe she'd be able to fight Altaria on more equal terms, hmm? Also, with hindsight, I might have merged this chapter with James's gym battle chapter since they're both comparatively small. That would have given me the extra chapter I needed to properly cover the events in Nordris Town - another lesson for the rewrite!**

 **Things are going to be hectic next week as I finish preparing for my departure, but I'm hoping to get the rematches finished before I go. It feels like a good point to have a temporary stop, but I can't make any promises – it's been a challenge motivating myself to write over the last week and it won't get any easier as I rush around with my last-minute preparations.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	92. Back in the Air!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Nicola and Blu were defeated in their battle against Winona and her altaria. The silver lining was Blu suddenly evolving into an altaria herself at the end of the battle.**

 **Upload Date: 12** **th** **December 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 92: Back in the Air!**

 _Fortree City, Hoenn_

 _3:31pm, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

"Iron Tail!" Richard shouted.

"Keep back and use Thunderbolt!" James ordered.

Arro careened across the forest floor towards Kacha, only for the pikachu to nimbly jump backwards to avoid the attack. There was a bang as he fired a blast of electricity at Arro, sending a shock coursing through his body and causing him to stumble backwards.

"Stay strong!" Richard called. "Push just a little bit further!"

Arro lurched forwards again, gritting his teeth against the electricity. He made a lunge for Kacha and managed to catch him with the end of his slash.

Kacha squeaked in pain as he jumped back, but he landed safely.

"That was good, Arro!" Richard called. "Great work!"

Arro grunted in dissatisfaction, barely even glancing back at him.

"H-how about you keep on practising?" Richard called.

As Arro resumed his duel with Kacha, James came around to Richard and started speaking quietly. "Is something going on with your team?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, sorry if I'm wrong," James said apologetically. "It just seemed like your pokémon aren't, uh, in the best mood."

Richard's face fell but he quickly grinned. "What are you talking about, James? Everyone's just as fired up as I am! We all want to make sure the rematch goes well!"

James frowned but decided not to press the issue. "Anyway, have you decided which format you're going for?"

"Not yet," Richard replied. "What's Nicola doing?"

"She's doing a sky battle." James glanced up at the platforms above them. Richard did the same.

In the distance, they could make out the forms of Blu and Turkey twisting and swirling through the air in one of the spaces that passed as a practice arena in this treetop city. They'd been almost since the moment Blu had been discharged from the pokémon centre. Both she and Nicola seemed determined to make up for their loss earlier in the day.

"What do you think?"

Back on the forest floor, Richard snapped back to reality as he heard James speak.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Don't expect me to decide just like that."

"I'm not trying to annoy you," James said carefully. "It's just… if you're doing a sky battle, then we need to practise different things."

"I know," Richard replied jerking his head away from James. "I'll work something out, okay?"

"It's _your_ gym battle, Richard," James said. He glanced back over at the pokémon. "He's open from the right, Kacha! Use Tail Break!"

With an impressive spin, Kacha jumped around Arro's flank and slammed his tail into him.

Arro roared in pain and crumpled, clutching his side. He glared at the ground as he tried to pull himself unsteadily back to his feet, while his opponent landed softly among the ferns and twitched his ears as he waited.

"Make sure you stay focused, Richard," James said, turning back to him. "You need to keep Arro safe from openings like that."

"Yeah, got it," Richard said bitterly. As James walked back over towards Kacha, he added under his breath, "Easy for you to say."

* * *

 _6:48pm, 4_ _th_ _August 2006_

It had started getting late when James and Richard walked back up the ramp to Fortree City and returned to the pokémon centre. There were no lights in the forest and both had been keen to get back before it got too dark to see down in the undergrowth.

They'd already showered and got changed by the time Nicola and Will returned from their training. They'd both looked exhausted, but mostly satisfied. At least, Nicola looked as satisfied as someone who had an upcoming rematch to worry about could do.

After waiting for Nicola and Will to get back down to the lobby, the four of them had gone into the restaurant to get dinner. The menu up in the trees was much more unique than elsewhere in the region. The food was much simpler, and a lot of the ingredients apparently came from the local area. With the lack of roads for delivery trucks, that was understandable.

There was also less choice. All four of them had bangers and mash with peas: the sausages came from a farm just north of the forest, while the peas and potatoes had been grown in a part of Fortree City that had been set aside for growing vegetables. Dessert would be a fruit salad made up mostly of fruit that could be found growing in the surrounding forest.

"Feeling any better about tomorrow?" James asked Nicola as he pushed some mashed potato onto his sausage.

"I'm feeling a bit more confident," Nicola replied, her face hovering somewhere between a frown and a smile. "Blu was handling orders pretty well this afternoon."

"We did plenty of work on that new attack," Will added.

"Don't forget your peas," James said, noticing that Will's vegetable pile wasn't getting any smaller. "Anyway, we saw that from down below. Dragon Breath, right?"

"Yeah," Nicola said. "It took us a long time to get it right though. Altaria made it look so easy though."

Will reluctantly scraped some peas onto his fork. "How about you, Richard?" he asked, delaying the inevitable.

"Hmm." Richard bit off a chunk of sausage and chewed it slowly and deliberately. "Okay, I guess," he said finally.

"Only 'okay'?"

"You want me to say it was fantastic?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, don't worry," Will replied quickly. He stuffed his fork full of peas into his mouth and screwed up his face.

"Good boy," James said. He turned to Richard. "So, what are you going to do tomorrow? Regular battle, or sky battle?"

"…I still haven't decided," Richard replied. He knew that he had more pokémon he could use in a regular battle, all of whom were well-trained and powerful, but he just didn't want to give up on fighting and winning a sky battle. It felt like he'd be taking the easy way out if he only won the badge through a normal battle.

But then, wouldn't that be better than not winning the badge at all? Winona had already said that she was as skilled in regular battles as she was in sky battles. It would still be a tough battle, right? Didn't that mean that the badge would still be legitimate, even if it wasn't under the gym leader's favourite format?

He was getting so conflicted over it, he just wished he didn't have to worry about it at all. Why couldn't he just push it out his mind and focus on something else? And why did James and Will have to keep bringing it up? It was easy for them to sit back and tell him what he should do when neither of them had to worry about battles. They wouldn't have to step back out onto the arena tomorrow.

His stomach lurched uncomfortably as he thought about it. Tomorrow. He had less than twenty-four hours to finish preparing. In fact, twenty-four hours from now, it would already be over, and it might not end well.

"Well, don't worry about it too much," James said unhelpfully. "You can decide at the gym tomorrow."

"Yeah." Richard looked away and put the rest of his sausage into his mouth. He tried distracting himself with images of himself proudly holding the Feather Badge tomorrow, the battle won and Winona's team defeated, but found his mind drifting to the sight of another defeat. He saw Winona and the referee shaking their heads, disappointed at his abysmal performance. He saw James, Will and Nicola's faces, looking down at him disapprovingly from the balcony behind the challenger's corner, wondering why they were letting a weak trainer like him drag and slow them down.

As much as he tried, and as much as he joined in the more light-hearted chatter at the table afterwards, he couldn't shake that image completely from his mind.

* * *

 _11:15am, 5_ _th_ _August 2006_

There was a large indoor arena off to the side of the lobby in the Fortree Gym. According to the receptionist, it was mostly used for training rookie gym trainers who had only just started at the gym. It was also the venue for any regular battles that needed to be fought here.

So, Richard found himself stood on the wooden floor of this arena and trying to distract himself from his nerves by thinking about how glad he was that he didn't have a fire-type pokémon with him. The feeling of defeat at having chosen to fight a regular battle instead was still hanging over him.

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the leader of the Fortree City Gym, Winona, and the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!" the referee announced. It was a different person to yesterday. The other referee must have been off. "This match will be fought using a three-on-three single format and will be over when all three of one side's pokémon are unable to battle!"

Richard pulled out his first poké ball and, upon hearing the referee shout, hurled it into the air. "Go, Naro!"

Naro roared as he burst out of the ball.

Across the battlefield, Winona threw out her own poké ball. "Go, Swellow!"

Swellow materialised in the air and screeched loudly. She immediately shot towards Naro, diving underneath his clumsily attempt to intercept her and striking his side with her wing. She swung around and slammed into him again from the other side.

"Use Thrash!" Richard yelled.

Naro grunted and hurled himself towards the flying type. He flailed his arms and legs in all directions, roaring and shouting in blind rage, and allowing his anger to fuel his powerful attacks.

Swellow elegantly swung and turned to avoid the heavy attacks, winding her way through the flurry of badly-aimed punches and kicks. However, she got too cocky and, attempting to fly in for an attack, was caught by a wild punch from the side.

"What's Richard doing?" Will sighed, gazing down as Swellow was hurled to the side. "I know that Naro has lots of strength, but even I know that attacking without a plan doesn't work out well."

"Yeah," James said, frowning as he watched the scene unfold before him. Swellow had recovered pretty quickly from the attack and was now keeping her distance. Naro, meanwhile, seemed to have completely disoriented himself and didn't appear about to walk straight. He continued lurching around and throwing punches that Swellow could easily dodge with a quick flap of her wings.

"Poison Sting!" Richard called.

Naro overstretched himself and tumbled over. As he crashed to the ground, Swellow dove in and slammed into him with a speedy attack. It was only a glancing blow, though, and Naro quickly recovered.

"Meg- wait! Poison Sting!" Richard shouted.

Naro grunted and rushed forwards. Ahead of him, Swellow dropped low and shot towards him. The two of them collided, sending Swellow flying backwards as Naro barrelled on. For a brief second, it looked like Swellow was about to disappear beneath Naro's powerful feet, but she managed to pull herself away at the last second.

"Double Kick!" Richard called.

"Double Team!" Winona ordered.

Naro swung his feet around to launch a pair of powerful kicks, only to find a crowd of doubles waiting for him. He kicked out at one of them, but it quickly faded away.

Meanwhile, the rest of the them all dove towards him and the real one landed a precise blow on the side of his head.

"This isn't good," James mumbled. "Richard's letting Winona control the pace of the match."

"It's like he doesn't really know what to do," Will added. "Can he win?"

"Probably, but…" Nicola began quietly. "I think it's what's in his head that's the problem."

With the confusion on Richard's side, it only took a handful more attacks from Swellow before Naro was brought to his knees.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Swellow is the winner!"

"What's wrong with me," Richard muttered under his breath as he recalled Naro to his poké ball. He'd not been focusing hard enough and he hadn't been coordinating with Naro at all. He'd been too focused on trying to punch the problem out instead of actually overcoming it. He needed to do better in the next round if he was going to stay in the battle.

He pulled out another poké ball. "Go, Arro!"

The aggron roared loudly as he materialised on the battlefield.

"Wow! You really like big, tough pokémon like this, huh?" Winona said. "Looks like things got a bit tougher for me!"

Swellow immediately dove towards Arro, trying to find a weak spot in his armour to strike. When she finally hit, her wing bounced back off his armoured body.

Arro smirked at Swellow as she fell back, before lunging over and slashing at her with a powerful swipe. He hit her with such force that she hit the ground almost instantly. It took everything she had to scramble clear before he could launch another attack.

"Double Team!" Winona called. "Then use Endeavour!"

Swellow screeched wearily, summoning up a group of doubles to hide her. They all flew at Arro, weaving around to the sides so he wouldn't know where to aim. As he lunged for one of them, the rest all ducked low and continued on. The one Arro struck simply faded into nothingness.

There was a loud crack as the real Swellow, somewhere among the crowd, managed to hit.

Arro roared in pain and was blasted backwards. Some impressive flailing kept him on his feet, but the front of his armour was badly cracked. Somehow, that bird had hit with enough power to cause that much damage.

"Ever heard of Endeavour?" Winona called over as Swellow and the remaining doubles pulled back.

"Yeah," Richard replied bitterly. "I remember reading about it a while back. Were you deliberately waiting until after Arro had attacked Swellow before using it?"

"The extra damage gave me an opportunity," Winona replied. "It's always nice to have a plan B handy in case things go badly."

"Well, looks like Arro is still standing to me," said Richard. "Hope you've got a plan C too." He nodded at Arro. "Use Iron Defence!"

Arro grunted at him. A thick coating of steel suddenly encased his body, covering the damaged parts with a new layer of protection.

"Oh? A smart move," Winona said approvingly. "But we'll just break through that defence again!"

Swellow surged forwards, accompanied by the doubles.

"Use Iron Tail!" Richard shouted.

Arro roared and tensed himself up. As the group of birds reached him, he suddenly lashed out and swung his tail in a wide arc. Doubles faded as they were torn through. Finally, there was a loud crack as, just in time, Arro struck the real Swellow. She was hurled to the side and crashed to the ground.

"Swellow is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Aggron is the winner!"

Up in the stands, James, Will and Nicola let out sighs of relief.

"Looks like he's getting back into it," James said.

"Using Iron Defence when he did was pretty cool." Will nodded approvingly. "I wonder who will be up next though? Do you think she'll save Altaria for you, Nicola?"

"I'm hoping not, but I guess she probably is," Nicola replied nervously.

Down in the arena, Winona pulled out her next poké ball. "Go, Tropius!"

Tropius emerged from her poké ball and roared as she took to the air.

"Use Solar Beam!" Winona called.

"Double-Edge!" Richard yelled.

Tropius started charging up sunlight, watching anxiously as Arro charged towards her. The room was shaking so much from his giant footsteps that, for a moment, Richard wondered if the building might be shaken loose from the tree.

There was a crash as Arro smashed into Tropius and shunted her back with ease. Tropius cried out in pain but held her ground as best as she could. She opened her mouth and fired a blast of sunlight directly into Arro's face.

The aggron roared as he staggered backwards, temporarily blinded and his face scorched by the intense light. Tropius used the chance to slip away and gain height.

"Use Synthesis!" Winona ordered.

"They're trying to heal damage!" Richard yelled. "Use Metal Sound, Arro!"

As Tropius started absorbing light to heal her injuries, Arro emitted a horrendous sound, like someone was scratching a blackboard while simultaneously smashing steel girders with a baseball bat. Everyone clutched their ears, and Tropius, unable to do anything to keep the noise out, thrashed around helplessly, her attempts to heal herself forgotten.

Richard tried to order Arro to use Double-Edge, but the noise meant that he had to shout twice before the aggron registered the order.

Arro kept up the unearthly noise as he charged forwards, only stopping the split second before smashing into Tropius.

As he followed up with a powerful slash, Will turned to James. "It looks like Richard has managed to turn things around."

"Yeah," James replied. "I guess Arro's too no-nonsense to let Richard's mood get him down. That's just what Richard needed to get over this."

The three of them winced as Arro emitted another burst of that awful sound.

"I wish he wasn't using this move though," Nicola grumbled.

Down below, Arro and Tropius broke apart after an extended exchange of attacks.

"Finish this off with Double-Edge!" Richard shouted.

"Solar Beam!" Winona called.

As Tropius started charging up her attack, Arro stormed forwards. Nothing was going to stand in his way as he gained speed and power. The floor shook with each step and there was a creaking sound that made it seem like he really could tear the building from the tree.

Tropius finished charging earlier than Richard and Arro expected and fired. A bright beam of light seared through the air, leaving a heat haze around it and dazzling anyone looking directly at it.

Arro lurched to the left at the last moment and the beam blasted his right arm instead. Wincing in pain, he stayed on course and slammed into Tropius with all his power. There was a crash as they both tumbled to the ground.

For a couple of seconds, both of them lay still. Then Arro hauled himself wearily to his feet again.

"Tropius is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Aggron is the winner!"

"Great work, Arro!" Richard called, his heart soaring. The battle was in his favour now. He might actually stand a chance at winning this after all.

Arro was beaten up and looked like he was starting to flag, but he still had plenty of strength left. He'd be able to do a hell of a lot of damage before he was brought down.

"Go, Pelipper!" Winona called, throwing out her final poké ball.

Richard's heart sank again. Not that this was the end of the world, just that it was unhelpful having a reminder of yesterday's defeat brandished in his face.

"Use Iron Tail!" he called to Arro.

Arro nodded and rushed forwards again. He was noticeably slower than he had been earlier. He cloaked his tail in steel and locked eyes with Pelipper as he closed in. He would come in from the upper right and lower left – that way, it wouldn't matter if Pelipper tried to dodge by going up or down. Arro would still be able to catch him.

Pelipper opened his bill and suddenly fired a blast of water Arro. The blast struck him on the weakened bit of armour that Swellow had damaged earlier in the battle.

A sharp wave of pain shot through Arro's body as he tumbled backwards. As the intense wave passed, he felt his energy draining away. He crashed to the ground and found that he couldn't dig up the reserves to pull himself back to his feet.

"Aggron is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "Pelipper is the winner!"

Richard gritted his teeth as he recalled Arro to his poké ball. "You put up a great fight out there, Arro," he said. "Take a good rest."

Now, what should he do?

Pelipper continued hovering in the air, flapping her wings and giving him a dozy look that belied her impressive battle skills. Who did he have left who could defeat her?

Dish?

She was partly a grass type and wouldn't last long against any flying moves that Pelipper brought out. She probably wouldn't be able to hold out for that much longer than Arro had.

Chena?

He was a good all-rounder, but he wouldn't be able to deal a decisive blow. Richard didn't like the idea of relying on outlasting Pelipper. It also felt like a cheap way to win.

Pincer?

He hadn't done much training with him before the rematch. He was still inexperienced and he didn't match up that well to Pelipper anyway.

That left Vortex.

Vortex had the moves that could take Pelipper down but was still weak to her. Plus, they'd already lost to Pelipper once before. Would it be a good idea to face her with them again?

Richard gritted his teeth again. A firm smile appeared on his face as he grabbed the baltoy's poké ball. "Go, Vortex!"

Up in the stands, the other three stared in surprise as Vortex appeared on the battlefield.

"No way!" James gasped. "I was sure he'd use Chena!"

"What's he thinking, d'you reckon?" Will asked. "Vortex will be at a disadvantage against Pelipper…"

"Look!" Nicola exclaimed, pointing at the arena.

Not only had Vortex materialised on the battlefield, they had started floating high up into the air to match Pelipper. They span around aimlessly but held their position in a surprisingly confident way.

After all that fuss and self-justification that Richard had given them this morning over choosing to fight a regular battle, he was going to settle it with a sky battle after all.

Richard's heart was hammering. Had he really just done that? Had he really had that bold decision. It felt weirdly empowering. And it seemed like Vortex was pretty happy to be out as well, as hard as it was to tell with them sometimes.

"Use Water Gun!" Winona called.

"Drop!" Richard shouted. "Then use Psybeam!"

Vortex obediently stopped holding themselves in the air and dropped down. As Pelipper's blast of water sailed overhead, they fired a colourful beam of psychic energy back at her. The water bird lowered her attack at the last minute to save herself and water splashed everywhere as the two attacks met.

"Again!" Winona called.

Pelipper immediately fired another blast of water, only for Vortex to shoot quickly out of the way. They started floating around more quickly, finding themselves slightly more at home in the air than they had in the previous battle.

"Psybeam!" Richard ordered.

"Protect!" Winona called.

Vortex fired another blast of psychic energy, but Pelipper was quick to block it. The two pokémon continued darting and weaving around, hurling attacks towards each other without managing to land any direct hits.

"Water Gun!" Winona called again.

Pelipper fired a blast of water towards Vortex, who stopped and twisted idly as they waited for Richard's orders.

"Use Rapid Spin!" Richard called.

Vortex started spinning around in the air, getting so fast that they became a blur. The jet of water struck them directly, sending a shower of water spraying out to the sides. The force of the attack still forced Vortex back, and though they seemed mostly okay, they were completely soaked. The tactic hadn't worked as well as Richard had been hoping.

Vortex ducked as another blast of water headed their way before immediately firing back with a beam of psychic energy. They managed to glance Pelipper, but she quickly recovered and started firing back again.

While the two pokémon continued duelling, Richard frowned as he tried to think of a plan. Vortex's advantage was being able to use a move like Ancient Power – if they could get Pelipper close enough, then they could finish this off in a second. But how? Pelipper was sticking resolutely to her current tactic of hurling blast of water at them.

It would take a bold gamble to break the deadlock.

"Use Cosmic Power!" Richard called.

With a rattle, Vortex drifted downwards and started drawing on some unseeable power in the air around them.

"Water Gun!" Winona called.

Pelipper duly fired another blast of water, but Vortex jerked to the side to avoid it. They did the same with a second, and then a third attack. Still, they didn't counter attack and simply continued to draw in cosmic energy.

A fourth blast barely missed them, but a fifth scored a hit and blasted the baltoy back.

"Vortex!" Richard yelled in alarm.

"Now's your chance!" Winona grinned. "Use Aerial Ace and finish this up!"

Pelipper shot forwards, her wings glowing a bright white. She sped through the air as Vortex descended down towards the ground, gaining speed and keeping her eyes fixed on her target.

"Ancient Power!" Richard shouted.

Vortex immediately sprang back to attention and, as Pelipper panicked and tried to break off, sent a cluster of boulders flying up at her. There was a mighty crash as they slammed into her and shattered into pieces. She was thrown upwards before starting to drop down.

"And again!" Richard called.

Vortex nodded and fired up a final cluster of boulders at the helpless Pelipper.

There was another crash and Pelipper was hurled back towards Winona. She slammed to the ground with a thud and lay still.

There was silence in the arena for a second before the referee spoke. "Pelipper is unable to battle, Baltoy is the winner! All three of the gym leader's pokémon are unable to battle, so the match goes to the challenger, Richard Winter from Pewter City!"

The tension drained out of Richard's body and he felt his shoulders sag with relief. A warm feeling of satisfaction welled up inside him – he'd managed to win a sky battle against Winona, even if it wasn't an official one.

Vortex drifted wearily down towards him. If the baltoy was pleased with the victory, then it was hard to tell. There was nothing different about how they were acting, even when Richard reached out to stroke their head.

"Well, looks like you got me in the end," Winona said with a sigh, recalling Pelipper to her poké ball. She started walking across the arena. "That was a nice ambush at the end – I really should have seen it coming."

"It only worked because we managed to drag out the distance battle," Richard replied. "Vortex was much better at moving around this time."

"I noticed." Winona nodded. As she reached him, she held out her hand. "Here. The Feather Badge is yours. After managing to defeat me in the sky at the end, you've definitely earned it."

"Thanks, Winona," Richard said, smiling as he took the wing-shaped badge.

"Now then," Winona said, turning to look up at the stands. "I guess it's time to move over to the sky arena again."

Up in the stands, Nicola clenched her fist as she stood up. She was ready.

* * *

 **It seemed like a more thematic ending to have Vortex win out against Pelipper at the end, though I feel like Arro got a decent amount of action this chapter as well. I was quite pleased with how this turned out in the end, even if it's a little rushed at the end.**

 **I'm hoping to get Chapter 93 finished for Friday, the day before I fly out to Japan. In the meantime, Chapter 24 of** _ **Livvi's Johto Scrapbook**_ **will go up tomorrow.**

 **Also, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to respond to any reviews or PMs lately. I've had too much on my mind lately with going away and all. Once I've settled down in Japan and got a stable internet connection, I'll make sure to get back to you.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	93. Across the Blu Sky

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Richard managed to win his rematch against Winona, leaving just Nicola without the Feather Badge.**

 **Upload Date: 14** **th** **December 2018**

* * *

 **Chapter 93: Across the Blu Sky**

 _Fortree City, Hoenn_

 _11:41am, 5_ _th_ _August 2006_

"…Anyway, it looks like Vortex and I have gotten pretty tough, huh? Remember how easily they were dodging everything Pelipper was throwing at them? Couldn't have done it better myself!"

"I'd pay to watch you trying to do that," said Will, shooting Richard a grin. "I'm just imagining it now…"

"Well, Vortex really did look good in that battle," James said. "I'm glad that you're happy again, Richard. I was worried after how you were acting last night and this morning."

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Nicola muttered bitterly. She glanced back at the clock above the receptionist's desk. Just a few more minutes to go.

"S-sorry," James said apologetically. "How are you feeling, Nicola?"

"Same as always," Nicola sighed. "It's all on me now – if I lose…"

"Don't think about that," said Will. "Just imagine Blu completely crushing Altaria!"

"But what if she's still not completely used to her new form?" Nicola asked anxiously. She'd started unconsciously jigging her left foot. "Altaria is well-trained and Winona has a lot more experience than me."

"Yeah, and _I_ managed to beat her somehow!" Richard exclaimed. "If I can do it with Vortex, then you can _definitely_ do it with Blu!"

Richard was right, probably, but it still weighed on Nicola's mind. It was much easier to spot faults than it was to see strengths. She and Blu had spent all of the previous afternoon practising with Will and Turkey, but she kept remembering all of the mistakes they made during that time while the moments of success were harder to reach.

She was reminded of the fact that she was still a relatively new trainer compared to James and Richard, something that she had virtually forgotten after Lavaridge Town. Once again, she felt the inexplicable pressure of matching their performances, even if Richard had also lost on his first attempt to beat Winona.

"You can only do your best, Nicola," said James. "If you lose, then we keep training until you do win. There's nothing to worry about."

"I guess." Nicola smiled nervously, hoping it didn't show too much on her face. She absentmindedly reached for Blu's poké ball and held it. It rattled slightly in reaction.

"Nicola Hewitt, you're up!" the receptionist called. "Head on through to the sky arena!"

"S-sure!" Nicola jumped to her feet. She looked around at the other three. "See you after the battle then."

"Good luck," said Richard.

"Do your best," James said.

"We'll be cheering for you, don't worry!" Will grinned.

Nicola smiled back and waved as she turned to start walking through the corridor. Now that she was actually moving, and the battle was about to begin, she felt a part of her nervousness melt away. Sitting around and doing nothing made her think too much – soon, she'd be completely immersed in the battle. It would be too late for doubts then.

Her footsteps echoed on the wooden floor as she walked towards the arena.

* * *

 _11:45am, 5_ _th_ _August 2006_

"This is an official Hoenn League gym battle between the leader of the Fortree City Gym, Winona, and the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!" the referee announced. "This battle will be fought using a one-on-one sky format and will be over when one side's pokémon is unable to battle!"

Nicola tightened her grip on Blu's poké ball as she stared across the arena at Winona. There was a moment of silence as they waited for the signal.

"Begin!"

"Go, Blu!"

"Go, Altaria!"

Blu and Altaria both burst out of their poké ball and sang loudly as they started floating in the air above the battlefield.

"Dragon Breath!" Nicola yelled, deciding to strike right away.

With a shriek, Blu shot higher into the air and fired a blast of energy towards Altaria, who immediately dropped to avoid it. She spun through the air to avoid Blu's attempts to redirect her attack. Closing in, she slammed her wings into Blu and knocked her back.

Blu winced in pain as she flapped her wings vigorously to regain height. Altaria was still just as tough as ever. She was going to need to use every ounce of her new strength if she was going to win.

"Use Take Down!" Nicola ordered.

Blu nodded and dove towards Altaria.

There weren't really any problems with Nicola and Blu's approach to the previous battle, just that Altaria had been too much stronger for Blu to keep up with her. Staying aggressive made the most of Blu's belligerent spirit and would hopefully keep Altaria on her toes, especially now they were more equal in terms of raw power. Nicola didn't know for sure if her approach would work, but it seemed like the best she had.

Altaria swung to the side at the last second to avoid Blu and ploughed into her side with a fierce attack.

Blu cried out in pain and lurched downwards. A fierce look on her face, she recovered and whirled around to face her opponent again.

"Peck!" Nicola called.

Blu surged forwards again, her beak glinting in the sunlight filtering through the trees overhead.

With a smirk, Altaria shot to the side again. She moved just enough that she'd be out of Blu's reach, even if she altered her direction.

"Now, Blu!" Nicola yelled suddenly.

With a cry, Blu shifted to the right and opened her beak. She fired a blast of turquoise energy towards Altaria, who only had enough time to gasp in surprise before being hit.

"Whoa!" Winona exclaimed.

Altaria dropped through the air, but quickly managed to recover. Spooked, she regained height slowly and kept a careful eye on Blu as she swept back towards Nicola's side of the arena.

Blu grinned cheerfully at Nicola as she glided over towards her. The plan had gone off almost without a hitch. They'd quickly worked out in training that a dragon type like Altaria or Blu would be vulnerable to dragon-type attacks as well – dragons were a power that stood above all others, but that left them weak to only each other and maybe a handful of other types.

Of course, Nicola expected that Winona had already known all of this as well and had similarly been holding back Altaria's dragon-type attacks to try and surprise her later. In fact, it had surprised her that she'd let Blu get so close to Altaria despite seeing her start with Dragon Breath earlier in the battle…

"Aerial Ace!" Winona called.

Altaria screeched loudly and shot towards Blu.

As she closed in, Blu braced herself and glanced back at Nicola.

"Take Down!" Nicola called.

Blu shot forwards as well and, for a few seconds, the two pokémon rocketed towards each other and watched tensely for any sign that the other was about to break off and launch a different attack.

It was with a mix of relief and last-minute alarm that both slammed into each other hard in mid-air.

""Dragon Breath!"" Winona and Nicola both shouted at the same time.

Clawing themselves apart, Altaria and Blu fired blasts of energy at each other, only for them to collide and cause an explosion that sent shockwaves across the arena.

"Now use Take Down!" Nicola shouted.

"Dragon Dance!" Winona called.

Altaria immediately started weaving around elegantly, a deep red aura surrounding her.

On the other side of the battlefield, Blu flapped her wings fiercely and tore towards her opponent. As she rushed towards her, she watched carefully for any signs of a counter attack. When she was just a short distance away, Altaria suddenly opened her beak and fired out a blast of energy.

Blu ducked in a panic and just managed to get out of the way. As she momentarily relaxed, Altaria shot downwards and smashed into her with her wing. The impact sent Blu plummeting down, but she managed to wrench herself back up just before she could hit the ground.

"Stay strong, Blu!" Nicola called.

She needed to think about what to do next. Altaria was tough, but all their attacks must have had _some_ kind of impact, right? She knew that Winona was getting Altaria to increase her speed and attacking power with that dance, so was she planning on going for a powerful close-range attack? It might be better for Blu to stay on the defensive and fight at a distance…

Blu called out angrily as she soared up from below and started hovering in front of Nicola's platform. There was an intense, determined look in her eyes that seemed to be trying to burn its way into Nicola's.

Nicola sighed, but smiled at her. "Well, I guess that's the way you were always going to do this." She nodded towards Altaria. "Go on. I know you can do it."

Blu grinned back confidently and flapped her wings to gain height. She started soaring above the arena, pinpointing the best place to launch her attack.

"Use Aerial Ace!" Winona called.

Altaria, who had been performing her strange dance, suddenly shot upwards towards Blu. She was fast and she looked confident as well.

Blu wasn't fazed. Instead, she angled herself downwards and started plunging towards her opponent with as much speed and power as she could muster. She was going to meet Altaria head on and beat her back with everything she had.

Altaria wavered in the face of the sudden counter attack and slowed down.

"Use Dragon Breath!" Winona shouted.

Letting herself drop down to put some distance between them, Altaria opened her beak and fired a blast of turquoise energy at Blu.

Blu grimaced as the blast hit her head on. She felt in rushing past her, tearing at her skin and burning her wings. She had to keep her eyes closed to keep them safe, but she could feel herself plunging on down. She blocked out the pain as much as she could and kept pushing as hard as she could. She heard a startled shriek and, a second later, felt her head smash into something ahead of her.

There was an explosion, and both altaria were sent flying. Trailing black smoke, they both plunged towards the ground below. Both trainers could only watch helplessly.

At the last moment, one of them just managed to recover and pulled herself out of her dive just before she would have hit the ground. Her opponent landed with a thud and, after a brief struggle, collapsed in exhaustion.

Winona and Nicola watched the scene in silence as the referee cleared his throat.

"The gym leader's altaria is unable to battle! The challenger's altaria is the winner! This match goes to the challenger, Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

"We did it!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed as Blu limped back towards her, almost falling a second time.

The altaria chirped happily but tiredly as she drifted over the platform and flopped down next to her.

"I knew I could count on you," Nicola said, hardly able to keep her smile under control. She held out Blu's poké ball and recalled her. A trip to the pokémon centre would be a must after this.

It took a while before Winona finally arrived around on her side of the arena. Though she looked a little disappointed, there was a smile on her face too.

"It looks like you got a lot stronger in the day since we last fought. Your swablu has grown into a fine altaria and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you'll do together at the Hoenn League," she said.

"It was a great battle," Nicola replied gratefully. "I'm sure that Blu enjoyed herself as well."

"Here." Winona placed the Feather Badge in Nicola's hand. "You and Blu fought hard today. I hope that you'll remember how you fought together here every time you look at that badge."

"I will!" Nicola nodded eagerly, closing her hand around the badge and feeling it press against her skin. "Thanks, Winona. And thanks to Altaria too."

"You're welcome," Winona replied with a smile. "Good luck in the rest of your gym battles."

* * *

 _12:31pm, 5_ _th_ _August 2006_

After meeting up again in the lobby of the Fortree Gym, the others had congratulated Nicola on her victory and the four of them had set off back for the pokémon centre to drop off the pokémon injured in the two gym battles.

While waiting, they'd dived into the trainers' lounge to kick back and relax for a bit. After all the tension of the last couple of days, it was a welcome relief.

"What are we going to do next?" Nicola asked, idly stroking Zaggy, who was sprawled across her lap.

"I say we continue heading south," said James. He already had the guidebook out in front of him and was flicking through the pages on the cities in the south of the region. "We've got sort of a choice after this."

"Sort of a choice?" Will asked, lifting his legs as Grum and Kacha chased each other past him. "What do you mean?"

"There a big bay at the south of Hoenn and there are big cities on either side of it. If we go west, then we could go to Polna City. Or we could head to Lilycove City on the eastern side instead."

"Which is better?" Richard asked.

"It looks like there's more to do in Lilycove," James replied, glancing at the page. "Though I remember Mia mentioning that there's a contest in Polna City… Oh, wait! It sounds like there's a contest in Lilycove as well – _the_ Lilycove Contest. Sounds like this might be a big one, Nicola!"

"Really?" That piqued Nicola's interest. She pushed Zaggy off her and stood up to look at the guidebook. "Wow, it says that it's the biggest contest in Hoenn outside of the Grand Festival! The finalists in every Grand Festival for the last five years all won the Lilycove ribbon before competing."

"I bet the competition'll be tough then," James sighed. "We should get practising, Nicola – if one of us _does_ manage to win the ribbon, then we could be a shoe in to win the Grand Festival as well!"

"I wonder if Hannah and Mia know about this as well… Do you think we should try and contact them?" Nicola asked.

"They'll know, I'm sure!" James replied. "Besides, we don't need the extra competition from them!"

"So, which way do we go to get to Lilycove City?" Will asked, wincing as Grum bounced into the back of his leg. He reached down to push the spoink gently away from him.

"I'd say Route 120 down towards Topacra City," James said, tracing the yellow line running from Fortree City down towards the head of the bay. "Then we can follow Route 121 along the bay to get to Lilycove."

"We're running out of Hoenn to explore," Richard said, a hint of worry creeping into his voice as he looked at the map. "Are there any gyms on either of those two routes?"

"I don't know," James replied. "But I wouldn't worry _too_ much." He circled a cluster of islands stretching out from Hoenn's southern coast. "There's more to Hoenn than just the mainland."

"I guess we'll have to worry about that when we get to it," said Nicola. "For now, let's get to Lilycove and win that Lilycove ribbon!"

* * *

 **It's pretty crazy to think that there's only 37 chapters left to go until the end of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **now. The end suddenly feels like it's starting to approach.**

 **Anyway, I was pretty pleased with how this gym battle turned out. It was a tough fight, but Nicola and Blu were able to persevere. She, James and Richard only need two more gym badges each before they can compete in the Hoenn League.**

 **This will be my last update in December (and by extension 2018), since I fly out to Japan tomorrow and will be too busy doing training and settling in to commit much time to writing. I want to focus on work in January without stressing out over writing as well, so I don't think** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **will resume uploads until the start of February at least. In the meantime, I'll post updates and whatnot on the Facebook page and I'll hopefully get around to responding to PMs and reviews soon.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	94. Popularity Contest

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Nicola and Blu managed to overcome Winona and her altaria to earn the Feather Badge in Fortree City.**

 **Upload Date: 17** **th** **February 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 94: Popularity Contest**

 _Route 120, Hoenn_

 _1:42pm, 8_ _th_ _August 2006_

It was the middle of summer: one of the busiest times of the year. It wasn't just pokémon trainers who were out and travelling the region, but also families and couples who were taking advantage of the summer break to get away from the cities and head to the beach. When they'd walked past a traffic jam heading down towards the coast on their way out of the vast forest that surrounded Fortree City, James and the others had been relieved that they were on foot and didn't have to sit in stuffy cars for hours on end.

Hiking in the summer wasn't much better though. Their toughened feet might be less at risk of blisters after the months they'd been travelling, but heat stroke and dehydration were an ever-present threat as they slogged through the intense sunlight in cloudless skies. They were constantly sticky with sweat mixed with dust that blew up from the roads. Even the shade of trees didn't provide much relief. The heat was just as sweltering here as it was out in the open.

Discovering a pokémon centre on the road had been nothing short of miraculous. The ice cream van that had set up camp close by even more so.

"It really is summer now, huh?" Nicola said idly as she sat on a chair out in front of the pokémon centre, holding a chocolate ice cream in one hand. She fanned herself with her free hand.

"Ah, summer," Richard said. "The time that you hate when it's happening but can't get enough of when it's gone."

"What's wrong with you?" Will shot him an odd look. "Even if it's hot, summer is still summer."

"I wish we could hit the beach instead of the road," James sighed. "Anyone fancy just getting the bus to Lilycove City?"

"And miss out on everything along the way?" Nicola demanded. She quickly licked her ice cream to stop it trickling onto her hand before continuing. "Have you forgotten that we still need more contest ribbons if we want to enter the Grand Festival?"

"I hadn't," James replied. "And I was only being half serious just then."

"Only half?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Is there anything between here and Lilycove?" Will asked. He licked out the last of his honeycomb ice cream and bit into the cone.

"There are some contests," James said.

"Of course, there are!" Richard took a lick of his mint choc chip. "No gyms, I'm guessing?"

"I couldn't see any in the guidebook…"

"Figures."

Nearby, most of the pokémon were lounging about on the warm paving stabs outside the pokémon centre. Even Zaggy was sprawled out asleep instead of causing trouble. Toya, Nulin, Dish and especially Kipa were all sheltering in their balls – this hot weather didn't agree with them. Charka, Mule and Blue all had to stay in as well. It was a tragic irony that the weather that they loved made them too dangerous to truly enjoy it.

"Ah!" Richard suddenly jumped. He's let his ice cream get too melty – the cold liquid had just run down the cone and onto his hand.

"Better start eating, Richard!" James grinned at him before taking another lick of his toffee crunch ice cream.

There was a rattling in front of him as Charka's poké ball started rolling around.

"It's _such_ a shame that you can't come out and have some of my ice cream, Charka!" James said exaggeratedly, putting a hand on the ball to stop it moving. "I know how much you love sweet things!"

"Evil," Richard said as he finished licking his fingers and moved back to his ice cream.

"Whoa! Look over there!" Nicola exclaimed.

The other three looked around and spotted it as well. A very clean, very expensive-looking car cruising along the road they'd been following. It was no limousine, but it certainly gave off the air of belonging to someone important. And they didn't have to stick their heads inside to know that it would be nice and air-conditioned…

"Must be nice, being able to travel like that," Richard murmured wistfully as the car passed.

"I wonder if it's someone famous?" Nicola said excitedly. "They say that there are lots of popular resorts in southern Hoenn that celebrities visit."

"I doubt it," James replied. "I bet it's just a rich family on their way to the beach. I think a big car like that is the first you buy when you get rich."

"It's heading in the same direction we're going," Will said, gazing after the car as it disappeared into the distance. "What's there?"

"Just Ornlay City," James replied. "It's nothing special. The only reason we're heading there is for the contest."

"I wonder what they're going to Ornlay City for?" Nicola murmured.

"Who knows," said Richard. "They're probably not even stopping there." He took a bite of his ice cream.

Will checked his watch. "Actually, we probably need to set off again soon, right?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "But we can make it to Ornlay City this afternoon if we really try."

"You guys better hurry up then!" Will grinned. "I'll kick back and relax while I wait for you to finish!"

* * *

 _Ornlay City, Hoenn_

 _5:42pm, 8_ _th_ _August 2006_

After another gruelling slog through the afternoon, the four trainers finally arrived in Ornlay City. A large city in southern Hoenn, it was enjoying a hot, humid summer. James hadn't been joking when he'd said it wasn't anything special, though it was still a large place and had many of the shops and attractions that the group had sorely missed during their days of trekking through the wilds of Route 119.

Most important to James and Nicola was the contest hall, to which they immediately went as soon as they arrived in the city.

"You sure you don't want to shower first?" Richard had asked before they split up. "You look a mess."

"Right back at you!" Nicola retorted. "Besides, we're just going to register. We probably won't even run into anyone else."

So, she and James had arrived at the contest hall sweaty, dusty and exhausted, wearing clothes that looked worse for wear and generally looking like the polar opposite of a coordinator.

They'd run into Hannah in the entrance hall.

She'd laughed after they explained themselves. "You never let anything get between you and a contest do you, Nicola?" she said.

"I guess…" Nicola replied sheepishly, trying to cover her embarrassment. "Anyway, I didn't know you were going to be here in Ornlay City, Hannah."

"I'm on my way to Lilycove," Hannah replied. "Figured I'd stop by other contests to keep me busy on the way there. Ah!" She quickly reached for a poké ball. "I've got something to show you!" She threw out the ball.

The feathered form of a combusken appeared.

"Wow! Chika evolved?" Nicola exclaimed, pulling out her pokédex.

" _Combusken, the young fowl pokémon and the evolved form of torchic._ _Combusken toughen up their legs and thighs by running through fields and mountains. These pokémon's legs possess both speed and power, enabling them to dole out ten kicks in one second. This pokémon's cry is very loud and distracting._ "

"We worked really hard together," Hannah said, nodding proudly. "I know that he isn't as cute as he was when he was a torchic, but he still puts on really beautiful performances."

"I guess so," said James.

"Excuse me, can I get past?"

The three of them turned to see a girl approaching them. Everything about her, from her designer clothes to her carefully-styled hair, screamed of wealth.

"Sorry." Embarrassed by their own, poor appearance, James and Nicola quickly shuffled out of the way."

The girl gave them a nod before moving through to speak to the receptionist.

"You're really back, Kealy!" the receptionist exclaimed in delight. "Thank you for all your hard work!"

"Thanks," the girl replied. "It feels good to be back again. I'm ready to give Ornlay my best show!"

"Oooh!" The receptionist clapped. "I'm looking forward to it! I bet the whole city will be watching!"

Just across the entrance hall, James stopped scuffing his feet in embarrassment and turned to the others. "Hey, any idea who that girl is?"

"No clue," Nicola replied.

"I have," Hannah said. "Most coordinators in Hoenn have."

"Who is she?" James and Nicola turned to her.

She pointed at the wall next to the main staircase.

Grinning cheerfully at them from a high-quality, glittery poster was the very same girl currently talking to the receptionist. 'Kealy, the darling of Ornlay City, returns home!' it declared. 'Witness her retain her title as the victor of the Ornlay contest once again on 9th August at the Ornlay contest hall!'

* * *

 _7:21pm, 8_ _th_ _August 2006_

"Wow! Sounds like she's pretty sure of herself," Richard said when James and Nicola recounted what had happened at the contest hall over dinner. "If the contest hall staff are acting like she's already won, then what chance have you guys got?" he added with a grin.

"At least _try_ and be supportive!" Nicola exclaimed, glowering at him.

"It's not like she's already won," James said. "Everyone here just seems to think that she will."

On the way back to the pokémon centre, they'd seen a number of similar posters around the city. Shop windows, lampposts, in front of restaurants – it seemed that the city was in the grip of 'Kealy Fever'.

"Isn't it bad if the contest hall staff are on her side?" Will asked. "Doesn't that mean you really have already lost?"

"The staff might support her, but they'll be professional," Hannah said confidently. "The judges tend to come from out of town anyway, so we don't have to worry about them being biased."

"See? We've still got a chance at winning," said James.

"What's the big deal about this girl anyway?" Richard asked. "You're making it seem like she's a celebrity, but I've never heard of her."

"I guess that makes sense since you're not from Hoenn," Hannah replied. "But most people on the contest scene here have heard of her."

"Anything interesting?" James asked as he finished his mouthful.

"She's the city's local idol." Hannah paused to sip her tea. "She sings and dances and generally works to help promote the city. She came second in a survey of the most loved idols in Hoenn."

"Sorry. I guess being a top idol in Hoenn doesn't make you well-known in Kanto," James said.

"Same with Johto," Nicola added. "I haven't lived in Hoenn long enough to know all the local celebrities yet."

"Hey, guys!" Will said sharply. "The judges might not be biased, but the audience get to vote on which coordinators should go through."

"Oh, yeah." Nicola nodded. "The crowd are going to all be cheering for her, aren't they?"

"It's not just down to them," James replied. "Besides, Kealy will still only get one slot in the battle round. And once we're in there, the audience can't save her."

"That's right!" Hannah nodded eagerly. "We just need to perform well enough to make it past the appeals round."

Richard scooped up a spoonful of rice and put it in his mouth. He watched the three coordinators with a mildly amused look on his face. "I like how the three of you are talking like you're one team. Shouldn't you be worrying about each other as well?"

James, Nicola and Hannah all fell silent. Of course, even if they had a common goal of defeating Kealy, they'd have to face each other sooner or later. Alliances were meaningless the moment they stepped out onto that stage.

"Eh, we'll worry about it later," James said.

Both Nicola and Hannah nodded in agreement. It was easier to put those difficult thoughts aside for now.

* * *

 _3:12pm, 9_ _th_ _August 2006_

The following afternoon, the five of them finished training and set off for the contest hall. They had to fight through the crowd just to get to the entrance. Unfortunately, it seemed like almost all of them were supporting Kealy.

This wasn't a surprise, but it was still more intimidating than James had thought it would be. He instinctively felt like he needed to keep his head down as they moved across the entrance hall towards the reception desk.

"Good luck then, guys!" Richard called unhelpfully as he and Will drifted off with the crowd towards the upper level.

"Remember to vote!" Nicola shouted back.

Richard gave her a thumbs up as he disappeared from sight.

"Right!" Hannah said firmly, looking between James and Nicola. "We all practised really hard for this and we all know that we're good coordinators. We're more than a match for a local celebrity and we're going to go out there and show it!"

"Yeah!" James and Nicola both cheered.

There was no mention of fighting each other. The unspoken agreement between the three of them was the same: no matter what happened, no hard feelings.

Trying to fire themselves up as much as they could, they quickly finalised their registration and followed the rest of the competitors through towards the holding room.

* * *

If there was one thing that was obvious to Richard and Will right from the start, it was that the Ornlay contest was going to be very different to the kind of contests they were used to watching.

Aside from starting with a performance from Kealy herself, the size and enthusiasm of the crowd was nothing like either of them have ever seen.

"I wonder if the Grand Festival will be like this as well?" Will had murmured to Richard.

While the crowd might have been much bigger than normal, the pool of competitors was much, _much_ smaller. As well as James, Nicola, Hannah, and, of course, Kealy, there were only four other competitors – just enough to fill the first battle round. It seemed that not many people were eager to compete in a contest where one candidate had so much support available.

It felt to Richard and Will as though this appeals round would be uniquely pointless when everyone was guaranteed a spot in the next round.

Still, everyone went through the motions.

Kealy's pokémon of choice was an igglybuff named Sapphire, who went first.

"Seems like the kind of pokémon you'd expect to win contests," said Richard, pulling out his pokédex.

" _Igglybuff, the balloon pokémon. Igglybuff have soft and plushy bodies that feel very much like marshmallows. From this body wafts a gently sweet fragrance that soothes and calms the emotions of its foes. Its soft and pliable body is very bouncy. When it sings continuously with all its might, its body steadily turns a deepening pink colour._ "

The performance was pretty good, even Richard and Will had to admit.

Sapphire bounced and danced across the stage cutely and smoothly, showing off at the perfect moments to wow the crowd. Not that this crowd needed much encouragement though…

She made little use of her moves, instead focusing on her physical movements and the cuteness of her appearance. It was incredible just how much of a presence she made of herself despite how small she was.

James was third. He seemed to have decided to take advantage of a guaranteed pass into the battle round to put Kelaar through his paces.

The tropius started by taking off and hovering above the stage, flapping his wings powerfully and sending a gust blowing around the stage. He slowly worked up a whirlwind around him before firing out leaves. They were caught by the whirlwind and streamed upwards around Kelaar before scattering at the top and floating down again.

He landed on the stage again. A sweet smell started drifting across the crowd as he flapped his wings again. It was so pleasant that they couldn't help but take in deep breaths of it. Even Richard and Will, who were used to be around Kelaar when he used this technique, found themselves feeling more relaxed and drawn towards the stage. Their attention was fixed firmly on the continuing performance.

Kelaar started flying around, weaving as much as he could in the relatively confined space. He dropped leaves and a pleasant scent in his wake, all eyes following him as he moved. And though the scent started to become a little overpowering towards the end, it was still working as Kelaar dropped to the ground with a powerful stomp to conclude his appeal.

The next couple of appeals felt a little drab in comparison, though Richard guessed that the coordinators didn't want their pokémon wasting energy when they'd already qualified.

Sixth to go were Nicola and Mule, who immediately grabbed everyone's attention by violently shaking the arena. Mule's seismic attacks had been growing consistently powerful lately and, with nothing in particular to use, the temptation to start off with such a shocking attack was too much to resist.

After that, Nicola directed Mule to carry on like normal – combining her powerful flames together to create a beautiful, impacting scene. This time, she was trying to focus the flames around her by aiming them at the floor. The orange light of Mule's flames filled the room, even taking over from the bright stage lights overhead. It created an incredible atmosphere in which the otherwise placid numel appeared to be dominating the stage.

However, the plan to aim at the floor backfired somewhat. As the flames flared up around Mule, she became mostly obscured from view. The audience, impressed as they were, wanted to see the pokémon performing instead of just a wall of flames.

As soon as Nicola and Mule left the stage, Hannah and Chika came out for their turn.

"Let's get started, Chika!" Hannah called.

Chika called back confidently, immediately leaping into action. He shot out a spiral of embers and whirled his head around. He created a swirling tornado of fiery embers that spun upwards. As it reached its height, Chika leapt up through the centre of the tornado, swiping with his claws and making the embers flurry around. The tornado fell apart and settled down across the stage as Chika landed in the centre.

He launched into the next phase of his performance, launching a couple of powerful kicks before spinning on the spot and spewing out another stream of embers upwards. It was like watching a fountain made of fire, the orange glow feeling much more elegant and beautiful this time rather than domineering.

Chika's performance carried on the same way, the beautiful embers and flames accompanied by well-judged movements to highlight the combusken's appeal. Even if the others were slacking off for the appeals round, Hannah and Chika were going all in.

There was technically no need to hold a vote when the last competitor stepped off the stage, but the MC announced one anyway. It was to decide the line-up for the battle rounds instead.

It was no surprise that every coordinator passed the vote.

* * *

If the appeals round had been relaxed and sloppy, the competition suddenly came alive completely the moment the first battle started. It turned out that the kind of coordinator who would risk going up against a local celebrity was the kind who was tough and determined.

Nicola had chuckled at Hannah before the line-ups were announced, chastising her for revealing her full power needlessly when everyone else (apart from Kealy) was keeping their cards close to their chest.

Then they'd been drawn against each other in the first round.

Nicola and Kipa had been soundly beaten.

The rest of coordinators in the contest performed well and their pokémon truly were a force to be reckoned with. It took just about everything James and Nulin had to make it through the first round! And it only got tougher the further through they moved. Charka managed to hold off his opponent long enough to make it through into the finals, but it was another exhausting battle.

Hannah had moved up to take on Kealy. It turned out that she wasn't just talk. As well as being super popular, she was actually an excellent coordinator as well. She and her delcatty, Ruby, fought Hannah and Chika to a standstill and when the timer ran out, it was the local celebrity who benefitted from the final score being too close to call.

"That was disappointing," Hannah sighed as she returned to James and Nicola in the holding room. "I genuinely thought we could pull through at the end."

"You were the one who looked stronger when the timer ran out," Nicola murmured. "I think the judges made a mistake."

"They didn't," James replied. "In this kind of situation, they were always going to choose Kealy first."

"Yeah." Hannah nodded. "It's a no-brainer – more people will stick around to watch the final if Kealy is in it. I can't pull in the same crowds here."

"…I see what you mean," Nicola said, frowning. "But it still doesn't feel right. Make sure you take her down in the final, James!"

"I'll do my best, but it looks like it's going to be a struggle," James said. "Nulin and Charka are too tired from the last two battles, so I'm going to have to use Kelaar, Kacha or Muro."

"Made a decision yet?" Hannah asked. "You've only got five minutes until the final starts."

"I have, but you'll have to wait and see!" James replied, grinning at them. "I'm not going to give up right before the final battle – if Kealy wants to win, she's really going to have to earn it!"

* * *

Whatever the confidence he showed to Nicola and Hannah, James was still dreading the battle as he stepped out onto the stage for what would be the last time that day, regardless of the outcome of the battle. It wasn't just the fact that Kealy was a good coordinator, but the amount of support she had as well. The deafening sound of a crowd united in support of his opponent was demoralising. It had been the same for Kealy's other opponents.

He needed to clear his head and focus on the battle and just the battle. He couldn't let the crowd get to him, or Kealy would roll right over him. He just hoped that his chosen pokémon wouldn't let the pressure get to him either.

"Let's get this final started!" the MC called, to the cheers of the audience. "On my left, Ornlay City's own Kealy, back home after achieving more glory around Hoenn and charming everyone with her elegant performances!

"On my right, James Burton!"

 _The difference in treatment_ , James thought as he tightened his grip on his poké ball.

"Begin!"

Both James and Kealy threw their poké balls at the same time. Ruby the delcatty and Kacha emerged on the stage, looking across at each other with firm expressions on their faces.

"Use Charm!" Kealy called.

Ruby immediately mewed at Kacha and batted her paw appealingly towards him. There was a cheer from the crowd as James and Kacha's points started ticking down.

"Use Agility!" James ordered.

Kacha sprang into action, darting around Ruby so quickly that it was as though he was appearing from and disappearing into thin air. He made no attempt to attack her directly, instead focusing on keeping her off-balance and confused by his blinding movements.

"Use Charm again!" Kealy called.

Rather than letting herself get overwhelmed, Ruby simply started appealing directly to the crowd, purring and meowing and calling. She immediately drew in their attention once again. Just as it had seemed like James and Kacha would pull even, Ruby was edging ahead again.

"Tail Break!" James called.

With a shout, Kacha infused his tail with energy. It glowed a dark red colour as he swung it around. He did flips and combined it with Agility to create an impressive string of moves.

Ruby ducked and darted around him, sometimes getting so close that she was practically brushing against him, though neither pokémon actually attacked each other. Their points were both dropping but, as it had been in the previous battles, Ruby was keeping just that little bit ahead. The delcatty was scarcely fighting the battle at all – she was just appealing directly to the audience. And it was working.

James gritted his teeth in frustration. Nothing he and Kacha did seemed to be enough to overtake her. He was really starting to feel like there were certain pokémon that were always going to have an unfair advantage in contests. Yet he wasn't prepared to simply give up yet. There was more than one way to win a contest battle. It just might not be the popular way…

"Thunderbolt!" he called.

Kacha jumped back from close to Ruby and immediately fired a blast of electricity straight at her.

Caught off-guard by the sudden attack, Ruby could only cry in alarm before she was struck and hurled back by the powerful surge of electricity.

Ignoring the collective gasp from across the arena, James pressed on. "Use Tail Break!" he ordered.

Kacha nodded and rushed forwards with a burst of speed. Swinging into action, he whirled his tail into Ruby's side and sent her flying to the ground with a loud crash. The impact knocked her out cold.

Such was the stunned silence in the hall that James could hear the tiny beeps as seconds continued counting down on the timer. They still had 90 seconds to go, with Ruby leading in points, yet it was already over.

"No way! That's outrageous! It's unfair!" Kealy suddenly yelled. "Barbaric tactics are banned in contests! I demand a rematch!"

There was a loud ripple across the crowd in agreement. James suddenly became very aware of all the angry eyes now on him and Kacha. Even so, he had to fight to keep his face straight and passive. There was no way he could let his immense satisfaction at beating Kealy show.

"L-let's have the judges discuss this," the MC said, as stunned as everyone else.

The discussion didn't take long.

"The rules state that a contest battle ends if one pokémon is unable to battle," the head judge said firmly. "It's not the kind of beautiful performance we like to see in contests, but there are no rules against it."

"No way! I refuse to accept it! Let us go again!" Kealy insisted. She rounded on James. "You'd rather fight a fair battle, right?"

"Nah, I'm good," James replied coolly. "I'd rather just get my ribbon, thanks."

There was quite a bit of shouting from both Kealy and the crowd for a while before the MC, after a firm talking to from the contest hall manager, finally stepped in to calm the crowd and announce the result. Kealy glared daggers at James the whole way through and the MC made little effort to disguise her contempt either.

"The winner of this battle is the vile snake, James Burton from Pallet Town, who stole Kealy's rightful victory from her at the last moment. For his win, he will dirty the Ornlay ribbon with his grubby hands!"

"Thanks," James said as he took the cream-coloured ribbon. He resisted the urge to add, "It was a pleasure," sarcastically at the end.

* * *

 _6:24pm, 9_ _th_ _August 2009_

There hadn't quite been an angry mob wielding torches and pitchforks in the aftermath of the Ornlay contest, but James and the others had still decided that sticking around for any length of time probably wasn't going to be a good idea.

In fact, James had almost made the whole way back to the pokémon centre by the time the angry crowd was massing in the entrance hall. The head judge had helpfully guided him to a discreet side door as soon as the ribbon presentation was over.

Although the pokémon centre was full of other trainers who were mostly amused by James's victory and his sudden infamy in the city instead of out for his blood, he and the others opted to take dinner up to the boys' room and eat it there. Out of sight was out of danger.

"So, what's the plan now?" Will asked. He hadn't been able to stop grinning since the end of the contest.

Richard chuckled. "I guess we need to leave town before they catch us!" Like Will, he found the whole situation hilarious. It was easy for the two of them when they were neither a target, nor was it obvious to strangers that they were associated with James.

Nicola and Hannah, who had been sat with and talking to James all the time they were in the holding room together, weren't so lucky and had had to deal with a lot of angry questions on their way out of the contest hall.

"You say that like it's a joke," Nicola said, sighing.

"I'm sure it'll blow over by tomorrow!" Will said, grinning.

Hannah shook her head. "I doubt it. You don't understand just how popular Kealy is here in Ornlay."

"I think we should leave early in the morning," said James. "How does three o'clock sound?"

"You're joking," said Will.

"Five for six," Richard added. "That's my final offer."

"Deal." James reached over and shook his hand.

"Where are we going though?" Nicola asked.

"Well, I thought we could head for Topacra City," James replied. "It's west of here and links to one of the routes that goes straight to Lilycove. There's also going to be a contest there as well."

"Sounds good to me!" Nicola said, grinning at him. "Now that you've got more ribbons than I have, I need to catch up!"

"I'm probably going to stick around here and do some sightseeing," Hannah said. "But I'll see you guys again when you get to Lilycove City."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Nicola. She sighed. "I wish _we_ could have spent some time exploring Ornlay City as well."

"Not really an option, I'm afraid," James replied. "Especially for me." He ate his last spoonful of rice and looked around at Richard, Will, and Nicola. "So, we're agreed then? Get up at five and leave at six. No excuses. No delays. Right?"

"Got it!" the other three replied. Somehow, they got the feeling that tomorrow was going to be a long day…

* * *

 **It feels good to be back after a couple of months off. I was a bit apprehensive about this chapter, but I think it turned out okay in the end. I'll let you, the reader, be the judge of that!**

 **Anyway, I've settled into my new life in Japan and found plenty of free time in the teacher's room to work on** _ **Pokémon Journey**_ **chapters between lessons and planning. I won't promise a return to the once-a-week upload schedule since something could always come up, but hopefully the story will get moving on a more regular basis again from here on.**

 **For those who haven't seen it, I've posted a follow-up survey to the one on content for the rewrites on the Facebook page. If you've got a couple of minutes to spare, then I'd appreciate getting your feedback once again!**

 **Also, in case you haven't seen it, I posted an unrelated Pokémon one-shot last month called** _ **Forgotten**_ **, which is hands down the best piece of writing I've produced to date, so it would be great if you could check it out as well.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to like the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Loudred): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	95. Hyper Voicing Your Opinion!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James, Nicola, and Hannah competed in the Ornlay contest, where they faced off against a popular local idol named Kealy. By falling back on his regular battle tactics, James was able to defeat Kealy and win the Ornlay ribbon, at the cost of making him the most hated person in the city.**

 **Upload Date: 24** **th** **February 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 95: Hyper Voicing Your Opinion**

 _Ornlay City, Hoenn_

 _5:58am, 10_ _th_ _August 2006_

The summer sun had already risen by the time the group cautiously snuck out of the pokémon centre and started walking slightly quicker than normal towards the main road along Route 120. It was still early, yet the air was already warm and the dew covering the grass was starting to evaporate.

Despite this, James was wearing a blue hoodie with the hood firmly covering his head and eyes. He wasn't going to take any chances. A little bit of sweat would be worth it if it got him out of the city without running into trouble.

The other three were watching him with bemused expressions on their faces. Even if it was light, there was virtually no one up this early. And surely the people of Ornlay City would have had a chance to sleep off their irritation at him for his shock victory over Kealy the previous day, right?

In fact, having had a chance to mull it over before sleeping the previous night, the three of them were growing increasingly annoyed at being dragged up so early over such a small issue. If he wasn't careful, James was simply going to swap one danger for another.

"See, James," said Will, jerking his head slightly in the direction of a couple of shopkeepers opening their shops, who had glanced in their direction briefly before returning to what they were doing. "I don't think they're out for your blood."

"When did I say the entire city would be?" James retorted. "Kealy is an idol. Idols have fans. And fans can sometimes be just a tiny bit crazy."

"You'd think you're on the run from Team Rocket," Richard said, shaking his head. "You're being paranoid. As soon as we get to the next town, I'm going to sleep for a whole day and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Sure, whatever," James replied, tugging his hood slightly further over his head.

"The next town doesn't have a pokémon centre though…" Nicola mumbled.

The four of them continued walking down the street as the city started to grow less and less around them. They could already feel the heat building in the air as the sun rose higher. It was going to be another hot day, and they weren't looking forward to dealing with that alongside their tiredness.

They were already starting to sweat, and the sun's heat was beating down on them powerfully. It was only going to get worse as the day wore on.

They were distracted by the heat and their own discomfort. It wasn't surprising that they didn't spot the teenage boy who stopped dead when he saw them and watched them intently as they walked past and continued along the street.

"James Burton," he mumbled under his breath, his hands tightening into fists. "Don't think you're going to get away with this so easily."

* * *

 _Route 120, Hoenn_

 _5:42pm, 10_ _th_ _August 2006_

The day had been long, hot, uncomfortable, and uneventful. Even finding a neat little path that was mostly in the shade the whole day hadn't done all that much to make the group feel better. Their tiredness had started to catch up with them in the early afternoon and they eventually decided to stop and set up camp on a flat patch of grass by the side of the road.

Nicola had seized on the opportunity to spend some time training with Mule, whose powerful Magnitude had started becoming consistently more powerful.

"I reckon she's developing it into Earthquake," James had said when they were talking about it earlier in the day. "That's the way it normally goes with Magnitude."

The downside to Nicola and Mule's training was the unfortunate fact that their campsite kept vibrating violently with each attack. There was no way to do anything when everything kept getting hurled from side to side. So, instead, the others decided to head out and help them train as well.

"I'm pretty sure that's Earthquake now," Richard said as he struggled to keep his balance while the earth heaved under his feet. "That was pretty strong."

"Just as strong as the last two," James added with a nod. "I'd say we're finally there."

"Great work, Mule!" Nicola called cheerfully, walking over to pat the numel on the head as the shaking subsided. "I guess we can stop training for now."

"Actually, I was hoping we could continue for a bit longer," James replied. "Muro's Uproar has started getting stronger – I think he's learning a new move too."

"A stronger Uproar?" Richard glanced over at Muro, who was looking as pumped as ever. "I guess that'll be Hyper Voice, right, James?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "Uproar's pretty good, but it's tough to control. If Muro can learn Hyper Voice, then he'll be even stronger than before and have more control."

"I think Mule and I need to have a rest," Nicola said apologetically. "We can help out later though."

"Sure, that's fine," James replied. He turned back to Richard and Will as Nicola left. "This could get quite loud, so I hope you guys are ready."

"As much as we're going to be!" Richard replied with a grin.

There were a lot of moves that developed into stronger attacks as their users grew more powerful and adapted to battling. The exact process was different for each move and each pokémon, with Ember's development towards Flamethrower being different to Withdraw developing towards Protect. However, one thing that they all had was the need to improve focus and concentration to draw out the pokémon's potential. The most important thing was repetition and practice of the old move until it could be used with such power and control that it 'evolved' to its higher level.

In Muro's case, this meant a lot of shouting.

"Do you think it's working?" Will asked James as Muro's shouts echoed loudly around the valley.

"I mean, I think so!" James shouted back. "Don't you think he looks a little more in control now than he did the last time we battled together?"

"I guess so," Will said, lowering his volume as Muro's shouting briefly died down. "He used to always look angry and upset when he used Uproar – now he just looks focused instead."

"It's getting more powerful as well!" Richard shouted from further down the hill, where he and Naro were 'testing' the power of Muro's shouts by being almost deafened with each attack.

"We're getting close then!" James called back with a grin. "Keep trying, Muro – we'll definitely get it soon!"

Muro nodded and took a deep breath.

Within seconds, another deafening shout filled the valley, sending the newly-settled taillow flying from trees once again. It was as well that they were far from the nearest town – it was difficult to let Muro train properly in a populated area, where there were so many people just waiting to make a noise complaint.

Out here in the wilds of Route 120, they only needed to really worry about themselves and avoiding losing too much of their hearing to the loudred's increasingly powerful sound attacks. On the plus side, it wouldn't be a nice experience to be on the receiving end of these attacks in a battle.

* * *

"So that's where they are." The teenage boy from Ornlay City watched James and the others training from a safe distance. It had been touch-and-go for a while when he'd lost sight of them, but all those sudden earthquakes and then the deafening sounds had led him in the right direction.

It was rare for him to venture out of Ornlay City these days, but he'd been a reasonably tough trainer back in his prime and he was confident that he'd be able to pull off his task without much trouble. He just had to decide on his approach. Did he want to simply strike and leave, or should he stick around long enough to see the look on James's face afterwards?

Something about that seemed incredibly satisfying for him. It was exactly what James deserved after so humiliating Miss Kealy at yesterday's contest. There could be no mercy, no forgiveness. He had no choice but to make sure that James regretted his actions and would never again threaten Miss Kealy's honour and dignity.

At least, that's how the teenager felt as he lay in a bush high on the ridge overlooking the valley, with the small campsite below him. His only regret was not thinking to pack anything to help get him through the night. It was going to be long and tiring without a sleeping bag, or a change of clothes. But this was the price he was prepared to pay.

The warm summer sun was still in the sky, but the valley was starting to darken. The afternoon had passed, and evening had arrived. It would soon be time for him to make his move. All he had to do was wait just a little bit longer.

* * *

 _12:18am, 11_ _th_ _August 2006_

Peaceful snoring filled the inside of the tent as the four trainers slept. Inside their poké balls, the pokémon mostly slept as well. Among James's pokémon, only Muro was still awake. He was too agitated after overusing Uproar so much this afternoon and evening. There was no way he could get any sleep in this state.

This would be okay. There would be plenty of time to sleep tomorrow while the humans were travelling. That was one of the good things about being a trained pokémon – getting a free, effortless ride to the next destination.

Despite the sleepless consequences, Muro was happy with that day's training session. He was on the cusp of grasping Hyper Voice. Maybe not tomorrow, when he would be catching up on sleep, but the following day he was certain he'd finally manage to master it. He couldn't wait to use it in a proper battle. He'd been feeling increasingly strong these days and the thought of the Hoenn League and all the tough opponents he'd get to fight was constantly making him twitch in anticipation. It was a good thing that he had tough team mates he could train with to keep him occupied.

Suddenly, Muro's thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sound of soft footsteps in the tent. For a moment, he wondered if Nicola had gotten up and was looking for something. But these footsteps were far smaller than a human's. Even within the poké ball, Muro could still tell that easily.

The footsteps seemed to get closer and closer, eventually stopping outside the boys' room. Then he heard the sound of the entrance being unzipped. As the tiny footsteps resumed and moved into the room, he made his move.

He popped his poké ball open and sprang out in bright ball of white energy. He was already shouting deafeningly as he materialised. The lithe figure had frozen by the entrance in shock at the sudden noise. It was blinded by the sudden burst of light as Muro's poké ball opened. It tried to move backwards but tripped and fell.

Muro leapt towards it, still shouting, as the trainers awoke in surprise.

"Huh? What?" Richard cried, still half-asleep. He and the others looked around in confusion as they tried to grasp what was happening.

Muro jumped onto the intruder. They started tussling on the ground and tumbled out into the communal area of the tent. Muro was dominating his sudden opponent – in its surprise, it wasn't parrying his attacks very well at all. He finally let his shouting subside as he stomped down hard with one of his large feet.

His opponent just managed to dodge at the last moment and hurled a punch back.

Muro flinched as it hit his shoulder and knocked him back. As he recovered and lurched forwards again, the intruder sprang up and dove for the entrance to the tent.

"What was that?" Will cried as he and the others tumbled out of their rooms and stared at the scene.

"A pokémon, I think," Richard replied, rubbing his eyes. "Good job seeing it off, Muro."

Muro didn't look happy though. He immediately started charging towards the entrance to give chase.

"Hey, Muro! Wait!" Nicola exclaimed.

"No, let's follow him!" James called. He couldn't be sure, but he thought Muro was trying to tell him that he didn't think it was just another tent invasion by a wild pokémon. Indeed, the food was kept in their backpacks, which hadn't been touched at all. And the pokémon had been in their room when Muro had woken them up. It was very strange.

Pulling on his shoes and grabbing a torch, James jumped out of the tent entrance and started following Muro.

Fortunately, the bright moon helped light the way as he followed Muro up the hill in pursuit of the intruder. Whatever it was, it was fast and skilled. It was hard to keep track of it as it weaved through the scattered bushes and grass on the hillside. If not for Muro's excellent hearing, they might have even lost it once or twice.

James was panting as he and Muro finally came to a stop below the ridge. For whatever reason, the intruder had decided to stop. It turned to face them, a determined expression on its face. Now that James had gotten a closer look at it, he realised that it was a medicham. There was nothing about wild medicham on Route 120 in the guidebook – was this a trained pokémon? If so, where was-

"Change of plans, huh?" A teenaged boy stepped out from behind a bush just behind the medicham. "I was hoping Medi would be back without any trouble."

"Who are you?" James demanded. "What do you want?"

"The name's Scott," the boy replied. "And you should know what I want, James Burton!"

"Ah," James said. "You're from Ornlay, right?"

"Of course," Scott replied. "I saw what you did yesterday. How you disgraced Ornlay City's beloved idol right in front of our eyes!"

"The rules-"

"So, I'm going to make you pay, James Burton! That ribbon that rightfully belongs to Miss Kealy – I'll be taking it back now!"

"But I don't-"

"Medi, go! Attack!"

With a shout, Medi sprang forwards, surprising both James and Muro. He barrelled into Muro and both of them toppled down the hill. Muro finally managed to dig in his heels and stopped himself before trying to slam his large foot into Medi.

"Use Hyper Voice!" James ordered.

Muro winced as his foot struck the ground instead and he instinctively let out a cry that grew louder and louder in an instant. The explosion of sound sent shockwaves shooting out around him. His ears pounded as they amplified the sound even further.

"Great job, Muro!" James shouted. Even with his hands held very firmly over his ears, the sound was still reaching him loud and clear.

Medi was blown back by the force of the shockwave and crashed to the ground before tumbling down the hill. It looked more like he was simply stunned by the sudden strength of Muro's attack instead of just being overwhelmed. As Muro's voice died down again as quickly as the shout had begun, he managed to stop himself from sliding and jumped back to his feet.

"Hi-Jump Kick!" Scott called.

"Stand your ground!" James ordered.

Medi stormed back up the hill and leap up towards Muro, who stayed put and waited. The medicham's attack was slowed by having to move up the hill and he misjudged his jump. His knee slammed into the ground just in front of Muro.

As he yelled in pain, Muro stepped forwards and slammed his large foot into him.

Further down the hill, Richard, Nicola, and Will were struggling up towards the battle raging below the ridge.

"Whoa! What's happening!" Richard exclaimed, watching the two pokémon fight in the distance.

"It was a trained pokémon?" Nicola gasped. "Someone really did come after us for revenge?"

"Well, it looks like Muro is crushing it," Will said. "Let's get moving!"

As they hurried up to join James, the two pokémon crashed into each other again. Muro grimaced as Medi's powerful leg dug into his side, while the medicham winced as Muro's weight pushed him down.

"Confusion!"

"Hyper Voice!"

As Medi tried to lift Muro into the air, he was hit by another deafening shockwave.

Muro landed on the ground again and, managing to keep his balance, intensified his shout. The sound echoed around the valley, completely shattering the stillness of the night. If there was anyone trying to sleep around here, then they'd probably been woken up by now.

James offered them a silent apology in his head as he watched Muro force Medi back. With a final, decisive kick, the medicham was sent flying backwards and crashed into a bush on the hillside.

"Is it over?"

James glanced behind him to see the other three approaching. "You guys took your time."

"You had everything under control," Richard replied with a grin.

"So, it was a trained medicham then?" Nicola said as she pulled out her Pokédex.

" _Medicham, the meditate pokémon and the evolved form of meditite._ _It is said that through meditation, medicham heighten energy inside their body and sharpen their sixth sense. This pokémon hides its presence by merging itself with fields and mountains. They are known to meditate for a whole month without eating."_

"This isn't the end of this!" Scott shouted angrily as he hurriedly recalled Medi to his poké ball. "You might have beaten us this time, but we'll take you down and restore Miss Kealy's honour! You better watch yourself."

"Take care on the way home!" James called after him as he ran back up the ridge and disappeared from sight. He let out a sigh. He suddenly felt very tired. "Guess we should head back to bed," he said, turning back to the others. "At least we-"

He was interrupted by a cry and a flash of light from Muro. The loudred's body was suddenly enveloped in a bright light. In the darkness of the night, it was blinding. His body started to grow even bigger and bulkier.

With another flash, it was over.

"Wow, congratulations, Muro," James said, grinning at his newly-evolved pokémon. The hardy-looking form of an exploud was now stood before him.

Muro grinned back and, a second later, everyone had to shield their ears as he called back cheerfully. His voice was much deeper than it had been as a loudred, and so much more powerful!

"You're going to have to train him to control that," Richard said to James.

"I didn't think evolving would affect his voice so much," Nicola added as she pulled out her Pokédex again.

" _Exploud, the loud noise pokémon and the evolved form of loudred._ _Exploud trigger earthquakes with the tremors they create by bellowing. If this pokémon violently inhales from the ports on its body, it's a sign that it is preparing to let loose a huge bellow. They only raise their voice when they are in battle._ "

"Well, we'll work on it," James said, smiling at Muro again. He reached out and patted his head. "Hard to believe that you were once a little whismur!"

"Let's get back to bed," said Will irritably. "I've given up enough of my sleep over this."

"That's fair," James replied, nodding. "I don't think that guy will be stupid enough to come after us against tonight." He recalled Muro to his poké ball and the four of them started walking back down the hill to their tent.

"Still, you'll have to keep watching out, James," said Richard. "It doesn't sound like you're off the hook yet."

"What's he going to do? Stalk us round the rest of the region?" James replied, raising an eyebrow. "If that was his best, then I doubt I have anything to really worry about."

"I hope you're right about that," Nicola sighed. "It's not that far from Ornlay City to Topacra City, after all."

* * *

 **Another change in James's team – hurray! Muro was overdue some more focus and this seemed like a good opportunity to put him back in the spotlight for a change.**

 **Anyway, James has thus far managed to protect his newly-earned ribbon from those who don't believe he is the rightful owner. The idea of having a chapter where James has to deal with someone trying to relieve him of one of his badges came to me as I was finishing Chapter 94. It was a nice little way to provide an opportunity for Muro to evolve and to keep this chapter more connected with the previous one.**

 **As I'm sure you've gathered from this chapter, this won't be the last time we see Scott. Whether or not he'll succeed in recovering the Ornlay ribbon remains to be seen though. In the meantime, we've got another contest in Topacra City to look forward to!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Take Down, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	96. Blu Takes the Stage!

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, James and Muro had to battle with one of Kealy's fans, Scott, in order to protect James's Ornlay ribbon. Though surprised in the middle of the night, they were successful and Muro evolved into an exploud.**

 **Upload Date: 3** **rd** **March 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 96: Blu Takes the Stage!**

 _Route 120, Hoenn_

 _11:32am, 12_ _th_ _August 2006_

It had been a strange day. One moment, James, Richard, Nicola, and Will would be sweltering under intense sunlight, and the next, dowsed in sudden, torrential downpours. It reminded them of the incident with the castform in Nordris Town, but this felt different. Almost like the rain and the sunlight were fighting each other for the same sky.

Whatever the cause, the weather had settled by the middle of the morning and it soon vanished from their minds as they rounded the final turn in the road and spotted Topacra City in the distance.

Surrounded by the green mountains on three sides, the city sat at the head of Polna Bay, the large bay that stretched out to the south and linked the city to the ocean. On the northern side was the dominating sight of the volcano Mt. Topacra. It lay silent and majestic, seeming to protect the city that bore its name.

The climate was warm, and the nearby bay helped keep the city from being unbearably humid. In other words, the four trainers were very much looking forwards to getting there and escaping the searing heat in the mountains to the east. The sight of so much green and the glittering blue of the sea immediately made them feel cooler.

There was something bittersweet about it. Though now it felt like the summer would last forever, time was steadily marching on. More of Hoenn lay to the south, particularly on the many islands stretching out into the ocean, but Topacra City was the first glimpse of the southern coast – the first sign that their journey was starting to draw towards a close.

Instead of dwelling on those thoughts, the group continued on their way down towards the city and talked about the contest that lay in store for James and Nicola. As the days ticked by, the Grand Festival grew steadily closer and neither of them had the required number of ribbons to gain entry to the competition. They were still competing with each other over the last remaining ribbons up for grabs.

They'd both come a long way from the novices who'd been soundly crushed in Anamarc Town all those months ago. Even Richard and Will were able to tell that they'd become capable coordinators and that their pokémon had, mostly, become skilled performers as well as battlers.

"We're still not in the same league as Mia and Hannah though," James said with a sigh. "Those two really are incredible at contests."

"Is that surprising?" Richard replied. "Contests are all they do. You guys have to train for battles as well."

"I guess it would help if we chose one or the other…" Nicola said thoughtfully.

"Do you want to give up one of them though?" Will asked. "Way I see it you're both doing your best at what you want to do. No harm in that."

"Fair," James said. That was something that was quite important to him. He was enjoying travelling around and experiencing new things. Competing in contests and gyms was part of that, even if it was a pain having to put so much effort into both. That was why he was looking forward to getting stuck in at the Topacra contest as well.

* * *

 _Topacra City, Hoenn_

 _3:46pm, 12_ _th_ _August 2006_

It was only when they arrived in Topacra City when the group really remembered what had happened in Ornlay City. James had assumed that the many citizens of Ornlay who had been baying for his blood would stay there. He hadn't thought that a number of them would show up in Topacra City to seek him out.

Anyway, he and Nicola had decided to delay heading to the contest hall once they'd seen the angry group outside with Scott, the boy they'd met in the middle of the night the previous day, at their head. Their hopes that they would give up and move along grew dimmer each time they cautiously returned and found them still there.

"They really hold a grudge, don't they?" Nicola said idly as she and James started walking back towards the pokémon centre again. "What are you going to do?"

"Hide in my room again?" James suggested, only half joking.

"I bet they'd leave you alone if you just gave them your Ornlay ribbon!" Nicola said with a grin. "But seriously, how are we going to compete if we can't even get to the contest hall?"

"I mean, you could go on your own to register," James replied. "I kinda feel like it might be best for me to sit this one out."

"You sure?" Nicola asked. "You don't have five ribbons yet."

"There's still Lilycove," James replied. "Hopefully, they'll have gotten bored by then."

Nicola watched him in silence for a second before sighing. "Well, if that's what you want to do."

"Need any help training?" James asked. "I've got nothing better to do now."

"Don't make it sound like a chore," Nicola said, frowning at him. "You're starting to sound like Richard."

"Anything but that!" James exclaimed with a grin. "Seriously though, if you need any help then I'm all yours."

"I'll take you up on that," Nicola said. "I want to enter the contest with Blu this time."

"Blu's first time in a contest, eh?" James scratched his cheek. "I guess you want to teach her a new move?"

"I read about a really pretty one called Dragon Dance," Nicola replied. "It seems like it's simple enough, but…"

"…That just means it won't be," James said, finishing Nicola's sentence. "Well, I'm game for a challenge. We've got until tomorrow after all, so I'd say we've got a good shot at this."

"Thanks," Nicola replied. "It feels nice not having to worry about you in tomorrow's contest."

"When have I ever done anything in a contest that would make you worried to face me?" James asked, genuinely surprised. "I'm more relieved that I don't have to tangle with you and Blu this time!"

Nicola laughed. "I guess things look different from a different perspective, huh? Either way, thanks for offering to help with Blu. We'll need it."

"Always happy to help," James replied.

* * *

 _10:31am, 13_ _th_ _August 2006_

There were a lot of pokémon moves that seemed simple on paper but were far from it when it actually came to learning them. Dragon Dance turned out to be particularly complicated. Not only were the movements of the dance itself difficult and hard to perform but the whole move was based around the user awakening more power from deep within themselves.

So, even when Blu had finally managed to perfectly memorise the moves of the dance after hours of practice, she still hadn't done anything using it. The beautiful, deep red shimmer of energy that was supposed to surround her simply failed to appear.

"Please don't get frustrated, Blu!" Nicola called desperately as the altaria fired a blast of energy at the ground and started flying around, beating her wings angrily.

The rest of the pokémon were running amok instead of training as well. Mule and Tricky were having a competition to see who could shoot their attacks furthest, sending flames and sparks of electricity flying everywhere. Kipa and Mushy had gotten into a fight after a poorly-aimed attack caused more damage than intended. Zaggy was nowhere to be seen.

The stress of trying to teach Blu Dragon Dance was proving stressful for Nicola as well, and this chaos was just making things even worse. She wondered if it might be worth holding off on having Blu make her contest debut here in Topacra City…

She shook her head vigorously. They still had a chance of mastering it before the contest began and Blu had plenty of other moves to use as well. They just needed to stay focused and on task.

"Everyone! Focus!" she called out, looking around at her pokémon.

They all looked back at her, surprised by her suddenly raising her voice.

"Remember that we've got the contest in a few hours!" Nicola said loudly, continuing to look between them. "If we're going to do this, then we need to keep practising and not get distracted. You know your combinations – please keep working on them for as long as you can!"

Listening to her, Blu took a deep breath and landed back on the ground. She was already starting to get tired of these silly little dances. She just wanted to get stuck into a battle and fire off attacks. All this focus on appeal and looking good was getting on her nerves and, even if she was intrigued by the extra power Dragon Dance would offer, it seemed like it was more effort than it was worth.

Still, Nicola had led her to victory against Winona and Altaria back in Fortree City. If she really wanted her to master this new move, then she'd do her best to focus. She hoped that this contest wouldn't be a waste of valuable training time…

* * *

 _2:48pm, 13_ _th_ _August 2006_

Even with all the extra training and James's help, Nicola and Blu still couldn't quite crack Dragon Dance before they needed to leave for the contest. The dance itself looked pretty impressive by itself though, so it wasn't a complete loss. It was just disappointing that Blu wouldn't be able to look her best in her first contest.

Though he wasn't competing, James was still going to watch alongside Richard and Will. Slipping in with the crowds heading for their seats, he wasn't noticed by the people who had come from Ornlay City. They all seemed much more focused on the line of contestants instead. Once he, Richard and Will were in the darkened interior of the main room, he was able to relax and settle in.

"It feels weird being back as a spectator again," he said to Richard.

"Yeah, you've always been competing for, what, three months now?"

"Something like that," James replied. "I'd almost forgotten what it's like over on this side!"

"You know that you _could_ come through and join us every time you get knocked out, right?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You say that like it happens a lot," James replied.

"Well, whatever," said Richard. "Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show for once."

"Will do."

It certainly felt nice to be in a contest hall that wasn't overrun with people supporting a single contestant. There were also going to be a lot more competitors as well. It couldn't have been further from the contest in Ornlay City.

James did indeed sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Until the sixth contestant was announced. It was Scott, the very same Kealy fanboy who'd tried to steal his Ornlay ribbon.

"What's _he_ doing in this contest?" he hissed to Richard.

"I dunno," Richard replied with a shrug.

"Probably thought this would be a good opportunity to get back at you," Will mumbled. "I bet he's really annoyed that you didn't show your face!"

"Ah, now I'm imagining competing as well and completely crushing him," James said longingly. "Oh, well. Too late now. He'll just have to settle for being crushed by Nicola instead."

"I wonder if he's any good," Richard said, frowning as he watched Scott step out onto the stage. "I thought he was a trainer, the way he attacked us the other day."

"I guess we'll see," said James. "I'm not going to hold my breath though."

There was a small cheer from the group of Ornlay citizens who'd come down. Thinking about it, Scott had probably told them where James and the others were going and had come up with this plan. If he had a solid core of supporters, then he might actually make it through to the battle stages.

"Go, Fudge!" he called.

His poké ball popped open and a ball of white light emerged. It quickly reformed and burst, revealing the partner Scott was pinning his appeal hopes on.

It was a weezing.

* * *

After the main stage had been fumigated, the contest resumed, and Nicola's turn eventually rolled around. She clutched Blu's poké ball tightly in her hand as she walked up the steps to the stage and got ready to step out.

Inside the ball, Blu was starting to feel the pressure as well. Perhaps in a different way though. She knew that Nicola was counting on her to appeal to the audience. That sounded easy on paper but was really hard when all Blu really knew was how to hurl attacks as hard as she could. She was going to have to dig _really_ deep to have the patience for the dancing and performing that she'd have to do.

"Contestant number seventeen!" the MC called. "Nicola Hewitt from Littleroot Town!"

There was a round of applause from the crowd as Nicola stepped out from backstage and took up her position at the back of the main stage. She held out Blu's poké ball. "Go, Blu!"

Blu lurched out of the ball and took to the air with a powerful flap of her wings. With a brief glance back at Nicola, who nodded eagerly at her, she swept around and started performing her Dragon Dance.

Even as she was doing it, she could tell that her movements were rough and unrefined. The fact that there was no aura of energy surrounding her already meant this was a weaker move than normal. She tried to ignore her rising sense of indignation and instead swung around exuberantly, imagining that she was rushing around to smash into the side of an enemy. She twisted and twirled and dove, all the time feeling her anger and frustration rise.

At last, whirled up to her full height and fired a blast of turquoise energy from her mouth with a loud shout.

She flew sharply down, beating her wings and gaining speed. Every now and again, she fired another blast of energy, leaving a trail of turquoise and bright blue mist behind her. She flipped and rolled, her speed seemingly at odds with her puffy, cotton-like wings. As she felt fatigue building, she released a green aura around herself that helped her relax.

After swinging around for another run across the stage, she started climbing again, firing off more blasts of energy as she did.

When she reached the top, there was a sudden clapping from down below. The audience were applauding her, as were the judges, the MC, and Nicola.

Blu suddenly realised that her performance was over. It hadn't lasted as long as she'd thought it would. Confused as she struggled with the twin feelings of relief it was over, and her remaining frustration, she drifted down and perched on Nicola's head. A far smaller perch than it had been when she was a swablu but a comfortable one, nonetheless.

"Thank you for that wonderful performance!" the MC called. "Please give it up for Nicola and Blu!"

The crowd cheered again as Nicola walked back off stage, Blu still perched stubbornly on her head.

* * *

Blu's appeal had been in her energy, even if it had been frustration and anger rather than anything positive. It was the most honest of all the appeals, or at least that's what James thought once the last of the appeals were over. Blu's performance, whether she'd intended it or not, had come straight from the heart.

Even so, she was up against some tough opposition. When those who had qualified for the knockout rounds were announced, it was almost the end of the line before Nicola's face appeared.

Unsurprisingly, Scott and Fudge failed to qualify, and he'd swiftly left the holding room to sit with the rest of the Ornlay crowd.

James had no idea what they were planning to do now. Clearly, they were frustrated with the fact that he hadn't shown up for the contest. Maybe they were staying simply because they'd paid for their tickets and didn't want it to be a waste. Or perhaps they thought he might show his face if they waited patiently enough.

Either way, he didn't really care. What was more important was to keep supporting Nicola as she and her team continuing moving forwards.

The battles were tough, but Kipa was able to hold his own to get them through into the semi-finals. It was a tough fight for Tricky after that, but he too emerged victorious with only seconds to spare. Now, it was Blu's turn again. It was time for the final.

* * *

Both James and Nicola recognised her opponent for the final. A girl named Naomi who had taken part in one of the other contests they'd participated in. The contest scene was relatively small, and it wasn't uncommon to run into someone they'd encountered before.

Neither of them had fought her before, at least not that they could remember. But if she'd managed to get to the finals in a tough competition like this, then she wasn't going to be a pushover. Nicola could tell that much as they stood facing each other on the main stage.

"On my left, Naomi Garden! On my right, Nicola Hewitt! Which of our excellent coordinators and their pokémon will be the victors?" the MC called. "Are all of you ready for this final battle for the Topacra ribbon?"

The crowd cheered their approval as both Nicola and Naomi reached for their poké balls.

"Begin!"

The timer began ticking down as Blu and Jay, Naomi's vibrava, burst from their balls to face each other.

"Sonic Boom!" Naomi called.

Jay quickly fired a blast of energy towards Blu, catching her off-guard and sending her flying back.

"Now use Sandstorm!"

With a cry, Jay started vibrating his wings. Soon, a sandstorm was raging around the stage, though curiously, it seemed to stay mostly on Nicola's side.

With their points ticking down, Nicola knew she needed to act fast.

"Use Refresh!" she called.

A bright green glow shone out from the depths of the sandstorm. Seconds later, Blu fired herself clear of the swirling sands and, ducking low, prepared to attack. Her beak glowed white as she torpedoed her way towards Jay, who immediately tried to turn the sandstorm around to catch her.

Blu swung even lower as the conflicting winds overhead sent sand ploughing into each other. Even if it wasn't stopping Blu, the appeal was still eating into the altaria's points. But she pulled up sharply and caught Jay in the side with a fierce blow.

"Dragon Breath!" Nicola called.

Blu fired a blast of turquoise energy at Jay, only for him to return fire at the last second. There was an explosion of light blue flames that scattered around both pokémon. The point meters were both dropping, though Jay still just about had the edge.

Pulling back as the remains of the sandstorm disappeared, Blu started weaving around. As frustrating as Dragon's Dance was, she was determined to get it right. As she twisted and turned, she focused as hard as she could on awakening the draconic energy deep within her.

Jay attempted to throw her off by firing another blast of energy towards her, but she simply drifted to the right to let it sail past.

Still, Jay continued attacking. Blu was able to miss most of them and swiftly recovered from the few that did hit. As her anger built and she continued weaving in the air, she suddenly felt a surge of power rushing through her. She became loosely aware of a red aura forming around her, while her body started feeling lighter and stronger.

Above her, Jay's points were starting to fall rapidly. She had a chance of catching up. She stopped dancing and drew back her wings to start an attack run.

As she started flying forwards, she suddenly heard the sounds of boos and jeering from out in the darkness beyond the stage. That small group of people who had been sat not far from the front and had been restless the whole way through were suddenly throwing their disapproval at her.

Her eye twitching in anger, Blu suddenly wheeled around. She ignored the surprised cries of Jay, Nicola, and a number of startled spectators as she fired herself away from the stage. The jeering members of the crowd yelped in alarm and scrambled to get down as Blu descended on them, shrieking in anger and flapping her large, fluffy wings.

For a few moments, there was absolute chaos as spectators struggled to get clear and one unfortunate audience member, Scott, found himself becoming more acquainted with Blu's beak than he would have liked. It took a little while before a shaken Nicola was able to recall Blu back to her poké ball.

The timer had been stopped and the two coordinators were ushered off the stage as staff members tried to calm down the crowd and resolve the panic. They were taken to a small meeting room next to the contest hall manager's office. They sat there in silence for only a few minutes before the head judge burst in, red in the face and looking murderous.

"Absolutely outrageous!" he roared, making both girls jump. "Never before, in all my years, have seen such a disgraceful display! A dangerous, undisciplined pokémon that like has _no_ place in any contest! Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Stunned by the head judge's sudden tirade, Nicola could barely offer more than a squeak in response.

"George, settle down!" One of the other judges reprimanded him sharply. As the head judge, muttering furiously, sat down in one of the other armchairs, she turned to Nicola and gave her a stern look. "I do hope you appreciate the seriousness of this situation. A pokémon attacking the audience is a severe transgression even in battling. In contests, it's almost unheard of.

"It goes without saying that you're disqualified from this contest. I also expect the Contest Association will approve a three-month ban from competing."

Nicola felt as though the bottom had dropped out of her stomach. She tried to say something, but the words just wouldn't come. She looked away from the judge and stared at her hands tightly gripping her knees. Three months? It was less than _one_ month until the start of the Grand Festival. If she was banned, then…

"W-wait!" Opposite her, Naomi had suddenly spoken. She was glancing between Nicola and the judges. "Ms Valvona, I could hear it during the battle; those spectators were taunting Blu! Isn't it also a transgression to behave that way while watching a contest?"

Ms Valvona was unmoved. "It is impolite to jeer at a contestant, but that is nowhere near as serious as this." She looked back at her fellow judges, who nodded at her. "Miss Garden, we'll return to the main stage in a few minutes to present you with the Topacra ribbon," she said to Naomi. "Miss Hewitt, could you please give us the address of the pokémon centre you're currently staying at? A formal notice of your suspension will be mailed to you tomorrow morning. This same notice will be sent to all contest halls in Hoenn, so please don't think that you can evade the ban by not receiving it."

"… I understand," Nicola replied weakly.

"Good. Now, I believe that's everything."

Just then, there was a knock on the door before it slowly opened. The manager's face appeared in the crack. "Sorry to interrupt. My staff have been talking to audience members to work out exactly what happened. A friend of Miss Hewitt's spoke to me directly and said that the spectators involved in the, uh, _incident_ were from Ornlay City and were angry over his victory there a few days ago. He claimed that they had come to Topacra City to mess with him and his friends."

"Of course, a friend would seek to deflect the blame," the head judge replied dismissively. "The issue isn't the behaviour of the spectators: it's the blatant attack on them!"

"Duly noted, sir," the manager said. "However, a number of my staff report being told by audience members close to this group from Ornlay overheard them talking about disrupting and causing trouble for Miss Hewitt. I'm satisfied that these particular individuals did come here to cause trouble and I have had them escorted from the premises. I'm not asking you to overturn your decision, only that you consider this factor when finalising it."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"It changes nothing," the head judge said. "The provocation is regrettable, but it doesn't mean we can let this slide."

"If I may, Mr Rawlinson." The third judge, who'd mostly stayed quiet so far, suddenly spoke up. "I think it's clear that this incident likely wouldn't have happened without the involvement of those individuals in the audience. In light of this, perhaps there isn't a need for her punishment to be so severe?"

Mr Rawlinson was silent. Maybe he saw the merit of the argument but didn't want to act on it. Sometimes it was difficult to reconcile emotions with what was the right thing to do.

It was Ms Valvona who spoke instead. "We'll reduce the ban to three weeks. Please ensure that your pokémon are aware that they cannot react to such provocations in the future."

"I understand," Nicola replied, eyes still fixed on her knees.

* * *

 _7:49pm, 13_ _th_ _August 2006_

After filling out the address of the pokémon centre, Nicola had been allowed to leave. Just before they'd parted, Naomi had grabbed her hand and told her how much she regretted that things had turned out the way they had.

"Please make it to the Grand Festival!" she had said desperately. "I want to have another battle with you!"

Nicola hadn't stayed for the presentation. She'd left the contest hall straight away and trudged miserably back to the pokémon centre. Then she'd locked herself in her room. And cried.

She didn't go to dinner. She'd ignored the boys when they'd knocked for her. They'd tried to cheer her up by calling reassurances through the door, but it hadn't worked.

Her pokémon had let themselves out of their balls and crowded round her in concern. Blu had perched in one corner and hung her head in shame. Whatever the other team members thought about what had happened that evening, they didn't give the altaria a hard time. It was in times like this that they needed to stay united.

It was much later when Nicola jumped up as she suddenly realised that the door was being unlocked from the outside. It opened and Richard stuck his head around. "Yo!"

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Nicola cried. "How did you get in?"

"I managed to persuade the receptionist to give me a spare key," Richard replied, stepping through the door and closing it behind him. "It was really hard convincing her to let me have it. I needed James and Will to back me up before she agreed."

"Yeah, of course!" Nicola exclaimed, grabbing one of her pillows and throwing it at him. "What if I'd been getting changed?"

Richard caught the pillow easily. "Still don't feel like coming down?" he asked.

"No." Nicola shook her head and sat back down on her bed. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"Well, I won't force you," said Richard, walking over to her. He pulled something out his pocket and tossed it onto her other pillow. "James wanted me to give you this."

"Huh?" Nicola looked down at it. "His Ornlay ribbon? Why?" she cried, scooping up the cream-coloured ribbon.

"He said it was his fault all of this happened," Richard said. "That the Ornlay people wouldn't have messed with you and Blu if they weren't still angry over him winning against Kealy."

"I don't want it," Nicola replied, thrusting back towards him. "That was a badge he earned, not me."

"James said that he's throwing it in the sea if you don't take it," said Richard. "I mean, that's fine if it's what you want," he added with a shrug.

"N-no!" Nicola grabbed his sleeve to stop him walking away. "Tell James not to be stupid! He'll need to win two more ribbons if he gives this one up."

"He doesn't care," Richard said with a grin. "We spoke to the manager, you know. He told us that you've been banned from contests for three weeks. James said that'll give you a week or so until the start of the Grand Festival. You might be able to win one ribbon in that time, but two? Not likely."

"Well, it's the same–"

"No, it isn't. James can easily win two more ribbons in the next month. He wants to make sure you have a shot at getting to the Grand Festival."

Nicola found herself feeling a strange mix of emotions. At the same time, she felt like she wanted to laugh, grin, scowl, and cry. Instead, she just let out a sigh. "Well, tell him I just didn't want him to waste it by throwing it into the sea."

She reached out to take the ribbon back from Richard, only for him to grab her hand.

"You can tell him that yourself," he said, dragging her to her feet. "Come on. We're waiting for you."

"Why are you guys always… I just wanted to be alone and…" Nicola stammered, tears starting to fall from her eyes. "It's all my fault… I pushed Blu too hard and got her into trouble! I shouldn't put her through that…"

"Nah, I think it's fine," Richard said. He smiled at her and reached out to pat her head. "You did great today. I'm going to miss seeing you at the next contest, but that'll just make it even more exciting when you're back!"

"… Idiot," Nicola murmured.

"And Blu," Richard called, looking over at the altaria. He gave her a thumbs-up. "That was a beautiful Dragon Dance today! I can't wait to see your next performance!"

Blu gazed at him for a few seconds, as if trying to decide if he was being sincere.

Then the rest of the pokémon cheered and smiled at her as well. That was something that they definitely all agreed on.

Realising that Richard was still holding her hand, Nicola pulled it free and wiped her eyes. "I guess I'm feeling a little hungry after all," she said. She glanced back at Blu. "Come on, Blu!"

Blu chirped happily and flew over to her, landing on her head so deftly, it was as though she was still a swablu. Together with the rest of the team, they followed Richard out into the hall.

Today hadn't exactly been a good day, but tomorrow would be better. And thanks to the contest hall manager and James, Nicola still had a chance at getting into the Grand Festival.

* * *

 **First of all, I want to thank everyone who took the time to alert me to the issues in last week's chapter. All placeholders should have now been replaced and the chapter should be in a better shape than it was when originally uploaded. I want to apologise to all of you for this inexcusable lapse in standards.**

 **So, the original chapter plan for Chapter 96 was essentially 'Nicola and Blu win the Topacra ribbon'.**

 **Then somewhere in the middle of writing it, the plan changed to: 'Actually, Nicola** _ **doesn't**_ **win the Topacra ribbon. And not only doesn't she win it, but she gets disqualified and banned from contests for three weeks as well.' I do hope that this revised plan made this chapter must more interesting to read!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Baltoy): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Dragon Dance, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Breath, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	97. The Masquerain Gambit

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Nicola's attempts to win her fourth ribbon in Topacra City came to nothing when interference from Kealy's supporters from Ornlay City led Blu to attack them, resulting in her disqualification and a three-week contest ban. Angered by what had happened, James gave his Ornlay ribbon to Nicola to make up for the trouble.**

 **Upload Date: 10** **th** **March 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 97: The Masquerain Gambit**

 _Topacra City, Hoenn_

 _9:02am, 14_ _th_ _August 2006_

After eating dinner and having a good night's sleep, Nicola's pain felt less raw when she woke up in the morning. Instead, there was just an ache.

Now that she'd gotten over the shock of her suspension, she'd started thinking about having to tell her friends and family about what had happened. How would Hannah and Mia react when she told them that she wouldn't be able to take part in the Lilycove Contest with them? How would her parents react when she told them that she'd gotten into trouble with the Association?

Then there was the thought of missing the Lilycove Contest itself. The most prestigious contest in all of Hoenn and the one that coordinators from all over Hoenn flocked to compete in. Just to pass through the appeals round was to win regional recognition on the contest scene and, more often than not, the winner of the Lilycove Contest went on to place in the top four at the Grand Festival.

The thought of being unable to compete in this symbolic contest made Nicola's heart ache even more, yet any attempt to push it from her mind ended in failure. Try as she might to distract herself, she kept coming back to it.

She had tried to be her usual upbeat self around the others at breakfast, but they'd seen through her straightaway. Richard and Will had both tried to reassure and comfort her in their own ways. James had just said, "If you need to be miserable, then be miserable. There's no point forcing yourself to bottle it up."

Receiving the Ornlay ribbon from James made her feel even worse now. Not only hadn't she earned it, but she learned at breakfast that the decision to give the ribbon away hadn't exactly been unanimous, and Nulin and Muro were both upset at being outvoted by Charka and Kacha, the loyalists, and Kelaar, still mostly indifferent to contests. As a result, James's team had trained in two separate groups that morning.

To make matters even more complicated, Nicola's letter from the Association wasn't the only mail the group received: James picked up a letter, no doubt from Scott, demanding that they meet for a challenge battle, with the Ornlay ribbon at stake.

"We're just going to ignore it," James had replied when Nicola had asked him about it. Maybe because of the divisions in his team, or perhaps because he didn't want to waste his time now that he no longer had the Ornlay ribbon. Though, like the others, he'd become far less tolerant of the Kealy fanatic after the events of the previous evening. At the very least, it didn't seem like the group of fellow supporters he'd brought in were still in Topacra.

So, despite the best efforts of Richard and Will, it was with a very sombre mood that the group left the pokémon centre in Topacra City and started following the bay side road that led south towards Lilycove City.

* * *

 _Route 121, Hoenn_

 _3:15pm, 14_ _th_ _August 2006_

Just like the day before yesterday, the weather couldn't seem to stop alternating between an intense sunlight and heavy rain. Unlike before, it didn't stop after only a while. This strange weather was starting to worry them.

"I wonder what's causing it?" Richard asked, glancing out from under his umbrella at the bright sunshine.

"Is southern Hoenn supposed to be like this?" Will turned to Nicola.

"I don't think so," Nicola replied. "I never heard anything about it when I first moved to Hoenn."

"Well, I just hope that it clears up soon," James said, looking over at the bay in concern. It might be his eyes playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn that the water level was lowering and rising each time the weather switched. Maybe it was just the waves, but…

He shook the thoughts out of his head. It was better not to think about things like that.

Strange weather aside, it was a really nice route to be travelling along. The road ran along the hillside next to the shores of the bay and would eventually snake its way down to the shoreline. The surrounding landscape was quite lush and beautiful. There was extremely tall grass along the route that reminded them of Route 119. It was apparently a great place to see rare pokémon when the weather was better.

"I wish the weather would just make up it's mind already!" Richard growled in frustration.

"I've given up expecting anything from it," James said. "But I really did think that summer would be a lot sunnier in southern Hoenn."

"Maybe we should find a shrine and pray for the weather to go back to normal!" Will said with a grin.

"It would be nice if it were that easy, huh?" Nicola replied. She sighed. Once again, her mind drifted to the letter in her bag informing her of her banning. No matter what she tried, it was impossible to completely shake it from her thoughts.

"Well, talking about it won't make it stop," James said, snapping Nicola back to attention. "The weather's a pain, but I don't think it'll stop us."

At that moment, their journey was suddenly interrupted by a loud shout. "Stop right there!"

Unfortunately recognising the voice, the four of them looked up to see Scott standing on a ledge overlooking the road just ahead. He didn't look happy.

"What do you want?" James demanded.

"What do you mean, 'what do you want'?" Scott shouted. "I sent you a letter of challenge! I waited more than three hours and you never showed up!"

"How much free time do you have?" Will exclaimed.

"Anyway, I _demand_ that you battle me and return the Ornlay ribbon!" Scott said loudly, jabbing a finger fiercely in James's direction.

"I refuse."

"Oh? Scared you'll lose?" Scott said smugly. "You know, I always took you to be that sort of person. Isn't that why you didn't take part in the contest yesterday?"

"Funny you should mention yesterday," said Richard. "How about you tell us why you thought it was such a _hilarious_ idea to mess with Nicola and Blu during the contest?"

"We were just giving our opinions. No harm in that is there? But that reminds me!" Scott rounded on Nicola. "I've still got a bone to pick with you after your bird went crazy at me last night!"

"Your 'opinions' almost cost Nicola her chance to compete in the Grand Festival!" James snapped. "Actually, you know what, if you want crushing that badly then fine: I'll do it!"

"Hold on a second there, James," Richard said as he and Will stepped forwards. They shared a nod. "I think it's time for us to get involved as well."

"You wanna fight too?" Scott scowled at them. "Fine! I'll show the whole world what you're really like!"

"I didn't realise we were hiding anything," Richard said with a shrug as he pulled out a poké ball.

"Like we've got anything to hide," Will said, shaking his head as he did the same.

"Wait a second! You guys are ganging up on me!" Scott called, jabbing an accusatory finger towards them.

"What? You scared?" Richard grinned. "Go, Vortex!"

"Go, Blue!" Will called, hurling out his poké ball.

The two pokémon burst free and landed on the ground. They looked across at Scott, who scrambled to pull out his own ball.

"Go, Mask!"

Buzzing and darting around, the pale form of a masquerain materialised in front of Scott.

"Masquerain, huh?" James pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Masquerain, the eyeball pokémon and the evolved form of surskit. Masquerain intimidate enemies with the eyelike patterns on their antennas. This pokémon flaps its four wings to freely fly in any direction—even sideways and backwards—as if it were a helicopter. If the 'eyes' are droopy and appear sad, it is said to be a sign that a heavy rainfall is on its way._ "

"Use Rapid Spin!" Richard called.

Vortex immediately hurled themselves into a spin as they drove closer to Mask.

"Water Gun!"

Mask fired a blast of water while steadily pulling back. He caught Vortex with a direct hit and sent him blasting back. There was a crash as he hit the ground.

Before he had a chance to breathe though, Blue suddenly lunged forwards and fired a blast of turquoise energy at him. There was an explosion as he was hurled back.

Blue wasn't content to stop there though. She kept coming, firing another blast and then lowering her head for a headbutt. Mask managed to pull himself clear of the second blast but couldn't get out of the way in time.

"Bail!" Scott suddenly shouted, recalling Mask.

"Giving up?" Will called.

"You wish! You haven't beaten me!" Scott scoffed.

"Then let's finish this!" Richard called angrily as Vortex whirled back to their foot.

But Scott had already taken off down the path. It didn't take long before he disappeared from sight.

"What kind of person issues a battle challenge and then runs away from the battle?" James asked, shaking his head in exasperation. "By the gods, I hope that's the last we see of him."

"I wish we were that lucky," Richard said with a sigh. He patted Vortex on the head. "Good job there, Vortex. You okay?"

The baltoy rattled at him in response.

"Blue's become a lot tougher recently, huh?" James said to Will. "She's directing herself better."

"Glad you noticed," Will said. "I just wish we could have finished crushing Scott and his masquerain before he bolted!"

"Well, whatever." Nicola pushed past them and looked back at them. "Thanks for sticking up for me, you guys."

"No problem," Richard replied as he recalled Vortex to their poké ball. "Just doing what any friend would do."

"Should we do anything about him?" Will asked, jerking his head in the direction Scott had fled.

"Not a lot we _can_ do…" James replied. "Oh well, we'll just have to keep moving and hope that he gets bored and goes home eventually."

* * *

 _9:49am, 15_ _th_ _August 2006_

Thanks to the lost time due to the battle with Scott, the group had been forced to stop for the evening much sooner than they'd planned to make camp. It was a somewhat restless night; all four of them were expecting Scott to try something while they were asleep. The pokémon had taken it in turns to do watch duty and, aside from a brief incident when Zaggy snuck up on and surprised Muro, the night passed uneventfully.

"Do you think he might have gone home?" Will asked as the four of them sat and ate breakfast.

"He followed us all the way here from Ornlay City," Nicola replied. "I don't think it would be that easy."

"He still hasn't made a move though, which is surprising," Richard said idly, looking around the campsite. He picked up the saucepan on the stove. "More gruel, anyone?"

"Don't call it that," James said, hitting him on the shoulder. "It's porridge. It's good for you."

"I'll tell you what's good for me, James," Richard replied with a grin. "Food that doesn't feel like I'm eating concrete!"

"Yeah, porridge dries out if you put off eating it," James said. "Maybe just get on with it next time instead of complaining and making jokes?"

"Or you could cook breakfast yourself for once?" Nicola added.

"Nah, I'm good!" Richard replied with a grin. "Your stuff is good, most of the time."

The pokémon had already finished eating and were either lying about on the ground or playing around. Nulin, Turkey, Kelaar, and Blu were all flying high above the camp, chasing each other and marvelling at the beautiful scenery. Rather unsettlingly, it seemed as though rainclouds were rapidly gathering in the sky. It looked like the weather was going to be as chaotic as yesterday.

Toya and Kipa looked longingly down at the sea, hoping that the road would soon dip down towards it. It had been a while since the last time they'd had a proper swim. Toya, in particular, was eager to burn off some energy and he secretly resented that Will had chosen Blue to fight against Scott and Mask the previous day.

Dish, Mushy, and Mule were all lazing about in a pile, enjoying the bright, intense sunshine while it was still there, while Charka was flaked out asleep by a large rock alongside Zaggy, Grum, Tricky, and Pincer. Muro, the other one of the six who had been on night watch duty, was pointedly dozing as far from Charka as possible.

Arro and Naro were sparring with each other, occasionally filling the air with dust as they tried to topple the other to the ground. Darting around them were Kacha, Chena, and Blue, who were racing around after each other and occasionally jumping on the rocks and other pokémon around the campsite.

Gulpy was keeping to herself in one corner of the campsite, lazily watching everyone else and resting up while she digested her extremely large breakfast. Vortex, meanwhile, was spinning idly around by the path. If they were trying to do something, then none of the trainers could work it out. That was fine though. The baltoy was often difficult to understand, even by pokémon standards. They seemed a little agitated today, but none of the other pokémon seemed that worried.

With the rain apparently coming in again today, the group hurriedly finished their breakfast and started packing everything away. If that wasn't reason enough to move, they also needed to pick up the pace and make up for lost time yesterday.

It was just as Will and Nicola finished packing the bags and James and Richard were putting away the stove when Kacha had suddenly stopped chasing Blue and twitched his ears. He turned and looked up the hill in confusion.

James noticed and called out to him. "Is something up, Kacha?"

Kacha flicked his ears back and forth as he gave James an uncertain look.

Then Nulin and the other flying types suddenly descended on them, calling out in alarm.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Nicola called as Blu cheeped loudly from the top of her head.

"Wait, I can hear it too!" Richard suddenly called.

There was a buzzing sound getting steadily closer.

"I don't feel like this is a coincidence," James muttered. He looked at the others. "Let's get ready to move!"

As they finished grabbing their things and recalling their pokémon to their poké balls, the buzzing sound suddenly grew louder and a wave of masquerain suddenly appeared from the hillside. They were diving down towards them and they all looked very angry.

"Let's get out of here!" Richard called.

The four of them made a break for it down the road. It was hard to run with their heavy bags on their backs. Their movements made the contents of their bags bounce up and down. It was jarring for their backs and their legs.

Still, they kept running. The buzzing sound had, unfortunately, not started getting quieter. All hope that the masquerain were simply flying down towards the sea vanished.

"Why is this happening?" Nicola gasped as they hammered their way down the path, kicking up a cloud of dust in their wake.

"Why do you think?" Will called back. "I bet it's Scott!"

"How would he have this many masquerain?" Nicola asked.

"Focus on running!" James called. "We can talk later!"

They continued down the path as it ran around the side of a small side valley before dipping down towards the shore. As they started following it around, they realised that some of the masquerain were moving out to intercept them. They were going to be trapped at the end of the valley.

"I guess we've got no choice!" James gasped between breaths

"You think we can hold off this many?" Nicola asked, glancing at the advancing bugs.

"What do bugs hate? Fire," James replied, pulling out Charka's poké ball.

"Go, Blue!" Will called, hurling out the bagon's poké ball. "Use Flamethrower!"

"Go, Vortex!" Richard called as Blue shot a jet of flames towards the approaching masquerain.

The baltoy materialised on the road in front of them and started firing a beam of psychic energy towards the wild pokémon.

"Try and scare them away!" James called as he threw Charka's poké ball. "There's no way we can take on all of them!"

"Will they just give up?" Nicola asked as she threw Mule's poké ball.

"We haven't exactly got any other choice!" Richard called. "Vortex, use Ancient Power!"

As Vortex hurled a cluster of boulders towards the advancing masquerain, scattering some of them, Charka, Mule, and Blue all fired searing jets of flame to try and ward them off. A handful of masquerain dropped to the ground, while some of the others started to retreat. The bulk of them advanced more cautiously, firing blasts of water and whipping up the wind with their wings.

"It's starting to rain!" Nicola yelled in alarm.

Sure enough, the constantly shifting weather had struck again. The intense sunlight that was helping the fire types was rapidly vanishing and rainclouds had gathered. Fat raindrops were starting to fall to the ground.

"Just our luck!" James said, grimacing as he watched the raindrops hitting Charka's blast of flames evaporate into steam.

The masquerain were starting to fire back harder. Jets of water splashed the ground near them as they retreated into the hillside. Charka and Mule's flames weren't enough to keep them at bay as the rainfall turned into a downpour.

As James and Nicola recalled their pokémon, Blue suddenly surged forwards. Her claw suddenly became cloaked in a turquoise glow and she slashed viciously at one of the masquerain, sending it flying backwards and out of sight.

"What was that?" Will exclaimed. "A new move?"

"Blue must be getting pretty powerful," said James. "That must have been Dragon Claw, one of the most powerful dragon-type moves."

It finally seemed as though the masquerain were starting to waver. As Blue delivered another powerful slash and Vortex smashed into a couple of them with Rapid Spin, they finally stopped advancing and started trying to flee into the rain. A lot of them were tumbling down the hill, unable to fly anymore as their wings got too wet.

"What was all that about?" Richard said, breathing a sigh of relief as the last of them vanished.

"Pokémon normally only attack like that if their nest has been threatened," James replied. "But…" He paused as he felt Kacha paw at his shoulder. The pikachu pointed up at one of the masquerain that had hung back from the fighting and was starting to move away in a different direction. "Is that…the same masquerain that was with Scott yesterday?"

Kacha nodded. Though he hadn't really seen or heard Mask the previous day, it was obvious that this particular masquerain was up to something different than the rest of them.

"I bet that's what happened then," James said, letting out a sigh. "Scott must have messed with a masquerain colony and had his masquerain lead them towards us instead."

"At least we're not–"

Will was interrupted by a sudden light that started shining.

Vortex had been engulfed in a bright white light. They suddenly started growing larger and bulkier, their tiny body becoming something far more powerful. As the light faded, the dark grey body of a claydol appeared.

"Whoa! They evolved!" Richard cried in surprise. "Great work, Vortex!"

Vortex simply let out a hollow groan in response. It was the same kind of tone from when they'd been a baltoy.

"Looks pretty impressive," James said, nodding approvingly. "Your team just got that little bit stronger, Richard."

"Thanks," Richard replied. He pulled out his Pokédex.

" _Claydol, the clay doll pokémon and the evolved form of baltoy. Claydol are said to be dolls of mud made by primitive humans and brought to life by exposure to a mysterious ray. This pokémon moves about while levitating. They can shoot beams from both their hands._ "

"Well, at least a few good things happened because of this," Will said with a sigh. He reached down and patted Blue on the head, who immediately started bouncing up and down excitedly. "Nice work on learning a new move."

"Let's get moving again," Nicola said wearily. "I just want to forget about all this already."

"Not yet! We still need to get back at Scott!" Will said fiercely. He pulled out Turkey's poké ball. "If he's still around, then Turkey'll be able to find him!"

* * *

 _2:52pm, 15_ _th_ _August 2006_

James, Richard, and Will weren't content to simply chase down Scott and defeat him. Instead, they had put their heads together to make a plan while they waited for Turkey and Nulin to track him down. That was why it was almost five hours later by the time they made their move, despite it only taking them an hour to track him down.

Nicola had followed in their wake as they worked out where Scott was and which direction, he was heading in. They'd avoided him when he'd come up to see how the masquerain ambush had gone and instead headed further down the path to the coast. No doubt he'd come down to try and ambush them again, knowing him.

They'd delayed for a couple of hours off the main path while Vortex rested and recovered from the strain of evolving. Then, everyone had worked hard to help them tap into their new power. It was worth the delay, and Richard was looking forwards to battling Scott again.

And so, as the afternoon moved on, Richard waited on the road for Scott to make an appearance. The others were all hiding and watching.

Despite the crazy weather, the view down by the shore was beautiful and there was a cool breeze rolling in. The smell of the sea filled the air, and Richard took a deep lungful of it as he held Vortex's poké ball.

"You're finally here!" he called as Scott appeared, walking a little aimlessly along the road.

"You!" Scott exclaimed, spotting him. "I knew I'd find you around here…" He looked around, apparently confused by the fact that the others were nowhere to be seen.

"You know, it wasn't very nice, setting all those masquerain on us," Richard said. "But I guess it was some good training, so I'm not too mad."

"I don't know why you're telling lies about me," Scott replied icily. "Where are your friends? They get scared and run away?"

"No, we're right here."

James, Will, and Nicola stepped out from hiding at the sides of the road, quickly moving to block Scott's retreat. He wasn't going to flee from a trainer battle this time.

"Figures you'd try and gang up on me again!" Scott shouted.

"Nah," James said, shaking his head. "Richard's the only one who's going to battle you. We're just going to watch."

"Hah! Well, bring it! I'm far stronger than all of you combined!" Scott called angrily, turning back to face Richard. "Go, Mask!"

Mask burst out of his poké ball and started hovering over the road, looking more confident than his trainer did.

"Let's go, Vortex!" Richard called, hurling out his poké ball.

Vortex let out a hollow groan as he emerged from the ball and floated in the air opposite Mask.

"It evolved?!" Scott exclaimed.

"All thanks to having to fight those masquerain earlier!" Richard called back with a grin.

"U-use Water Gun!" Scott called.

Mask fired himself forwards. He was unfazed by his tough opponent. It was just another pokémon to beat. He fired a blast of water towards the claydol.

Vortex immediately responded with a beam of psychic energy. His colourful beam collided with the stream of water. There was a small explosion and a shower of water and rainbow colours.

"Ancient Power!" Richard ordered.

Vortex hauled a cluster of boulders out of the ground and levitated them for a moment before hurling them towards Mask. The masquerain dodged desperately, firing small blasts of water back between each dodge. He was nimble. It was going to be hard to get in a proper hit, especially with _that_ move.

"Psybeam!"

"Silver Wind!"

Both pokémon fired their attacks, with Vortex shooting a multicoloured beam of psychic energy and Mask whipping up a powerful wind full of shiny dust particles. Both attacks hit. Vortex hunkered down to weather it, while Mask was blasted back.

"Once more!" Richard called.

Before Mask could recover, Vortex fired a second beam. He cried out as he was hit and blasted back again. Though the attack didn't do much physical damage, Mask could feel his mind and body screaming at him. He was starting to get tired out.

Richard and Vortex picked up on his weakness.

"Finish this up!" Richard called. He grinned. "Use Hyper Beam!"

"Hyper Beam?!" Scott yelped.

Vortex instantly fired a bright orange beam that burned through the air as it bore down on Mask. The masquerain scarcely had time to gasp, let alone dodge, before he was hit.

At the moment of impact, there was a bright explosion and a loud bang. Smoke and dust filled the air as the trainers instinctively braced against the wave of air blasted back by its force. Dust and bits of debris from the road rained down around the centre as the smoke billowed into the air.

Mask, scorched and blackened, tumbled out of the smoke and hit the ground with a soft thud.

"How about that?" Richard called triumphantly. "Admit defeat yet?"

"C-curse you!" Scott shouted as he recalled Mask to his poké ball. He rounded on James. "I swear that I'll make you return Miss Kealy's Ornlay ribbon if it's the last thing I do!"

"You can't," James replied sternly. "I already threw it in the sea. I guess you could go and search for it if it means that much to you."

"No way!" Scott gasped. "You, you…"

"Just give it up already," said Nicola. "Go back to Ornlay and do something useful for a change."

For a moment, it looked as though Scott really was just about ready to jump into the sea to start a vain search for the Ornlay ribbon. Instead, he scowled at them. "Fine. I'm not going to waste all my time following you losers but mark my words; this isn't the end of this. I'll make you regret humiliating Miss Kealy some day!"

"Just get out of here!" James replied sharply.

The two of them glared daggers at each other as Scott moved past them and started walking back in the direction of Topacra City.

It was only once he was out of sight that the group breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was worried that he'd refuse to leave," Nicola said with a sigh. "Hopefully he stays in Ornlay City once he gets back there."

"Great work, Vortex," Richard said, stepping forwards and patting the claydol on the head. "I was a little worried about how it would go in the end there!"

"It was a perfect Hyper Beam!" James added with a grin. "I could feel it from over here."

"So, what now?" Will asked. "You think Scott will keep following us?"

"I doubt it," James replied. "He was after the Ornlay ribbon, which he thinks is in the sea now. He might show up again at some point, but why waste time stalking us when he can't get what he wants?"

"Fair point," said Will. "So, we continue?"

"After everything that's happened, I already feel pretty tired," James said with a sigh. "But yeah, let's get moving again. I reckon we can get another couple of hours in before setting up camp."

"Anything along the way?" Nicola asked.

"There might be a town somewhere," said James. "I'll check the map. There might even be a pokémon centre we could stay the night in."

"Sounds good to me!" Richard said with a grin. "Let's get moving again!"

* * *

 **So ends our little sub-arc from Ornlay City. I know that there's a temptation to keep Scott loosely around as a Team Rocket-esque character, but that kind of character doesn't stay funny for very long, in my experience anyway.**

 **With that done, the group can finally push on towards Lilycove City and everything waiting for them on the way there. We're steadily closing in on Chapter Number 100!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent and Stomp.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Claydol): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Hyper Beam, Psybeam, Cosmic Power and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Dragon Dance, Peck and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge Bomb and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Claw, Crunch, Flamethrower and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect and Confuse Ray.


	98. The Ghosts of Mt Pyre

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group finally confronted Scott over the trouble he'd caused them and ended up getting a swarm of masquerain set on them for their trouble. Blue learned Dragon Claw and Vortex evolved and learned Hyper Beam though, and Richard and Vortex finally defeated Scott and his own masquerain on the shores of Polna Bay. A small lie from James sent Scott scuttling back to Ornlay City shortly afterwards.**

 **Upload Date: 17** **th** **March 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 98: The Ghosts of Mt. Pyre**

 _Route 121, Hoenn_

 _1:21pm, 16_ _th_ _August 2006_

The east shore of Polna Bay was steep and rugged. Travelling along this route by the shore was to walk with the sea on one side and rocky cliffs and slopes on the other. With all this mountainous terrain, it was easy to assume that they were closing in on Mt. Pyre, the next major landmark on their journey to Lilycove. Every time they spotted what looked like a peak shooting up behind the steep slopes ahead of them, the group wondered aloud if it was Mt. Pyre.

Unfortunately, the shore wound around the bases of a number of mountains and all too often they rounded a bend only to realise that they'd been looking at yet another part of the shore. They learned to distrust the sight of mountains lurking in the distance. It was hard to feel like they were making progress without any sign that they were actually moving.

So, when they saw another tall mountain further ahead, they didn't think much of it. It was only when they got closer that they realised it was slightly different to the others. There was a gap between this mountain, which jutted out into the bay, and the cliffs on the shore. It was like there was a large gorge between the two.

The feeling that they might finally be approaching their destination grew closer as they walked around the inlet towards it.

"Do you think this is it?" Richard asked as they approached the gorge.

"I think so," James replied cautiously, glancing between the mountain and the picture in the guidebook.

"I heard that Mt. Pyre was an island," Nicola said. "Are you sure this is it?"

"I mean, the picture looks a lot like this," James said, sounding as uncertain as Nicola felt.

"I can't see any other mountains out in the bay like this one," said Will.

Fortunately, they spotted an information building further along, sat by a fork in the road. The sign outside announced it as the 'Mt. Pyre Information Centre'.

"So, this _is_ Mt. Pyre," Richard said, looking up at the mountain.

"Guys, seriously, I know I've heard people talk about 'Pyre Island' before!" said Nicola. "This isn't an island; it's connected to the land!"

"Alright, alright," James replied. "Let's head in and ask. That way we'll know for sure."

The person manning the reception desk inside chuckled when Nicola told her what she'd heard. "A lot of people get confused by it now," she said. "The area around the mountain _is_ called Pyre Island, but it stopped being an island after an eruption almost a hundred years ago. Lava flowed down into the sea and cooled into rock, creating the land bridge that we're standing on today."

"Ah, that explains it," said James.

"How disappointing," Nicola said with a sigh.

"On the plus side, it means that it's possible to get to the mountain without getting a ferry," the information guide said. "The ferry's that run out to Mt. Pyre from Polna City are a bit on the expensive side. I guess that's the price of convenience."

"Yeah, I bet," Richard said. "It took us days to walk out here."

"It's not much easier in the car. It's basically a straight drive from Topacra City to Lilycove City without many other roads that join it. If you want to get here, you really have to start at either end."

"So, is there anything interesting on Mt. Pyre?" Will asked.

"Well, it's got brilliant views of Polna City if you're prepared to hike to the summit," the information guide replied. "There are several areas where you can pitch a tent and sleep for the night. I particularly recommend the view of the city at dawn. It's a little hard to see anything in the evening because the sun is in your face."

"Sounds like it might be worth doing," said James.

"Oh, and then there're the pokémon graveyards."

"The what?" Nicola froze and looked at her.

"Lots of people bury their deceased pokémon on Mt. Pyre," the information guide replied. She leant closer over the desk and lowered her voice. "There are even rumours that the spirits of the dead come back to wander the mountain at night…"

"That's enough of that!" Nicola said loudly, clapping her hands over her ears. She turned to the others. "How about we camp out on the mainland, then climb Mt. Pyre tomorrow?"

"The dead don't just come back to life, Nicola," said Richard. "It's probably just some ghost pokémon playing tricks."

"A couple of ghost pokémon won't scare me," said James. "If the view's worth it, then let's head on up and camp on the mountain."

"Seconded!" Will said.

"Ugh!" Nicola groaned. "I hope I don't regret this…"

* * *

 _Mt. Pyre, Hoenn_

 _7:49pm, 16_ _th_ _August 2006_

Mt. Pyre wasn't a challenging mountain to climb, but it was tough and exhausting. The group had only made it partway up before deciding to call it a day. They could cover the rest of the climb the following morning.

The weather was still in chaos as well. In fact, it felt more and more like the sunlight and rain was clashing. The way it had changed rapidly that day from one to the other, almost like someone was flipping a switch, made it extremely unpleasant walking. Following the steep paths while the weather was like that? Out of the question.

Despite the weather, the group decided to resume training to practice some new moves from earlier in the day.

"Stay focused, Vortex!" Richard called. "You did it perfectly yesterday, so you know you can use Hyper Beam!"

Vortex nodded. They tensed themselves up and tried drawing on their power. Though they managed to charge up, they let it slip away before they could fire it as a concentrated beam.

"Still not working, huh?" Richard said with a sigh. "Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow."

Vortex dipped their head in disappointment before floating off to have a rest.

Blue, meanwhile, was jumping and charging around, swinging her claws wildly and scattering turquoise sparks of energy everywhere. She had embraced her powerful, new Dragon Claw right down to her very soul. Between the ferocious strength of her attack and how freely she was hurling it around, she'd quickly put off all potential sparring opponents and had to practise alone.

"Alright, Gulpy, try using Stockpile again!" Will called.

Gulpy immediately started scooping as much of the nearby food as she could, holding it all in her mouth. Despite how much she'd picked up, it was still hard to tell; swalot had such large mouths that there was no tell-tale bulge in her cheeks. She would need to stockpile even more if she wanted that.

"Good job!" Will called. "Now, Swallow!"

Gulpy's entire body rippled as she swallowed everything in her mouth in one gulp. She bounced up and down, full of energy again, while some of the cuts and bruises sustained earlier in training started to heal.

"Great work, Gulpy!" Will grinned. "That's two moves in just one day! You worked really hard today!"

Gulpy called back happily, sliding over to get some more food.

On the other side of the small, grassy area overlooking the south shore of the former island where the group had set up camp, Mushy was watching Nicola carefully. For a few seconds, the two of them stared unflinchingly at each other.

Suddenly, Nicola threw a frisbee out to the right. The instant it left her hand, Mushy had already started moving. With a smooth jump, she punched the frisbee out of the air and landed back on the ground.

"Oh? That was perfect that time!" Nicola called, nodding approvingly. "I think you've got it, Mushy!"

Mushy dusted off her fists and nodded.

"Try using Mind Reader one more time!" Nicola pulled out another frisbee and hid it behind her back.

Mushy focused again, concentrating all her thoughts on reading Nicola's intentions. She suddenly saw the frisbee thrown to the left and started jumping. As the frisbee left Nicola's hand, Mushy was already in the air, flying towards it. She narrowly missed hitting it, but her prediction had been spot on.

"Great work!" Nicola said, grinning at her. She reached out and patted Mushy on the head. "Let's try practising it some more tomorrow, yeah?"

Back over by the path that led up towards the summit, James and Kacha were also busy training.

"Use Volt Tackle!" James ordered.

Kacha started sprinting forwards. Sparks of electricity started jolting from across his body, flying outwards behind him as he ran. He turned the electric current to run directly through him. There was a bang and a flash of light. The electricity vanished and Kacha tumbled to the ground, black smoke rising from his fur.

"I guess we're still not getting it right," James said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "We _are_ doing it exactly the way Mia showed us, right?"

Kacha nodded as he limped back over to him. The smoke had vanished, but the smell of burnt fur still lingered in the air.

"I wonder where we're going wrong?" James said, sighing in frustration. Still, all the failed attempts he and Kacha had made told him one thing: Mia hadn't been kidding when she'd said this was a powerful move.

The strong surge of electricity that Kacha always had to channel directly through his body was nothing to scoff at. It would be a while before the two of them could make another attempt to use the move.

"Well, I guess we can ask Mia ourselves once we get to Lilycove City," James said. He glanced at his watch. "Hey, guys! We should have dinner soon!"

"I was wondering if you were ever going to say that!" Richard called. "What are we having tonight?"

"Some kind of hot pot?"

"Sounds good to me!" Nicola said eagerly, walking over with Mushy. "Do we have enough ingredients though?"

"Yeah, we've got plenty," said Will. "There's a whole bag in my backpack that we haven't touched yet."

"Alright! Let's get started then!" Nicola said.

It was while they were preparing the cabbage, mushrooms, spring onions and tofu that odd things started happening.

"Huh?" Nicola looked around in confusion. "That's weird. Where did the knife go? I swear I put it right here…"

"Isn't that it there?" Will asked. He pointed next to her. The knife was stuck upright in the ground.

"How did it get there?" Nicola frowned in confusion as she pulled the knife out. "Ugh, now I'm going to have to wash this…"

"You sure you didn't just drop it?" Richard asked with a grin. "You know how absent-minded you can be sometimes!"

"I put it right _here_!" Nicola replied forcefully. "It must have fallen by itself."

"How about you, Richard?" James asked. "Where did you put the gas for the stove?"

"Right next to…" Richard frowned as he realised the gas canister that he'd put next to James had vanished. "Huh? That's weird. Where did it go?"

"Sure you didn't just drop it?" Nicola asked savagely as she poured some water on the knife.

"Do _you_ see it next to me?" Richard retorted.

"Is this it?" Will had briefly disappeared into the tent. He re-emerged holding the missing gas canister.

"You must have forgotten to bring it out, huh," Nicola said, shaking her head. She finished drying the knife and put it down on the camp table. "And you say _I'm_ absent-minded."

"No, seriously, I got the gas canister out before," Richard replied, dead serious. "I'm not making this up!"

"It's probably just some ghost pokémon playing tricks," James said dismissively. "I mean, there are tonnes of graves on Mt. Pyre, so it would surprise me if there weren't any ghost pokémon."

"Ghosts?" Nicola looked around at the gathering darkness uneasily. "Shouldn't we be worried?"

"If they're just playing tricks by moving things around, then it's not a big deal," James said. "Just let them have their fun and I'm sure they'll leave us alone."

"If you say so…" Nicola said with a sigh. She reached out to pick up the knife again. "Huh?" It had vanished.

A short distance away, the handle was just visible above the grass.

* * *

 _5:34am, 17_ _th_ _August 2006_

The small disappearances and reappearances continued through the evening, but they didn't do much harm. Like James said, the ghost pokémon apparently got bored after a while and moved on. They finished their meal in peace and went to bed for an uneventful night.

Which was just as well. They had the final trek to the summit of Mt. Pyre ahead of them the following day and they needed to start early if they wanted to get there in time for dawn. The path up to the summit of Mt. Pyre wasn't especially tricky, but it was a long and hard slog. James expected them to spend the rest of the day getting back down again.

"This view had better be worth it!" Will gasped as he struggled up the slope, keeping the light from his head torch firmly on the ground in front of him.

Behind him, Richard was also panting. "Maybe we should…take a break!"

"Hold on, everyone," James said, looking back at them. "We should be there soon."

"We started at three," Will groaned. "Three! And we're still walking now!"

"Seriously, we're almost there," said James. "This is one of the taller mountains in Hoenn; it was never going to be easy."

"Besides, it's way too cold to stop now," Nicola said, shuddering as she felt a cold breeze blow past her. Without the warmth of the summer sun, it was shockingly cold for a summer's day.

"We need to hurry," James said, noticing that the sky was rapidly getting lighter.

There was more complaining, but they soon reached the final stretch of the climb and felt their energy return as they walked up the last slope to stand atop Mt. Pyre. A cool breeze rushed past them, but they hardly felt it as they gazed out at the view.

Below them, to the west and across the bay, was the sprawling city of Polna. The largest city on the shores of Polna Bay. Probably the largest in all of southern Hoenn as well. It was vibrant and colourful, even though it was still the early hours. The lights of the city stood out against the dark green of the surrounding countryside in the pre-dawn murk.

The large port was full of ships of all sizes. From the top of Mt. Pyre, they could see the lights of smaller ferries that ran between the shore of the volcano and the city facing it across the bay. It was hard to believe that such a busy and hectic place could be so close to one that felt so peaceful.

As they watched, the scene steadily grew lighter. Behind them, the sun peeked over the horizon, casting the shadow of the mountain they stood on down onto the city below.

"Wow," Nicola gasped as she gazed across Polna City. "I kinda wish we'd gone via Polna City now. Look at how big it is!"

"Yeah, me too," Richard said, nodding.

Will sat down on one of the wooden benches and looked out at the city as well. "I wonder what's there."

"Contests," James replied. "There might be a gym as well though, come to think of it."

"Maybe we should have gone that way," Richard said, sighing. "Look! We could have walked along the coast from Topacra City, then caught a ferry across to here. Might have spared us being attacked by all those masquerain as well!"

"I did wonder about taking us through Polna City." James nodded. "But I guess I only really looked at Lilycove. It's on the east side of the bay, so we should stay on the east side, you know?"

"That's very _you_ , James," said Nicola, grinning at him.

"Thanks."

Richard shrugged off his backpack and looked back at the others. "So, how about we have some breakfast? I bet it won't be that long before other climbers start to arrive, and I'd rather eat while we've got the summit to ourselves."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Will called eagerly.

"It's a good thing that the weather is nice today," Nicola said, smiling at the blue sky and shielding her eyes from the sun. "I was worried it was going to be really random again."

"Same," said James. "This is perfect picnicking weather!"

* * *

 _6:58pm, 17_ _th_ _August 2006_

On paper, the climb down from the summit of Mt. Pyre was much quicker than climbing up.

That afternoon, however, James, Richard, Nicola, and Will had had to work their way through the tourists that were trying to climb to the summit. It had slowed them down a lot and it was already evening by the time they trudged back into the campsite they'd set off from that morning.

"Want to just set up camp here again for tonight?" James had asked.

Everyone had agreed.

Once they'd set the tent up and gotten everything out, they started work on preparing dinner. It was going to be a much more modest meal than the previous night. They were too tired for something that needed too much effort. Just sausages would do fine for now.

While they were preparing, they'd noticed things moving by themselves again and had simply dismissed it as the same prankster ghosts from the previous night. Better to just focus on getting dinner, eating, then sleeping.

Then, in the middle of dinner, the camp table had suddenly jumped into the air and thrown itself at the tent.

"Whoa!" All four trainers jumped in fright.

"That scared me!" Nicola exclaimed. "Didn't you say those ghosts would be harmless, James?"

"That's what I thought!" James replied, looking around cautiously.

"Look out!" Will called.

Richard's backpack suddenly flew across the campsite, narrowing avoiding James's head, and crashed to the ground in a heap as the contents flew everywhere.

"It must be…" Before James could finish, things started flying everywhere. Rocks, bushes, sticks, bags, food, everything!

The four trainers divided into the tent as all kinds of objects rained down around them and huddled in the middle of the communal area.

"Now what?" Nicola asked.

"Just wait it out, I guess," said Richard.

"Why did they suddenly start throwing things around?" Will asked. "They were happy just moving things around last night."

"Maybe it's a different ghost?" Nicola suggested.

"Or maybe it's angry because we didn't give it a good reaction last time?" Richard added.

There was silence for a couple of seconds.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" James demanded.

"I mean, if you were a ghost and were trying to prank people, wouldn't you be annoyed if someone just ignored you?" Nicola asked.

"I guess, but I wouldn't kick up a fuss about it. I'd just go and find someone who was easier to scare," said James.

"Well, we're definitely scared now," Will said, looking around at the sound of objects smacking into the fabric walls of the tent. "Think they'll be satisfied and leave?"

"I mean, they're still ghosts and they're just pulling pranks for some fun," Richard said. "I bet this'll all blow over pretty quickly."

They heard a thump as something heavy collided with the tent. There was a loud snap and the tent started leaning downwards in one corner…

* * *

 _9:03am, 18_ _th_ _August 2006_

After hurling the stove at the tent, the ghosts had finally gotten bored and left, allowing the trainers to start picking up the pieces of their campsite.

"Just our luck," James had said, shaking his head as he looked at the hopelessly leaning tent. "We made it through Kanto and the Sevii Islands with one tent, then get two damaged here in Hoenn."

Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as the last time. One of the support poles was completely snapped, but they could replace it without needing a new tent.

"It's still going to be expensive though," Richard had said. "And we probably won't be able to replace it until Lilycove."

With Nicola's half of the tent now unstable, she'd bunked in with the boys overnight. Worry that the ghosts might return to wreak more havoc made it a restless and difficult night.

By the morning, they were starting to feel a little better. There was no sign of the ghosts when they were cooking and eating breakfast, nor when they packed up the tent and their bags before setting off.

"So, Lilycove City then?" Richard asked as Will and James returned from looking around the campsite for anything they might have forgotten.

"And hoping we find a pokémon centre on the way there," James said with a sigh.

"How long will it take to get there?" Nicola asked.

"I think we could get there for the day after tomorrow," James replied. "Depends on how far we walk today."

"Let's get moving then," said Will, looking around suspiciously. "The sooner we're off Mt. Pyre, the better."

With everything accounted for, the four of them set off on the path down towards Route 121. It was another beautiful day and the morning was cool, but they knew that the heat would pick up as the afternoon approached. Best to cover as much ground as possible before then.

The land bridge between Mt. Pyre and the mainland was mostly covered in trees, making it a pleasant and cool place to walk. It was slightly cold now in the morning and the group lamented the fact that they'd be out on the exposed road by the shore when the day was its hottest.

It was just after they'd started walking through this place that a stick suddenly flew out of nowhere and almost hit Richard, who only just managed to jerk his head back in time.

"Not again!" Nicola exclaimed as most objects started flying around. "Didn't they do enough damage last night?"

"I'm starting to get really tired of this!" James growled as he took cover behind a nearby tree.

"Over there!" Will suddenly called, pointing at some bushes off the path. A pair of small, shadowy figures were peeking out, sniggering at the chaos.

"What are we dealing with?" James pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at one of the pokémon.

" _Duskull, the requiem pokémon. Duskull can pass through any wall no matter how thick it may be. Once this pokémon chooses a target, it will doggedly pursue the intended victim until the break of dawn._ "

"Hey, dawn's already broken, you know!" Will shouted as he whipped out his own Pokédex and shoved it in the direction of the other pokémon.

" _Shuppet, the puppet pokémon. This pokémon roams about deep in the night seeking such negative emotions as grudges and envy. It retreats to its nest when the sun begins to rise. Its upright horn catches the emotions of people._ "

"Great!" Nicola groaned. "So, these pranksters have decided to start stalking us?"

"Now that we know what they are, we can fight them!" James replied, pulling out Kacha's poké ball. "I'll handle the duskull!"

"Leave the shuppet to me!" Will added. "Go, Toya!"

The wartortle roared as he burst out of his ball and landed on the gravel path.

"Water Gun!" Will called.

Toya nodded and fired a blast of water through the trees, only for the shuppet to sweep to the side. He cackled at the wartortle and spat a cluster of blackish flames back towards him.

While Toya was dodging the counter attack, Kacha leapt into action against the duskull. He immediately charged up electricity and fired a blast towards his opponent.

The duskull dove down into the bushes and avoided the attack. She suddenly sprang forwards, surprising Kacha and sending him toppling backwards. As he pulled back, she leapt out after him, slamming him to the ground with a powerful blow.

"These ghosts are pretty tough!" Will called as the shuppet's eyes lit up and Toya cried out in pain.

"Yeah, they're not messing around," James replied. "We're going to have to get serious as well!"

"Just hurry it up, will you?" Nicola called.

A black aura surrounded the shuppet for a second before vanishing. The same aura suddenly reappeared around Toya and he winced in pain. He fired a blast of water back and this time managed to score a hit. The shuppet cried out as he was blasted back, but he quickly recovered.

The duskull fired a cluster of yellow orbs towards Kacha, but he immediately shot to side at a blinding speed to avoid them. He leapt up one of the nearby trees and fired another blast of electricity. Another miss.

"Use Ice Beam!" Will called to Toya.

The wartortle dove sideways as the shuppet launched another attack, the ghostly flames searing the nearby bushes and ferns. Leaping to his feet, he fired an icy beam towards his opponent. As the shuppet dodged, Toya switched his aim to try and catch him. The shuppet dove behind the nearby tree trunk though and the Ice Beam simply froze the bark instead.

"Water Gun!" Will ordered.

"Thunderbolt!" James called.

Toya was ready to fire the moment the shuppet stuck his head back around the tree and managed to catch him squarely in the face.

The duskull suddenly rushed up towards Kacha, startling him. He toppled off the tree branch he had been perched on and started falling towards the ground. He regained his balance in mid-air and fired a blast of electricity at the duskull, who took the hit directly. When he landed, he sprang forwards and fired another blast while his opponent was stunned. The duskull shrieked in pain as he hit her a second time.

Toya, meanwhile, was shivering as waves of unnatural, fear-instilling pain passed through him. That sinister black aura was still there, and it was getting harder to ignore it. The shuppet was weaving back towards him cautiously, getting ready to make another move.

"Use Water Gun!" Will called.

Toya shook his head and fired another blast of water.

The shuppet dodged easily. His eyes lit up a deep purple colour and Toya started writhing in pain. He dropped to one knee, grimacing as he tried to keep himself focused.

Kacha dodged the duskull as she lurched towards him and fired another blast of electricity, this time narrowly missing. The duskull sprang up again, striking from his blind spot and sending him tumbling down to the path.

"Use Rapid Spin!" Will called to Toya.

The wartortle hauled himself up and threw himself into the air. He withdrew into his shell and starting spinning like a top, hurtling through the air towards the shuppet.

The shuppet simply stopped and started cackling, completely at ease. Indeed, Toya's attack was perfectly on target, but when he reached the shuppet, he simply started passing through.

"Bite!" Will yelled.

Head shooting out of his shell, Toya just managed to grab the shuppet, who cried in alarm, before moving out of range. Still spinning, he hurled the shuppet into the nearby tree with a thud.

As Toya slammed to the ground and staggered to his feet in a daze, Will enlarged an empty poké ball and threw it at the shuppet.

Much to his embarrassment, he missed as the shuppet continued sliding down towards the ground and had to throw a second one. This one finally hit the shuppet and sucked him inside. The ball tumbled through the undergrowth down towards the path shaking and rocking until it finally clicked shut.

"Alright!" Will cheered, walking over and scooping up the poké ball.

"Nice work, Will!" James called before looking back over at Kacha. "Use Thunderbolt again!"

Kacha jumped to the side to avoid another of the duskull's attacks before firing a blast of electricity at her.

She wailed in pain as the electricity coursed through her and she started toppling down towards the ground.

"Guess it's my turn!" James pulled out an empty poké ball and threw it. He timed the throw perfectly and managed to strike the duskull directly on the head. She was sucked inside just before the ball hit the ground and started rolling down towards the trainers.

After a couple of seconds of rattling, it suddenly cracked open and the duskull flew back out. She yelled out as she charged at Kacha, catching him off-guard and knocking him back.

"Guess she's still got some energy left," James said with a sigh. "Give her another blast, Kacha!"

Jumping back to his feet, Kacha sprang forwards at a blinding speed. He darted around so quickly that it became impossible for the duskull to follow him before finally stopping in her blind spot and firing a final, powerful blast of electricity.

As black smoke rose from the duskull, James threw another poké ball. A second perfect throw and the duskull was finally caught.

"Good work, Kacha," he said, reaching out to pat the pikachu. "That was a tougher battle than I was expecting."

"You're telling me," Will said. He grinned at Toya as he limped back over. "Great work there, Toya! I can always rely on you!"

Toya puffed his chest out proudly before wincing in pain. The battle was over, but all the aches and pains left over from it were sticking around.

"Hang on!" Nicola exclaimed. "Why did you capture them? They're the same ghosts that attacked us last night!"

"You're saying we should have left here to attack other people?" James asked, turning to her.

"This shuppet was strong; no way am I going to just let him get away!" Will added.

"Urgh." Nicola backed away in the face of their rebuttals. "Fine, but they'd better not start causing trouble for us."

"We can train them out of it, I'm sure," said James. He held up the poké ball containing his newly-caught duskull. "You can be 'Lusk'. Nice to meet you!"

"And _you_ can be Shup," Will said. "S'up, Shup!"

Richard laughed. "Did you choose that name just so you could say that?"

"Possibly," Will replied, a smug grin on his face.

"Well, they were tough. I'll give them that," Nicola said with a sigh. Her face brightened. "Still, at least we don't have to worry about being attacked again."

"Exactly!" James grinned at her as Kacha climbed up on his shoulder. "Now we can continue on to Lilycove City without any worries."

* * *

 _Route 121, Hoenn_

 _11:27am, 18_ _th_ _August 2006_

"For the last time, stop loosening the lid on my water bottle!" Nicola yelled at Lusk, who hovered by her shoulder cackling loudly.

"Come on, Lusk," James said desperately. "Play nice with the others."

Lusk simply grinned at him. Or, at least, it seemed like she was. It was hard to tell with a pokémon that had no visible mouth.

"I guess you've got a long way to go before you've trained her out of it!" Richard said, grinning.

"We'll work on it," said James.

Will shrugged his shoulders. "Well, as long as…"

A sudden dark shape loomed out of a nearby bush and all the trainers yelped in surprise and alarm.

Shup giggled loudly and swept forwards to join Lusk.

"They're both as bad as each other!" Nicola gasped.

"I guess we really do have a lot of work ahead of us," James said. He sighed but smiled as he watched the two ghost types flying around ahead of them. He wondered if they'd been looking for attention when they'd caused all that trouble back at the campsite. If that was so, then it might be easier to guide them than it looked right now.

 _Well, there'll be plenty of time to worry about that later_ , James thought as he and others continued walking along the shore of Polna Bay, the bright sun shining down on them and a pleasant, salty breeze blowing in from the sea.

* * *

 **Woo! All teams complete! And not a moment too soon as the journey starts to move towards its final stages.**

 **So, one of the things I've started doing since deciding to rewrite** _ **Kanto**_ **is being much bolder with my writing decisions in** _ **Hoenn**_ **. That's the reason why I decided to interpret Mt. Pyre exactly as Sakurajima, the real mountain it's based on, right down to being joined to the mainland rather than still being an island. This is one of those areas where I feel interpreting the geography literally doesn't harm the atmosphere (for comparison, if I'd written Fortree as a regular city, like its real-world equivalent, then the atmosphere of the city from the games would have been lost), but I guess that's more up to the reader to decide. Do you prefer the game interpretation of Mt. Pyre, or my one based on the real world?**

 **I also wanted to briefly talk about Polna City, which is based on Kagoshima, the largest city in southern Kyushu. I decided to stay true to the games and have the group follow a route along the east side of the bay, but it would have been really easy to adjust the route from Topacra to allow them to go via Polna City instead. Is an exploration of Polna City something you would have liked to see, or are you happy that I stuck with the in-game route?**

 **Anyway, I think that's about all I have to say this time. The school year is winding down in Japan, so I've had plenty of spare time to write. Hopefully I'll be able to keep doing so when things pick up again in April!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower, and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break, and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic, and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech, and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent, and Stomp.

 **Lusk** (Duskull): Female. Mild. Likes to fight. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Levitate ability. Knows Foresight, Astonish, Confuse Ray, and Pursuit.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting, and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger, and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain, and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence, and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Claydol): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Hyper Beam, Psybeam, Cosmic Power, and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw, and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot, and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Mind Reader, Mach Punch, and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam, and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge, and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia, and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Dragon Dance, Peck, and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun, and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return, and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Stockpile, Swallow, Sludge Bomb, and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Bagon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Claw, Crunch, Flamethrower, and Headbutt.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect, and Confuse Ray.

 **Shup** (Shuppet): Male. Quiet. Thoroughly cunning. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Insomnia ability. Knows Night Shade, Spite, Curse, and Will-O-Wisp.


	99. Blue's Challenge

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the trip to Mt. Pyre saw the group tangle with a pair of troublesome ghosts who ended up breaking the tent. Will and James eventually confronted them and captured them in a move that will surely never come back to haunt them…**

 **(I'm sorry. *Goes to sit in the CORNER of Shame*)**

 **Upload Date: 24** **th** **March 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 99: Blue's Challenge**

 _Route 121, Hoenn_

 _2:43pm, 18_ _th_ _August 2006_

"Lusk! Give that back! I need it!" James shouted, jumping up to try and grab the ladle Lusk was holding.

The ghost type snickered at him, moving just in reach before pulling up again when he tried to grab it.

"Hurry it up, James!" Richard called. "Lunch is going to burn if we don't stir it soon!" He glanced back over at Shup, who was hovering passively just across from him. They stared at each other for a few seconds, as if trying to size each other up.

"HRRRREEEEEEEEEEK!"

Shup suddenly shot towards him, shrieking loudly. He laughed as Richard tumbled backwards off the log he'd been sitting on in fright.

"Not funny!" Richard yelled, clawing his way back to his feet. He glanced back at the pot on the stove. "It's starting to burn, James! Hurry up!"

"I'm working on it!" James shouted. He made another leap for the ladle, only for Lusk to move up out of reach again.

Fortunately, Kelaar lumbered over and grabbed the handle of the ladle in his mouth. With a powerful tug, he pulled it free of Lusk's grip. He dipped his neck and offered it to James.

"Thanks, Kelaar!" James grinned. He ran back to the pot and plunged the ladle into it before beginning to stir.

A short distance away, Nicola looked back over at the two boys and shook her head. "How are they letting themselves get pushed around by Lusk and Shup? And shouldn't you be over there helping out with _your_ pokémon?" She turned to look over at Will.

"They can probably handle it," Will replied. "Anyway, can we get back to training?"

In front of him, Blue called out and bounced up and down. Her eyes were fixed on Blu, who was perched atop Nicola's head.

"I mean, sure, but…" Nicola glanced back at the others. "Lunch will probably be ready soon."

"Always time for one more round!" Will replied with a grin. "Come on, let's start!"

"Alright, use Dragon Breath," Nicola said, reaching up and patting Blu's wing.

Blu chirped at her and took off. She fired a turquoise blast of energy down towards Blue, who dodged and shot a blast of flames back.

The two pokémon circled each other for a short while, blasting each other with attacks, before Blue suddenly sprang forwards and lunged for Blu with her claw raised.

"Whoa!" Nicola exclaimed as Blu just managed to drift out of the way at the last minute. "You're starting to get really good with Dragon Claw!"

"Thanks to all that practice," Will replied.

"Hey, Will," Nicola said as Blu landed back on her head. "Why aren't you taking the gym challenge?"

"I want to get to know my pokémon and train first," Will said. "That way, we'll be the perfect team when we start battling gyms. Losing at the Lavaridge Gym showed me that I still have a long way to go before I'm ready for it."

"You sure?" Nicola asked. "I mean, pretty much everyone we've met has said that taking on the gyms and losing is the best way to learn."

"But imagine doing all that and _not_ losing!" Will said eagerly. "I want to be the guy who gets to the league and everyone says 'whoa, that's the guy who didn't lose a single gym battle!', you know?"

"Would they, though?" Nicola mumbled. She shook her head, causing Blu to squawk at her in annoyance. "Don't you ever feel like taking part in some more gym battles though?"

"The battle with Flannery was fun," Will said, a curious look appearing on his face, as though he were really thinking. "I think it would be fun to fight in other gym battles as well, but…I don't know. Challenging Flannery was something I just did without thinking about. I start to feel less confident when I think about challenging someone else."

"I really think it would be a good idea," Nicola said. "Right now, you mostly just fight the rest of us, so you and your pokémon aren't getting a real challenge."

"Well, I think you guys are really tough," Will replied. "Thanks for never holding back against me all these times!"

"Sure." Nicola smiled weakly at him, realising that she probably wasn't going to get any further.

They both looked around as they heard James shouting to them. "Hey, guys! Get down here and have lunch before Lusk and Shup tip the pot over!"

"On our way!" Will called. He reached down and patted Blue on the head. "Let's go!"

* * *

 _Felgro Town, Hoenn_

 _4:41pm, 18_ _th_ _August 2006_

South of Mt. Pyre, Route 121 was just as rugged and narrow as it was further north. Aside from the occasional gullies and valleys leading away to the east, the road was pretty much all the four trainers had. As nice as it was having the sea directly on one side and the beautiful mountain slopes on the other, it also meant that places for them to rest were quite hard to find.

With the tent broken, they had to look out for the rare towns that sat on the east shore of the bay instead. They might have been able to get away with using it on the night it was broken, but it would be really tough putting it back up with one of the tent poles so badly damaged.

Fortunately, as the afternoon wore on, they rounded a small headland and found themselves walking into a small cove at the end of one of the valleys. A small town named Felgro Town sat at the mouth of the river that flowed into the sea there.

"I know it's a little early," said James. "But let's just stop here for today."

"Agreed!" Richard nodded. "No point in going further and not finding a pokémon centre to stay in."

"This seems like a nice enough place," said Nicola, looking around as they walked along the streets towards the building with the familiar poké ball logo emblazoned above its door. "I guess there's not much here though, right?"

"Yeah," James replied. "It's just another one of those small towns that happens to sit on a road that trainers use a lot. I can't find much about it in the guidebook."

"Well, we're only staying one night, so I don't think it really matters that much," said Will.

"I was thinking about what to do this evening though," said Nicola. "Just training seems like it would be boring."

"Nah, training's fun," Will replied. "I'm hoping to get Toya and Blue to practise even more tonight. Shup too."

"Yeah, good luck getting him to work with you," said Richard. "I wish you could have kept him in his poké ball earlier when we were making lunch."

"I did. He probably let himself out."

"How about you get to work on training him to cause less trouble?" Nicola asked with a grin.

"Sure, I'll look into it," Will replied in a non-committed tone.

As they walked into the pokémon centre, Nicola and James started walking straight towards the reception desk.

"We'll handle booking the rooms," James said to Richard and Will. "Why don't you head to the trainers' lounge and get some rest?"

"Sounds good to me," Richard replied. "I'll see if I can find out anything from the other trainers as well."

Though he said that, it didn't come as a surprise to either him or Will when they saw that there were only a couple of other trainers in there.

"Yo!" Richard said as he walked over towards them. "Any news?"

"Heh. Could ask you the same thing," one of the other trainers replied. "I haven't got anything worth telling."

"You hear about the cave in on the eastern side?" a girl sat close to the window asked. "Apparently the road's been blocked for a week."

"That's not a big deal though," the first trainer replied. "There are tonnes of roads on the eastern part of Route 121. You could even go through the Safari Zone if you're desperate."

"Doesn't affect us," said Will. "We're going on this road, after all."

"Fair," the girl replied with a shrug.

"Did you notice all that crazy weather the other day?" the boy sat in a big armchair at the far end of the room asked.

"Yeah, we noticed it," Richard replied. "Any idea what was up with it?"

"No idea," the boy said. "But I heard that something big apparently went down in Sootopolis City a few days ago. Might be connected?"

"Oh, I heard those rumours too," the first trainer said, nodding. "Hopefully we'll hear more soon. The name's Joel, by the way."

"Richard," Richard said.

"I'm Will," Will added. "You all heading to Lilycove as well?"

"Just me," the girl said. "The others are going the other way. I'm Aimee."

"And I'm Dave!" the boy in the armchair called. "Nice to meet you!"

"Is there anything to do here in Felgro Town?" Will asked.

"Hmm." Aimee looked around at the others. "There isn't that much, really. This really is just a place to stop on the way to Lilycove or Topacra."

"Oh, there's that one trainer living here though," Dave said.

"Oh yeah." Aimee nodded. "There's a trainer here with a powerful pokémon who's looking for challengers. There's a hill out that way," she gestured out of the window, "where you can go if you're looking for a battle."

"That sounds pretty interesting," Will said with a grin. "My team and I were hoping for a challenge!"

* * *

 _4:59pm, 18_ _th_ _August 2006_

It hadn't been that hard for Will to find this trainer. As he and Blue had explored the town, they'd heard the sounds of slashing in the distance. They were drawn towards it and eventually found themselves walking up a small hill further back in the valley. A single, large conifer tree stood at the centre. As they cautiously stepped up onto the top of the hill, they finally spotted what they'd been looking for.

A pinsir was swinging his head at the tree, gouging a new scar into its trunk with each strike. Aside from the sounds of his impressive horns striking the tree, he was training in absolute silence.

There was a teenaged girl stood nearby who was watching the pinsir just as silently. Every now and again, she nodded approvingly. After a couple of seconds, she glanced around and spotted Will and Blue. "Hey!" she called. "You a challenger?"

"That's right!" Will replied, stepping forwards with Blue. "You're the trainer with the tough pokémon I heard about at the pokémon centre?"

"Yeah, that'll be me," the girl said. "The name's Maisie. This is Slicer, my pinsir."

"Looks strong," Will said. "I'm Will, and this is Blue." He pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at Slicer.

" _Pinsir, the stag beetle pokémon. Pinsir have a pair of massive horns. Protruding from the surface of these horns are thorns. These thorns are driven deeply into the foe's body when the pincer closes, making it tough for the foe to escape. Because they dislike cold, pinsir burrow and sleep under the ground on chilly nights._ "

"So, up for a battle?" Maisie asked. "I'm always keen to test my skills."

"Sounds good to me," said Will. "One-on-one?"

"Naturally. Slicer versus Blue," Maisie replied. "Ready to go?"

"Sure!" Will nodded.

"Glad to hear it." Maisie and Slicer took up their positions, while Will and Blue did the same. "Let's begin!"

"Blue, use Dragon Claw!" Will ordered immediately.

"Oh? Going in hard and fast?" Maisie grinned as Blue started charging forwards. "Use Slash!"

Just as Blue made to swing her claw at Slicer, the pinsir lurched backwards. The bagon swiped at the air and overbalanced as Slicer threw himself forwards again and whipped his sharp claws against her.

"Hold on, Blue!" Will called as the bagon was thrown back. "Use Flamethrower!"

Blue skidded to a halt and shot a burst of flames towards Slicer.

"Protect!" Maisie ordered.

Slicer nodded and hunkered down. A light blue shield formed around him, protecting him from Blue's flames when they hit him.

"Crunch!" Will called.

Blue surged forwards, opening her mouth as she got closer. With a final leap, she sank her teeth into Slicer's shoulder. He clicked and growled in pain, shaking his shoulder to try and throw her off.

Blue held on as long as she could and raised her claw to strike. As she was flung off, she managed to nick Slicer's arm with the tip of her claws.

"Brick Break!" Maisie called.

Slicer jumped forwards, swinging his glowing horns downwards. He smashed Blue directly on the head, sending her crashing to the ground in a heap.

It was a strong blow that would have stunned any other pokémon, but Blue was protected by her tough, rock-like head. Even so, in the crucial moments as she tried to get up and reorient herself, Slicer's horns changed to a lime green colour and he surged forwards again. He caught Blue between his horns and hurled her into the air. There was a crash as she slammed into the ground.

"Ouch!" Maisie grinned. "Looks like that's my victory."

Sure enough, Blue lay in a heap on the ground and didn't look like she'd be moving any time soon.

"Urgh." Will gritted his teeth in frustration. He'd expected a tough opponent, but he hadn't thought he and Blue would be crushed so one-sidedly.

"Hey, don't take it too hard," Maisie said, grinning at him. "You and Blue have got great spirit. Feel free to come back and challenge me again tomorrow if you feel like it!"

"I'll keep it in mind," Will replied, recalling Blue to her poké ball.

* * *

 _6:47pm, 18_ _th_ _August 2006_

After returning to the pokémon centre, Will had told everyone what had happened while Blue was healed up by the centre staff. The other trainers had all nodded knowingly upon hearing his story. Apparently, they'd had similar experiences.

"That pinsir is much tougher than it looks, isn't it?" Aimee asked. "I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did."

"Still, I quite enjoyed fighting her," Joel said. "There's something refreshing about her tactics, you know?"

"How're you doing?" Nicola asked. "You're not taking this too hard, are you?"

"Eh, I'm fine," Will replied in a tone that told everyone in the room he wasn't fine.

"Everyone loses at some point," James said. "I mean, just look at me and Richard."

"Hey, don't lump me in with you!" Richard protested.

"Maybe you should improve your win-loss ratio," James replied with a grin.

"James is right," Nicola said as James and Richard bickered. "It happens to all of us. Even really crushing defeats as well."

"I know that," Will said with a sigh. "It's just that-"

"HRRRREEEEEEEEEEK!"

Shup shot out from under the sofa, shrieking loudly.

Everyone in the room jumped out of their skin.

"Shup, will you stop that!" Will shouted as the shuppet flew around them cackling maniacally.

"How about you make _him_ go up against Slicer next?" Aimee cried, shaking her fist at Shup.

* * *

After everything had calmed down, Will had asked James to help him and Blue train for a rematch against Maisie and Slicer.

"My team could use a workout anyway," James had said when he agreed.

It was still light out, though the days were getting shorter again, so they both walked to the practice arenas with their pokémon.

"Muro and Nulin are still upset, huh?" Will said, noticing that the wingull and exploud were determinedly ignoring Charka, Kacha, and Kelaar.

"A little bit," James replied. "Hopefully we can win something in Lilycove to make up for it."

"Hopefully," Will said.

"Right, let's get started," said James. He turned to his team. "Charka, you're training with Kacha again today. Nulin, you're with Muro. Kelaar, please show Lusk the ropes."

The tropius nodded sagely before turning to Lusk, who was lurking in the shadows nearby. Unlike Shup, she did at least seem keen to train for battles.

"What do you want to focus on?" James asked, turning back to Will as his pokémon dispersed to train in their groups.

"I was thinking…strength," Will replied.

"You sure?" James asked.

"What do you think then?" Will folded his arms and frowned at James.

"I mean, was it really a lack of strength that meant you lost earlier?" James asked.

"If we'd been able to hit harder, then we could have won," Will said slowly, thinking back to the battle and mulling it over. "Oh, but Slicer managed to dodge or block most of our attacks as well. Maybe we need to work on our accuracy as well. Oh, and speed would be good. We need to get to Slicer before he can get to us. And if Blue could withstand tougher attacks as well, then…" He trailed off. "Isn't there too much to focus on in one training session?"

"I guess so, yeah," James replied. "But I kinda feel like it's always like that with pokémon training. There are so many important things and it's hard to cover all of them at once. Sometimes we need to focus on just a few." He jerked his head in the direction of his team. "Do you see how everyone is training for slightly different things?"

It was true. Now that Will looked closer, he saw that Kacha was rushing from point to point, trying to build up as much speed as possible. Charka was trying to keep his Flamethrower attack going for as long as he could and occasionally practised enduring Kacha's electricity.

Nulin was also focusing on speed, weaving through the air and launching fast attacks towards Muro, who in turn was focused on enduring the hits and letting off powerful attacks in return. Kelaar was focusing on making his attacks precise and keeping himself safe from harm. Lusk was darting about, looking for openings where she could launch surprise attacks. She also tried to confuse him.

"So, what do _we_ do?" Will asked, turning back to James.

"Try thinking of a different way of doing things," James replied. He paused for a second and thought. "Maybe a different approach would take Slicer by surprise?"

"A different approach." Will frowned. "What's Blue's greatest strength." He suddenly clicked his fingers. "Blue's head is really tough. When Slicer hit her head, he did barely any damage. We should focus on attacking head-on so that it's harder to get to her weak spots."

"That sounds good to me." James nodded approvingly.

"That's what we'll do then!" Will said with a grin.

Just as he was about to give Blue her orders, he and James were distracted by a sudden green glow from nearby.

"Whoa! That looks great, Kelaar!" James exclaimed.

The tropius was surrounded in a gentle green glow as he drew energy directly from the dwindling sunlight. The injuries from Lusk's attacks started to heal somewhat, and he immediately seemed to have much more energy.

"What was that?" Will asked.

"Synthesis," James replied. "It'll be a useful move when we enter the contest in Lilycove. And being able to get energy back in the middle of a battle is always useful."

"I guess this is another way of fighting without relying on just heavy attacks, right?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I'd say so," James said with a grin. "Anyway, let's get to work on training Blue for the rematch."

* * *

 _9:01am, 19_ _th_ _August 2006_

Even though there was the worry of having enough time to get all the way to Lilycove City that day, James, Richard, and Nicola were happy to give Will and Blue to chance to face Maisie and Slicer again.

So, he'd set off from the pokémon centre straight after breakfast with Blue bouncing along at his feet. It was better to try and take advantage of the time the others would spend finishing packing and preparing for the day's journey.

Once he got to the hill with the solitary tree, he sighed with relief as he spotted Maisie and Slicer beneath it.

"Yo! You came back!" Maisie called cheerfully. "Ready for another round?"

"You bet!" Will called back, motioning for Blue to step forward.

"Oh? You're looking much tougher already," Maisie said approvingly. She nodded at Slicer, who lumbered forwards to face Blue. "Same rules as yesterday. Good luck!"

"Blue, use Dragon Claw!" Will ordered.

Blue nodded and rushed forwards, her claws trailing a turquoise aura. She slashed viciously, only for Slicer to lurch back at the last moment.

"Slash!" Maisie called.

Slicer aimed a powerful slash back at Blue, who ducked her head. There was a thump as his claw struck the white armour on top of her head and bounced back.

"Megahorn!"

Slicer lowered his own head and, his horns glowing lime green, he charged towards Blue. The bagon lowered her head once more and took his attack head on. She dug in her heels and struggled to force him to stop, but the damaging horns remained locked on the armour protecting her.

As Slicer ran out of momentum, Will called out, "Use Flamethrower!"

Planting her feet and forcing her head up, Blue looked Slicer in the eye for a brief second before opening her mouth and spewing a bright orange jet of flames.

Incredibly, Slicer managed to disengage and throw himself to the side just in time to avoid the worst of Blue's attack. He was back on his feet in an instant and, while Blue was still trying to process what was happening, leapt back to strike her in the side.

The force of the impact sent the bagon flying sideways, her insides lurching at the sudden movement. She rolled as she hit the ground and managed to use the momentum to get back to her feet. She had barely recovered when Slicer leapt forwards again.

She remembered to duck and turn her head to face the incoming attack and felt the thud as Slicer made contact. She held her position and thrust her head forwards to throw him back.

He quickly recovered and aimed another blow at her.

She continued parrying, using her head as a barrier between herself and her enemy and giving ground as she needed. She was starting to get tired and there was a dull ache from her head thanks to all the impacts, but she could tell that Slicer was starting to get tired as well.

Will realised that he and Blue couldn't keep defending. They hadn't done much damage yet and they'd need to do a lot if they wanted to win. "Use Dragon Claw!" he ordered.

As Slicer pulled back from another parried attack, Blue suddenly shot forwards slashed quickly and viciously with her claws.

"Brick Break!" Maisie called.

Slicer winced in pain from the deep scratches on his body, but lumbered forwards to strike again, his arm glowing dark red. He tried to aim for Blue's flank, but the bagon quickly turned and his fist met her tough head once again. He focused all his strength into his attack. If he could just throw Blue back, then he could finish this off with one final attack.

Yet his strength was failing him. As he struggled, he found that Blue was pushing back harder and harder. Then, suddenly, she thrust forwards and he felt his arm being thrown back.

"Use your new move!" Will called. "Double-Edge!"

Blue fired herself forwards, ignoring everything except her target. She slammed into him with a powerful tackle, disregarding her own safety entirely.

Slicer clicked and groaned in pain as he was thrown back. As he struggled to get back to his feet, he saw Blue standing over him, mouth open and orange flames gathering.

"Okay, enough!" Maisie called, just before Blue could fire. "Looks like this is your victory!"

"Huh? Oh…Okay?" Will was surprised by the sudden end of the battle. He hadn't expected Maisie to forfeit.

Noticing his surprise, Maisie grinned at him. "No point in letting my pokémon get hurt for no reason, is there? It's pretty clear that you were going to win anyway, so I wouldn't get anything from letting you use your last move."

"I guess," Will said. Though there was a part of him that almost felt cheated, that was quickly replaced with the thrill of having managed to beat the opponent who had crushed him the previous day. He turned to Blue. "Great work, Blue!"

Blue grinned back at him for a brief second before suddenly starting to glow a bright white colour.

"Oh, she's evolving," said Maisie. "I guess you've been training her really hard."

"Y-yeah," Will replied, watching as Blue's body warped and changed. She was becoming much bulkier, much rounder. She'd lowered herself onto all fours, her legs now looking very small given how big the rest of her body was becoming.

The light finally burst and Blue, eyes peeking out from within the thick, tough, white armour that now surrounded her entire body, took in her new form.

"Wow! Congrats, Blue!" Will said, pulling out his Pokédex.

" _Shelgon, the endurance pokémon and the evolved form of bagon. Inside a shelgon's armour-like shell, cells are in the midst of transformation to create an entirely new body. This pokémon's shell is extremely heavy, making its movements sluggish. It hardly eats while it awaits evolution._ "

"She's still evolving?" Will exclaimed, looking between the Pokédex and Blue, who was shuffling around awkwardly on her new legs.

"Bagon have to change _a lot_ before becoming a salamence," Maisie said. "But shelgon are really tough and she can still battle and gain experience between now and emerging from her shell."

"I guess you're one step closer to that dream of flying," Will said, reaching down to pat the top of Blue's shell. He glanced up at Maisie, who was helping Slicer back to his feet. "Thanks for the battle, both of them. I learned a lot from them."

"No problem! Same here!" Maisie replied. "I hope that we can have another battle some other time!"

"Hopefully," Will said. Just then, he heard voices calling to him and looked back down the hill.

"Will, it's time to go!" Nicola yelled to him.

"We're already behind schedule!" James called.

"Alright, I'm coming!" Will called back. He turned back to Maisie. "Thanks again! See you around!"

"Yep, see ya!" Maisie grinned, waving to him as he and Blue turned and started running down the hill.

As they reached the bottom, the others stared at the shelgon.

"Wow, she evolved! Good on you both!" Nicola said, fumbling as she reached for her own Pokédex.

"Guess the training worked out well in the end," James said approvingly.

"She's looking pretty tough now," Richard added. "I can't wait to train with her some time."

"I'm up for it whenever you are!" Will replied with a grin. "Blue is as well, I'm sure!"

"You'll have plenty of time when we reach Lilycove City," James said. He looked back over his shoulder as he started walking back towards the shore of Polna Bay. "Come on, guys! Let's get moving!"

* * *

 **I had a surprisingly amount of fun with Lusk and Shup this chapter. You can be sure their antics will reappear again in the future, though I'm trying not to overuse them!**

 **Otherwise, I don't think I have much in particular to say about this chapter. Another evolution and another step forward for Will. The group are now on the final stretch to Lilycove City, where Nicola will no doubt have awkward conversations with Mia and Hannah to look forward to.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower, and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break, and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic, and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech, and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Synthesis, and Stomp.

 **Lusk** (Duskull): Female. Mild. Likes to fight. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Levitate ability. Knows Foresight, Astonish, Confuse Ray, and Pursuit.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting, and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger, and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain, and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence, and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Claydol): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Hyper Beam, Psybeam, Cosmic Power, and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw, and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot, and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Mind Reader, Mach Punch, and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam, and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge, and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia, and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Dragon Dance, Peck, and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun, and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return, and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Stockpile, Swallow, Sludge Bomb, and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Shelgon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Claw, Crunch, Flamethrower, and Double-Edge.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect, and Confuse Ray.

 **Shup** (Shuppet): Male. Quiet. Thoroughly cunning. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Insomnia ability. Knows Night Shade, Spite, Curse, and Will-O-Wisp.


	100. Lilycove City

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, Will and Blue went up against Maisie and Slicer the pinsir in Felgro Town and were defeated. In a rematch the following day, Blue emerged victorious and evolved into a shelgon.**

 **Upload Date: 10** **th** **April 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 100: Lilycove City**

 _Route 121, Hoenn_

 _12:57pm, 20_ _th_ _August 2006_

James felt a lot of emotions as he and the others walked up the gently sloping ridge beyond which Lilycove City lay. First among them: tiredness.

It had been a rough night. Even leaving as early as they did, they'd been beset by delays (mostly thanks to Shup and Lusk) that kept them stopping frequently. As the evening had descended, they'd been forced to set up the tent as best as they could and spend the night worrying about it collapsing. Though nothing had happened, the slightest noise had kept everyone but Will—ever the heavy sleeper—in an uncomfortable state between being asleep and awake.

Then there was nervousness.

The closer they got to Lilycove City, the more aware James was of the imminent contest. One of the most well-known and sought-after titles on the contest circuit and one that would attract coordinators and spectators from all over Hoenn. Even aside from his normal, expected nerves, James was feeling particular pressure. There had been so much drama between now and his previous contest that he was starting to worry that he wouldn't be able to put on a good performance. Ornlay felt like a long time ago now.

And if that wasn't bad enough, his team was still riven with tension between its members. During a training stop earlier in the day, James had even been forced to recall Muro to his poké ball to stop him coming to blows with Charka. His normal policy of not interfering too much within the team wasn't working and he needed everyone working together if they were going to stand a chance at winning.

Lastly, there was a bittersweet feeling that James couldn't quite put into words.

Lilycove City was to be their last stop on mainland Hoenn and that brought a sense of finality with it. They still had a long time until they would be heading home, but this significant milestone really did mark the beginning of the end of their journey.

He shook his head to try and clear the thoughts and spoke to distract himself. "We're getting close now, guys. Just a little bit further."

"We're really getting there, aren't we?" Nicola, walking on his left, replied anxiously. "What am I going to do? What am I going to say to Mia and Hannah?"

She'd been like that from time-to-time since the morning. In many ways, it was worse for her than it was for James. As terrifying as the Lilycove contest felt now, it was still a prestigious and popular contest. To miss it entirely was a heavy blow. And James could sympathise with the horror of having to give Mia and Hannah the disappointing news that she'd been temporarily banned.

Like James, she'd spent the day trying to distract herself and had been especially focused on training earlier in the day. With no need to worry about contests in particular for a while, she'd thrown herself into battle training alongside Richard and Will. It had been an effective session and Kipa had even learned a new move called Endeavour.

Richard joined in the conversation. "I'm sure it'll be fine, Nicola. They don't seem like the kind of people who would turn against you over this. Well… Mia might, but…"

"I don't think you're helping," Will said.

"Best to just try and get it over with as soon as you can," James said, patting Nicola on the shoulder. "And try not to think about it. Richard's right: this isn't as big a deal as you think it is."

"I know, but…" Nicola mumbled, frowning as she felt silent.

"Anyway, it looks like we're finally here," James said.

Sure enough, they'd reached the top of the ridge. They were finally looking down at their destination: Lilycove City.

Located close to the tip of the eastern of the twin peninsulas that enclosed Polna Bay, Lilycove City was the most famous city in southern Hoenn. Well-known for the arts and its magnificent contest hall, it also sat between beautiful beaches on either side of the narrow tip of the peninsula. It occupied a valley of mostly flat land between the rugged hills and mountains of the rest of the peninsula. Though the summer holiday was starting to draw to an end, the city was still as busy as it was during the height of summer.

Part of this was the Lilycove contest that was due to start in just a few short days, which drew in countless coordinators from across Hoenn and even more spectators. But the city also had a small ferry port that connected it to the many smaller islands off Hoenn's southern coast. It was a good place to leave from for trainers who preferred to avoid the bustling Polna City or who wanted to spend as little time at sea as possible.

It was definitely a welcome sight for anyone who had just completed the long, winding coastal road from Topacra City.

"I can see why everyone gets so excited about the Lilycove contest," Nicola murmured, looking around as they walked down from the ridge and passed into the city. "This place really is beautiful."

"So, what kind of things are there to do in Lilycove City?" Richard asked James pointedly.

"Don't worry, there's plenty for you two to do," James replied with a sigh.

"Is there a gym?" Richard asked.

"No, not here," James said as he pulled out his guidebook. "There's an art gallery, if you're in to that kind of thing. It also has a big department store in the city centre and a couple of beautiful parks to enjoy. There's the contest hall, of course, and also a stadium; I'm not sure if there are any games on at the moment though."

"Ah, it looks like there's a lot in the city centre," Richard said approvingly, peering over James's shoulder. "And here I was worried we'd be getting bored, Will!"

"There are always practice arenas," said Nicola. "You could even hit the beach if you wanted."

"Maybe later," Will said. "I want to spend some more time training with Blue and Shup."

"First stop is the pokémon centre, right?" Richard asked.

"Yep." James nodded. "I think we want one of the ones in the city centre, so we're close to the contest hall."

"Lead on then!" Richard said with a grin.

* * *

 _Lilycove City, Hoenn_

 _2:33pm, 20_ _th_ _August 2006_

When they arrived at the pokémon centre in central Lilycove, the four of them found that it was much more crowded than they'd expected. Apparently, a lot of coordinators had arrived in the city early to try and beat the rush.

"Do you think we'll be able to get a room?" Will asked, giving voice to everyone's thoughts.

"Who knows," James replied. "I mean, it's not the end of the world if we have to find another pokémon centre. It would just be a pain to be far away from everything."

"There might still be space though," Nicola said, her gaze darting around the crowded lobby for any sign of Hannah or Mia.

"We'll see," said Richard.

They reached the front desk and started speaking to the beleaguered receptionist.

"I think…" He tapped away at the keys on his computer. "Yes, we have one room left vacant."

"Just one?" James asked, glancing back at Nicola.

"Just one," the receptionist confirmed.

"We'll take it," Richard immediately said. Turning to the others he added, "We'll figure something out later."

"Sure," Nicola replied.

"Room 213," the receptionist said, handing Richard a pair of keys. "Staying until after the contest, I'm guessing?"

"That's right." James nodded.

"Well, best of luck to you," said the receptionist, glancing around the lobby. "It looks like it's going to be a pretty fierce one this year."

"Thanks," James replied. He and the others stepped away from the front desk.

"So, now what?" Will asked.

"Nicola!"

"Ah!" Nicola looked around as she heard a familiar voice call out her name. "H-Hannah! Umm…" Before she could say anything else, Hannah had rushed up to her and seized her hand.

"Come here!" she said pulling her along. "We need to talk."

"H-Huh? O-Okay!" Nicola cried in alarm as she was dragged off in the direction of the stairs, hastily waving goodbye to the bemused boys. Her stomach churned unpleasantly as she anticipated what Hannah would say when they reached wherever she was taking her. Did she already know that Nicola had been banned from competing? Was there some other disaster that had happened that would only make Nicola's situation worse?

Hannah pulled her into a room not far from the top of the stairs. "Mia! They're here! I got Nicola!"

"Nicola!" Mia, who'd been sat on one of the beds, jumped to her feet and ran over to them. "What happened?"

"Wh-What do you mean?" Nicola wasn't trying to play dumb, it was just that she still hadn't worked out how to tell them.

"Nicola, we saw your picture behind the reception desk at the contest hall," Hannah said urgently. She exchanged a glance with Mia. "…In the list of banned coordinators."

"So, what happened?" Mia demanded, prodding her shoulder. "People don't just get banned for nothing, you know!"

"It's…a long story," Nicola said with a defeated sigh, looking away from them.

"We're all ears," Mia said. "Please tell us."

So, Nicola told them about the disastrous end to her bid for the Topacra ribbon and its aftermath. And about the other encounters she and the others had had with Kealey's fans since the Ornlay contest all that time ago.

"That's horrible!" Hannah exclaimed when she had finished. "I know that Kealey is really popular in Ornlay City and James didn't exactly win in the best way, but it's so unfair to take it out on you!"

"I'm just glad that the judges agreed to only give you the three-week ban," Mia said, sighing. "Anyway, guess you won't be competing with us the day after tomorrow."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded weakly. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Mia said with a shrug. "Life's unfair sometimes."

"There's always next year, right?" Hannah added optimistically. "We'll definitely get to compete together in Lilycove at some point."

"Yeah," Nicola replied. She looked around the room. "So, you guys managed to find somewhere?"

"Is there no room left for you and the others?" Hannah asked. "The pokémon centre has been filling up really quickly today."

"I think they said there's one room left," Nicola replied. "So, that's the boys covered but…"

"Well, we've got a spare space in here if you're interested," Mia said, waving her hand lazily towards the other bunkbed.

"It'll be just like back in Gharnot Town!" Hannah grinned at her. "And we'll get to spend the night chatting!"

"Just don't keep me up all night," Mia said warningly. "I'll need my sleep for the contest. You will as well, Hannah."

"Yeah, yeah," Hannah replied.

"Well, if it's okay…" Nicola mumbled.

"Of course, it's okay!" Hannah jumped over and hugged her. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah…" Nicola smiled back at her.

* * *

 _3:21pm, 20_ _th_ _August 2006_

After dumping his stuff in the room, James had gone to the contest hall with Richard and Will so that he could register for the Lilycove contest.

Nicola had decided to stay behind with Mia and Hannah, who had already registered. "I don't want them thinking I'm trying to register," she had said. "I don't want them to tell me that I'm banned."

Instead, she and the other girls had hung about in their room, chatting and exchanging tips on contests, until the boys returned and knocked for them.

"It really does look like it's going to be a tough contest," said James. "Do you remember Victor? That guy with the spinda from back in Fallarbor Town? I saw him in the queue to register."

"You know who else we saw," Will added, looking at Nicola. "That coordinator you and Zaggy beat when you won your first ribbon."

"Huh? Her?" Nicola exclaimed as the memories came flooding back. "What was her name… Irene, I think."

"Oh? Irene?" Hannah looked over at them curiously. "Irene's a pretty good coordinator. You managed to beat her?"

"Well, it was more like Zaggy beat her," Nicola replied sheepishly.

"Huh? Zaggy?" Mia glanced down at the zigzagoon, who was sprawled out asleep on the ground. "Him?"

"That's right." Nicola nodded, a proud smile tugging at her lips.

"Wow. How did Irene take it?" Mia asked.

"I think she was a little annoyed." Nicola screwed up her face as she tried to remember. "It was a long time ago…"

"I'll bet she was annoyed," Mia said with a sigh. "Irene's one of the better coordinators in Hoenn. She beat me loads of times last year. Including at the Grand Festival…"

"Guess you've got an opportunity to get some payback," James said with a grin.

Mia sighed. "It really is going to be tough this year. If Victor's there as well, then…"

"Just give it your all and have fun!" Hannah said cheerfully. "That's what Chika and I are going to do!"

"Yeah…"

It was easier said than done. Mia, Nicola, James, and Hannah all knew it, even if they didn't say it.

"Anyway, what are we going to do with the rest of today?" Richard asked, looking between the others. "The contest is the day after tomorrow, so there's lots of time. Do you want to spend all that time training?"

"I was hoping to spend some time sightseeing," Hannah said. "This is the first time I've come to Lilycove City." She leaned closer to Nicola. "There's a great department store here in Lilycove. Wanna go check it out? Might take your mind off, you know…"

"Sure," Nicola replied with a smile. "How big is it?"

"The biggest in Hoenn, I think," Hannah said with a grin. She glanced around at the others. "You guys want to come with us?"

"I'm game," said Richard. "I was just thinking that I should try and get some souvenirs for my family."

"Gonna have to pass on that, I'm afraid," James said. "I need to try and find a camping supplies shop and get a new support for the tent."

"Ah, of course," Nicola said. "Is there somewhere like that at the department store?"

"There might be," Hannah replied. She grinned sheepishly. "But I've never actually been there before, so…"

"I don't think there is," Mia said. "But I do know a good camping shop in Lilycove is. If you'd like, I can show you where it is." She shot a glance in James's direction.

"That would be really helpful, thanks," James replied.

"What about you, Will?" Nicola asked. "You coming with us?"

"Nah, I'm going to stick with James," Will replied. "Once we're done getting the tent, he said that we could do some training together."

"O-oh," Mia said.

"It's not a problem Will tagging along, is it?" James asked.

"N-not at all!" Mia replied quickly, shaking her head. "R-right, I guess we should get going then?"

"Sure!" James nodded. "Lead on!"

* * *

 _1:23pm, 20_ _th_ _August 2006_

The department store really was huge. There was so much there that Nicola and Richard barely knew where to start when they first arrived.

"Which floor do we need?" they'd both asked while staring at the long list by the stairs of floors and what shops were on each one.

Fortunately, Hannah was able to steer them in the right direction. "Meet up in the plaza on the roof!" she'd called to Richard before taking off with Nicola to show her around.

"S-sure!" Richard had called after them, wondering if he'd even be able to find his way back to the staircase once he set off.

If there was one thing that impressed Nicola more than the scale of the department store, it was Hannah's ability to navigate it perfectly despite only having been in Lilycove City one day more than her.

"I came and had a look yesterday morning," she explained when Nicola asked. "There was too much to do in one day though, so I'm glad I had a chance to come back."

"Yeah, but I mean knowing where everything is," Nicola said. "If I come back tomorrow, I probably won't remember where half of these shops are."

Hannah chuckled. "It's my one redeeming quality: a good memory!"

"What are you talking about?" Nicola cried. "Don't forget that you're a great coordinator as well!"

"Not really," Hannah replied. "I've got a team of really talented pokémon and half my wins seem to come from Ember Swirl anyway."

"Yeah, but it takes a good coordinator to come up with a combination like that," Nicola said enthusiastically. "I mean, it's one of the best I've ever seen, so you must be doing something right!"

"Please stop!" Hannah grimaced. She forced a smile. "Let's just get on with shopping, yeah?"

"S-sure." Nicola nodded. She fell silent as she followed Hannah. She wondered why she'd reacted that strongly to the praise but decided against pushing further.

She soon forgot about it as she and Hannah mooched around the countless shops in the department store. They quickly lost track of time and kept finding more things that they wanted. When they finally reached the roof to join Richard, they were weighed down by the bags containing their purchases.

"You're a bad influence on her," Richard said to Hannah as soon as he saw them. "She doesn't normally buy that much by herself."

"I'm a good influence!" Hannah protested vigorously. She pulled out one of the tops Nicola had bought. "See? Don't you think it's cute too?"

"Well, yeah," Richard replied. "But why so many?" He turned to Nicola. "Aren't you going to just send them home anyway? None of it is really suitable for hiking."

"I-I know," Nicola mumbled. "I just got _a little_ carried away."

"Well, whatever," Richard said with a sigh. He glanced down at the small bag of souvenirs he'd bought. "I got what I needed, so I'm happy."

"That's all you're getting for your family?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you stingy?"

"I have two parents and three siblings. I can't fork out a lot for all of them," Richard replied.

"Did you see anything else interesting while you were shopping?" Nicola asked.

"There was a weird furniture shop on the floor below this one, actually," Richard replied. "I wonder what it was about?"

"You didn't go in?"

"I was too busy looking for souvenirs," said Richard.

"Oh, was it the Secret Base Store?" Hannah asked.

"Maybe?" Richard replied uncertainly.

"Oh? Secret bases?" Nicola turned to look at Hannah. "I remember hearing about them a while back…"

"Secret bases are super cool," Hannah said with a grin. "I built one on Route 110. It has everything I could need to practise for contests and it's not far from Slateport City either. It's going to be really convenient for the Grand Festival!"

"Can anyone just set up a secret base?" Nicola asked. "I've been kinda curious about it…"

"Pretty much." Hannah nodded. "The Association prefer it if you stick to caves, large trees, and so on that are a little bit out of the way. Don't want to get in other people's way, right?"

"So, what's up with the Secret Base Store?" Richard asked. "Is it special?"

"They specialise in furniture and decorations for secret bases," Hannah replied. "I bought most of my furniture from them." She grinned at Richard and Nicola. "Wanna go check it out?"

"You bet!" Nicola immediately stepped forwards.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to spend even more money," Richard said with a sigh as he followed after them.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, Mia was kicking her heels irritably as she sat and watched James and Will directly their teams' training. She'd been hoping that Will would change his mind and find something else to do once they were done in the camping shop, but no such luck. Worse, James seemed as keen to train as Will did, so there was no hope of persuading him to send Will away.

She wondered if she could find a way to get away from the others tomorrow instead. She'd been to Lilycove City before. She knew the sights. She was sure that she could offer to take James somewhere.

Over on the arena, Lusk had just finished imitating Shup by firing a blast of ghostly flames.

"Good work, Lusk!" James said, grinning at her as he walked over. "That was perfect!"

Lusk cackled gleefully at him, darting around him.

"Thanks for the help, Shup!" James grinned at the shuppet, who was hovering silently in front of Will. "You made this a lot easier than it could have been!"

"I guess he can be useful every now and again," Will said, looking down at Shup. "So, that's Curse and Will-O-Wisp all done." He glanced over at Nulin and Muro, who were determinedly avoiding Charka and Kacha. "Don't you think it's time you did something about them?"

"Ugh. I guess so," James replied with a groan. He hadn't been looking forward to trying to resolve the division in his team, even if he knew it needed to be done. He'd kept on hoping that the issue would resolve itself, just as previous issues had, but they had run out of time and options.

His heart hammering, he stepped towards the rest of his team and called out, "Hey, guys! Listen up!"

The other five all stopped training and moved over to gather around him.

"So, uh, I know that some of the, uh, recent decisions haven't exactly been, uh, popular and that not everyone is happy," James said, looking between them. "But we're still a team and we need to work together if we're going to succeed. Let's try and win the contest here in Lilycove to make up for giving the Ornlay ribbon to Nicola. We'll be back up to four ribbons and almost ready for the Grand Festival. But we need to work together and try our best as a team if we want to win. It's time that we put our differences behind us and get along again."

The pokémon all looked at each other. The atmosphere was tense and heavy. Finally, Charka and Muro shrugged and, taking their cue from them, Nulin and Kacha also relaxed a little. They all seemed a little reluctant, but they duly filed off to start training together for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Phew!" James let out a sigh of relief. "I was really worried about how that would go!"

"Are you sure that'll be enough?"

James and Will looked around. Mia had come over to join them.

"I mean, I hope so," James replied. "They're training together again now, and it's not like I can do that much more about it."

"They do seem to be training quite…hard," Mia said, glancing at Charka and Muro in concern. Though they were practising their combinations for contest battles, some of those attacks seemed to be quite barbed.

"We always take our training seriously!" James replied with a grin. "Hey. Since you're here, do you want to train with us as well? It's a shame to waste time sitting around, right?"

Mia looked at him for a second before sighing. "I guess I might as well. I can help your pokémon with some of their combinations too, if you'd like?"

"For real?" James exclaimed. "That'd be great! Thanks!"

"I'll just be over here doing battle drills with my team," Will said, moving away. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Will do!" James called after him. He turned back to Mia. "Right! Let's get started!"

"S-sure!" Mia replied, smiling at him. Perhaps this training session wouldn't be so bad after all?

* * *

 _6:48pm, 20_ _th_ _August 2006_

It had been starting to get late by the time James, Mia, and Will's training was interrupted by Richard, Hannah, and Nicola on their way back from the department store.

"She seriously bought a bunch of furniture in case she makes a secret base someday," Richard had said to James and Will as they'd walked back to the pokémon centre. "Talk about a waste of money!"

"He's just jealous that he'll never have a secret base that looks as good as Nicola's!" Hannah had snapped. "Seriously: that chair was super cute!"

After getting back, they'd all gone back to their rooms to drop things off and get ready for dinner.

"So, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Hannah asked as she sat down with her plate of spaghetti Bolognese.

"Good question," James said. "I think we've still got some time to explore Lilycove, right?"

"I was going to suggest starting some serious training in the afternoon," Mia replied. She paused to scoop up and eat a mouthful of her stir fry before continuing. "I know that there's an art gallery in the city that has loads of interesting paintings." She glanced at James. "Want to go together?"

"Sounds like fun!" Nicola said with a grin. "What do you think, guys?"

"Sure, I'm up for that," said Richard.

"I guess I can come along," Will added.

"If that's where everyone's going, then I'm fine with it too!" Hannah smiled.

"Yay! Great!" Mia said through gritted teeth, forcing a smile. "I guess we'll all meet up in the lobby after breakfast and then we can set off?"

"Sounds good to me," James replied.

"Thinking about it, we should probably show our faces at the Contest Fan Club," Hannah said, frowning. "It'll be the day before the contest after all."

"Ah, yeah." Mia nodded. "We can probably do that later in the day though, once we've finished training."

"What goes on at the Contest Fan Club?" Nicola asked.

"It's kind of a meet-and-greet event for contest fans and coordinators," Mia replied. "It's always a little bit awkward meeting your fans there. Completely different to all the congratulations they give you after a victory, you know?"

"Fans?" Nicola's stomach lurched. "D-do you have many, Mia?"

"I had a handful last year," Mia said. She gazed into space for a second as she thought. "I think I've been doing a pretty good job this year, so maybe I'll have more."

"I wonder how many you and I have, Nicola," said Hannah, looking over at her.

"Y-yeah," Nicola mumbled, turning her gaze down towards her dinner plate. It had been bad enough facing her friends and telling them about what had happened in Topacra City. How was she going be able to face her fans? Would she even have any fans after what had happened?

"Well, that'll be in the evening, so we don't need to worry about it for a while," said Mia, noticing Nicola's discomfort. "And it's not like it's compulsory, even for those who are competing in the contest."

"Yeah." James nodded. "Let's just enjoy the day and see what happens!"

* * *

 _10:03am, 21_ _st_ _August 2006_

The art gallery in Lilycove City was huge. Much bigger than James had been expecting. It proudly boasted to having painting and exhibits from all over the whole and had apparently been voted the number one attraction in southern Hoenn by the readers of an obscure magazine that he'd never heard of.

James wasn't all that interested in art though, so he didn't have a strong opinion either way. Some of the paintings looked pretty good. Others didn't look like they belonged on the artist's fridge, let alone in an art gallery.

The whole group of them had started out touring the art gallery together but had quickly started to splinter off into groups whenever they spotted something that interested them. Will had found himself drawn to the café and the selection of cakes available, and James probably would have followed him if Mia had seemed pretty insistent on showing him something.

"This is my favourite part of the gallery," she said as they walked up the stairs. "I came here when I was in Lilycove last year and loved it!"

"Is that so?" James looked around as they reached the top. There were a couple of sculptures of pokémon in the long halls either side of the entrance hall. The one Mia led him into featured a long line of portraits of people and pokémon. "What is this place?" he asked, realising that all of these portraits had been painted in roughly the same way.

"This is where they put the portraits of winners of the Grand Festival," Mia replied with a smile. "Every previous winner and their pokémon get honoured here."

"Whoa," James mumbled, looking back at the portraits. Now that he looked closer, he could see the names and years on plaques beside each picture. "So, every winner gets their portrait here?"

"That's right." Mia nodded. "Someday, I want to have my portrait in here too. If I keep training hard enough, then I'm sure my team and I can do it!"

"You'll manage it. I'm sure of it," James replied with a grin.

"Thanks," Mia said, smiling bashfully at him.

"So, what's in that hall over there?" James pointed back the way they'd come.

"That?" Mia started walking towards it. "That's where they have the portraits of those who've won the Lilycove contest."

"There's a different room for that?" James asked as they walked.

"That's how big of a deal the Lilycove contest is," Mia replied.

"Wouldn't the winner just have their portrait in the other room?" James asked. "Or does the winner of the Lilycove contest not always win the Grand Festival?"

"The Grand Festival is something else," Mia said. "So, sometimes the person who wins here doesn't win the whole thing. And some just compete in Lilycove." She stopped in front of a portrait of a woman with fiery red hair and a slugma at her side. "Like Henrietta Morgan."

"What's her story?" James asked.

"She was a coordinator years ago," Mia replied. "Apparently, she pioneered a load of fire-based combinations. Her most famous was 'Fiery Tornado', which she used to win the Lilycove contest fifty years ago."

"But she didn't take part in the Grand Festival?"

"That's right." Mia nodded solemnly. "She won the Lilycove ribbon when she was fifteen, but then retired from the contest scene. She never took part in the Grand Festival. It's a real shame. If what I've read about her is true, then she probably could have won it as many times as she wanted."

"Weird," James said. "I guess some people just aren't drawn to competitions."

"Yeah…" Mia murmured, looking at the portrait. "You know, another thing that's famous about Henrietta is that no one has managed to perfectly replicate her 'Fiery Tornado'. I've seen lots of imitations, but apparently none of them can keep the tornado perfectly balanced the way she could. I guess that just adds to the mystery of her, huh?"

"Yeah." James nodded. He grinned at Mia. "Makes me want to try my hand at the technique myself!"

"I know right?" Mia smiled back at him. "Maybe we could ask Hannah for some tips: her Ember Swirl is really pretty."

"I guess," James said. "Still, it's something to work towards."

"You know, reading about Henrietta and her slugma was what inspired me to become a coordinator," said Mia, looking back at the portrait. "She vanished from the public eye after retiring, but she's probably still around somewhere. I'd love to meet her someday." She turned back to James. "That's why I want to win the Lilycove contest, and then the Grand Festival. That way I can stand proud if I ever do meet her."

"Sounds like a plan," said James, smiling at her. "I hope you get that chance someday."

"Thanks," Mia said, smiling softly. "But make sure you try your best at the contest tomorrow as well. It'll feel hollow beating you otherwise!"

"You don't need to worry about me!" James replied. "We'll be giving it our all too!"

"Glad to hear it." Mia glanced back at the portrait one more time before stretching her arms above her head. "I guess we should try and track down the others. I was hoping to show Hannah and Nicola this place too, but I guess it'll have to wait."

* * *

 _4:43pm, 21_ _st_ _August 2006_

After lunch and a brief but intense training session, the coordinators set off for the Contest Fan Club building in central Lilycove.

"Since we coordinators don't really have a set schedule and take part in contests whenever we find them, it's hard for fans to come and watch us," Hannah explained as they walked. "That's why fans normally gather in Lilycove before the big contest: they know that their favourite coordinator will probably show up!"

"How do coordinators get fans though?" James asked. "Like you say, it's really hard for people to specifically come to see us compete in contests since we don't have a schedule, right?"

"Well, the contests are televised, remember?" Hannah replied. "And we have to register for the contests in advance so they can announce who's competing where before broadcasting."

"Still, fans, huh?" Nicola mumbled. "I wonder if I'll even have any…"

"You need to stop worrying about that, Nicola!" Hannah said sharply.

"I doubt every single fan would come out here anyway," James added. "I mean, lots of people have other things on, so they might not have time. What I'm getting at is that you probably still have fans even if it doesn't seem like it."

Nicola didn't seem all that reassured. She was silent for the rest of the walk.

The Contest Fan Club building was large and impressive, built in a classical style. It gave off a very refined and proud air. There was a sense of exclusivity as well, as though being able to enter was a mark of superiority over those who couldn't.

Nicola felt her heart hammering painfully as she and the others walked up the steps and through the heavy, ornate wooden door. Once they were inside, they walked across the thick carpet to a front desk and spoke to the well-dressed receptionist.

"Hall 3," she told them, gesturing to one of the doors on the upper floor.

"We're all going in together?" Nicola asked, feeling her anxiety lift a little.

"There's nowhere near enough space for individual meeting rooms," Mia replied. "Some of the more popular coordinators have hundreds of fans after all."

"So, what do we do?" James asked.

"Just smile and talk with your fans, sign autographs, that kind of thing," Mia said. "It's not hard, but I guess it's a bit nerve-wracking at first."

They stopped outside the door to Hall 3. James, Nicola, and Hannah all tensed up at the sound of voices behind it.

"Come on." Mia pushed the door open and beckoned for the others to follow her.

There was quite the crowd of people already in the hall, but there were also a couple of other coordinators who'd arrived before them and were already talking with their fans. It was the ones milling around aimlessly in the middle of the hall who were most interested in the new arrivals.

A large segment immediately started moving over towards Mia.

"Congratulations on Polna City, Mia! That performance really touched my heart!"

"Your performances are always so well-planned! My wife and I are always trying to keep track of where you'll be competing next!"

"Do you remember me? I was here for last year's event…"

"I only saw your performances recently, but I instantly became your fan! Could… Could you sign this for me?"

Mia didn't seem all that fazed by the sudden onrush of people. She calmly started talking with them, shaking hands and signing autographs. She guided her group away from the entrance and started chatting eagerly with them.

Meanwhile, another, smaller group had gathered around Hannah, all eagerly asking her questions and introducing themselves.

And, much to Nicola's surprise, there was a group around twelve strong gathering around her.

"I'm so glad that you came, Nicola!" one of them, a young boy, said. "Everyone was worried that you might not come here since, you know…" He trailed off as the others shot sharp looks at him.

"Ah, yeah," Nicola replied awkwardly, fiddling with her side ponytail. "A-about that… I'm really sorry."

"Hey! No one's blaming you, Nicola!" A young man in his twenties gave her a cheery grin. "We all know that Blu was getting provoked those bas- I-I mean, those guys from Ornlay."

A middle-aged woman patted Nicola on the arm. "I've been following contests for years now, and this is far from the first time something like this has happened. I've seen what you and your team can do, and I can't wait to see it again. Especially," she bent down and patted Zaggy on the head, "this one."

"There's still time for you to get enough ribbons to get into the Grand Festival, so we'll look forward to seeing you perform again!" another man added.

"Th-thanks." Nicola looked down, feeling her face heat up slightly. "S-so, I'm Nicola Hewitt, new coordinator. Nice to meet you all!"

The tension and her nerves quickly started to evaporate away as her small group of fans introduced themselves to her one-by-one and shared their thoughts on her and her team's performances, when they'd first become a fan of hers, how many times they'd managed to watch her contests. A younger girl told her that she was her idol and that she hoped to compete in contests when she was older too. An older teenaged boy shyly showed her his design for a T-shirt with the names of her and her pokémon emblazoned upon it, which everyone else had immediately insisted he get mass-produced ready for the Grand Festival.

Nicola found herself getting caught up in their enthusiasm. Hearing all these people talking about her performances—what was good, what could have gone better, what they were hoping to see in the future—was fun. She was glad that she'd plucked up the courage to tag along with the others. And glad that some of her fans had decided to make their way out here even though they'd known that she wouldn't be competing in the Lilycove contest.

Meanwhile, James loitered off to the side by himself, pretending that the lack of fans didn't bother him. It didn't really matter, of course. He'd proven that he and his team could win contests even without fans backing him. It was no problem. Sure, it was a little embarrassing to have come here and be greeted with nothing, but…

He felt a gentle tugging on his sleeve and looked down.

There was a girl, maybe around seven, standing next him. She held a pad of paper in her other hand.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

She held out the pad of paper.

"Huh?" James blinked a couple of times. "You want…my autograph?"

The girl nodded.

"S-sure." James took the pad of paper and pulled out a pen. He quickly scribbled his untidy signature on the top page and handed it back to her.

"Thank you," the girl murmured as she took it back.

"Hey. What's your name?" James asked.

"Mari."

"Do you like my performances?"

"They're really cool," Mari said, nodding. "I watch them whenever they're on TV."

"Glad to hear it," said James. "Are you going to watch tomorrow's contest?"

Mari nodded. "My mum and dad and I came here from Mauville City so we could watch it."

"Guess we'll have to put on a good show then!" James said with a grin. "I don't want to let you down, Mari!"

"I can't wait!" Mari smiled at him.

Even if only one fan had shown up here, that was enough for James. As long as there was someone who appreciated his performances, he'd keep trying his best. In his mind, he was already getting ready for some intense training with his team before it was finally time for the contest.

* * *

 **First up, sorry this chapter took so much longer than expected to write. There were a lot of scenes that I felt I needed to put particular effort into and I even had to scrap the entire opening paragraph and rewrite from scratch early on since I wasn't satisfied with it. Hopefully, the delay has resulted in a higher-quality chapter for you to enjoy.**

 **So, no contest this chapter. Just a lot of set-up and a tour of some of the main attractions in Lilycove City. I've made some efforts to further develop Mia and Hannah, who've been slightly lacking so far. I also liked the idea of the coordinators getting a chance to meet their fans at the fan club, though poor James remains the least popular of the four. Maybe next time he'll have more!**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower, and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break, and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic, and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech, and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Synthesis, and Stomp.

 **Lusk** (Duskull): Female. Mild. Likes to fight. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Levitate ability. Knows Curse, Astonish, Will-O-Wisp, and Pursuit.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting, and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger, and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain, and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence, and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Claydol): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Hyper Beam, Psybeam, Cosmic Power, and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw, and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Endeavour, Mud Shot, and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Mind Reader, Mach Punch, and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam, and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge, and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia, and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Dragon Dance, Peck, and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun, and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return, and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Stockpile, Swallow, Sludge Bomb, and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Shelgon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Claw, Crunch, Flamethrower, and Double-Edge.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect, and Confuse Ray.

 **Shup** (Shuppet): Male. Quiet. Thoroughly cunning. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Insomnia ability. Knows Night Shade, Spite, Curse, and Will-O-Wisp.


	101. The Prestigious Lilycove Contest

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of** _ **Pokémon Journey: Hoenn**_ **!**

 **Last time, the group arrived in Lilycove City and met up with Mia and Hannah again. They spent a little bit of time preparing for the Lilycove contest, but also found time to explore the large city and all that was there.**

 **Upload Date: 28** **th** **April 2019**

* * *

 **Chapter 101: The Prestigious Lilycove Contest**

 _Lilycove City, Hoenn_

 _11:03am, 22_ _nd_ _August 2006_

With only a few hours left before the start of the Lilycove contest, the pressure was ramping up on the participating coordinators and their teams. Practice arenas across the city were packed with people either training hard with their pokémon or watching the frantic practising of combinations and appeals.

"You know, there's a part of me that's actually glad I'm not competing," Nicola said quietly to Richard as the two of them watched the chaos in the practice arenas from a nearby street. "It was so stressful trying to find somewhere to practise back in Gharnot Town, and this is even bigger!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Richard said. "It's not fun having to share a practice arena with more than one other person. I'm always glad that I'm not doing contests when we see stuff like this." He glanced at her. "You sure you're okay though?"

"Well, you know…" Nicola replied, turning to look over towards the contest hall. "It is what it is."

Richard decided not to press on. Instead, he looked back at James and his team, who were training in one corner of an arena alongside Hannah and Mia. "I wonder if everything will be alright?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Nicola asked, looking back as well. "Aren't his pokémon all working together again now?"

"It looks that way, sure," Richard replied. He frowned. "But they don't look like they're getting along…"

Down on the arena, the small training space meant that everyone was much closer than they'd have liked. It was harder to use attacks properly for fear of striking someone else nearby, and the risk of accidentally hitting a team mate was ever present.

Having to hold back was irritating Charka. He wanted to let loose with the full power of his Flamethrower, just as he would during the contest. It was no good doing all this training if he couldn't experience exactly the power levels he was going to be using in the actual thing. If he couldn't prepare effectively, then he was worried about how useful it would be.

…There was also the fact that he was sparring with Muro again today and the temptation to scorch the loudmouth was growing stronger by the second. Every restrained attack was driving him crazy. Muro really had it coming to him: he'd been insubordinate and difficult ever since, well, ever since evolving into an exploud, really. Why couldn't he understand that Charka was leader because he'd been on the team the longest, not just because of his strength. Nothing had changed. He still needed to show proper respect.

Across from him, Muro glared at him with an equally hostile expression. He was only playing nice with Charka because James had told him to. If he hadn't respected James as much as he did, then there was no way that he'd be wasting his time sparring with the arrogant charmeleon. He could respect that Charka had been on the team longer and the extra experience that involved, but that didn't make him infallible. Muro was certainly unwilling to wave through any foolish decisions Charka made. And, as much as he respected James, he didn't think that mindlessly following every single direction he gave was a good idea either.

He was still upset over what had happened back in Topacra City, if he was being honest with himself. It wasn't just frustration at the Ornlay ribbon being given away. He understood that he and Nulin had been outvoted and he knew that that meant the majority was in favour of giving the ribbon away, but it still left a rotten taste in his mouth. Just because they'd won the vote didn't mean the others got to ignore his and Nulin's opinions. Why were their opinions suddenly worthless just because they were slightly less popular?

At its core, Muro felt like the decision to give away the Ornlay ribbon had shown a lack of respect from the others, especially James and Charka. Neither had given any sign that they'd realised or regretted this fact. So why should Muro tolerate playing nice with Charka and Kacha when they clearly had little regard for him?

Indeed, it was with an iron will that he was resisting the urge to shout his loudest and the blast the stupid charmeleon into the fence.

It was then that there was a sudden commotion nearby.

There was a loud bang and a long screech of pain, followed by a thud.

"N-Nulin! Are you alright!" James exclaimed, running over to the wingull. He was followed by Kacha, who was continuing to involuntarily discharge loose bolts of electricity.

There was black smoke rising from Nulin's singed feathers. If he could hear James and Kacha, then he didn't respond.

* * *

 _1:42pm, 22_ _nd_ _August 2006_

The nurse at the pokémon centre told them that Nulin would make a full recovery, but there was no way that he'd be competing in the contest. An accidental slip on Kacha's part had sent an extremely powerful blast of electricity in Nulin's direction. There weren't many pokémon in the world that would be able to withstand that kind of impact.

"I was planning on using Nulin in the appeal round," James had said to Nicola afterwards. "This is going to make things a little bit more challenging."

"Who are you going to use instead?"

"Kacha, I guess? I mean, Tail Break is a pretty appealing move…"

Despite the disruption, the rest of James's team had continued to focus on their training. They worked hard to refine their moves as much as possible while time slowly ticked away. Kacha was particularly driven, feeling guilty at having accidentally incapacitated Nulin and now under pressure thanks to being moved in to take his place, but Charka, Muro, Kelaar, and even Lusk were trying hard. They only finished as all the coordinators started making their way to the contest hall to finalise their registration and get ready to compete.

After parting ways with Nicola, Richard, and Will, James sat in the holding room with Mia, Hannah, and the many, many other coordinators gathered there. Seeing so many in one place was intimidating: there were only so many spaces in the next round and, as ever, each additional contestant made getting through that little bit harder.

He recognised quite a few faces in the holding room. Henry Rhodes, who he hadn't seen since defeating him in Leevay to win his first ribbon all that time ago, had come over to say 'hi' and insist that this time would be different. He'd also seen Victor and Irene about, though they hadn't spoken to him at all. Then there was Kealy, who had come and scowled at him before going off to the other side of the room.

James wasn't all that bothered by it all. He was too focused on the contest itself. He'd been pretty pleased with the combination he and Nulin had come up with and suddenly not having Nulin there to use it had thrown him off a little. Kacha was capable and had some good combinations as well, but disruption didn't make things easier.

When it was finally his turn to step out onto the stage and face the crowd, he felt his nerves intensify. They always did immediately before an appeal. Waiting really was the worst part of the whole experience.

Like usual, the nerves left him the moment Kacha jumped down onto the stage for his performance. Now, James could fix his attention on the pikachu and not worry about the crowd. Keeping his focus elsewhere made it much easier to cope with the appeal. It was as though the crowd wasn't even there at all.

Kacha started out by jumping forwards, electricity sparking from his cheek sacs. He landed unsteadily and stumbled slightly, but it was no big deal. He recovered quickly and moved on to the next technique.

There was a round of applause from the audience as Kacha flawlessly performed three Tail Breaks in a row before leaping into the air to fire out a weak Thunderbolt. Next was one of the new combinations they'd been working on, and one of the ones James was most worried about.

Landing on all fours, Kacha stuck his tail straight into the air and cloaked it in a dark red energy. After swinging it from side to side, he tucked it in and attempted to hop slightly into the air and do two rolls before landing on his feet again.

It didn't go according to plan.

Kacha's tail dropped mid-roll and struck the stage, sending him flying off to the side. He landed with a crash and, though he quickly pulled himself back to his feet, he looked pretty shaken from it.

After that, his performance was fine but… a little subdued. He occasionally made other minor slip-ups that only seemed to eat away at his confidence further. It wasn't a bad performance. In fact, it was still probably better than some of the ones that had previously got James and his team through into the battle rounds.

But this wasn't an ordinary contest. The slightest mistake might be the difference between qualification and failure. And as James and Kacha walked away from that stage, they both knew on which side of the line they'd fallen.

* * *

 _5:14pm, 22_ _nd_ _August 2006_

For those who watched or competed in the Lilycove contest for the first time, it was clear why it had the reputation that it did. It was a magnificent affair in which contestants brought out their very best combinations and had their pokémon showing off to the max.

Among the crowd, the excitement of the diehard contest fans was so infectious that even people who normally had no interest in contests would have been caught up in the buzz into the contest hall. Those who had come in out of simple curiosity quickly found their favourite coordinators and joined the rest in cheering, booing, crying, and clapping. It was hard to avoid being caught up in the drama of the competition.

With so many coordinators and only one winner, there were many talented contestants who fell along the way. As hard as they fought, Hannah and Chika were eliminated in the first round of the knockout stage. Even Ember Swirl wasn't enough to save them.

Mia managed to get further, narrowing beating Victor before being knocked out herself by Irene.

James hadn't been able to face staying in the holding room. He didn't want his rival coordinators who were delighted by his and Kacha's failure to pass through the appeals round rubbing salt into his wounds. Instead, he'd sat in the lobby for a while before heading back to the pokémon centre to check on Nulin… and give him the bad news.

He'd been out preparing for a training session with the rest of the team when everyone else had arrived back at the pokémon centre, but immediately left assigning tasks to his increasingly fractious team to Will so he could go and sit by himself. However, it didn't take long before Richard came after him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked cautiously.

"Well, you know," James replied. "Like I let everyone down."

"Yeah, I get it." Richard sat down next to him. "Any idea what went wrong?"

"Where to start…" James let out a sigh. Really, he knew where the problem had started. "I pushed Kacha too hard. I kind-of set it up like this was going to be when Charka, Kacha, Kelaar, and I would make it up to Muro and Nulin, then Kacha was already feeling guilty after putting Nulin out of action and I just added to it by making him responsible for getting us through the appeals round in his place."

"Yeah, I bet it was pretty rough for him," Richard said. "I'd probably snap under that kind of pressure as well."

"Yeah," James said. He let out another sigh. "I just feel like a failure as a trainer. I thought I'd got my team working together again, but I've barely achieved anything. I don't know what I should do next. Am I going to have to break up my team and find new team members for the league?"

Richard chuckled. "I think that's a bit extreme," he said. "Maybe you just need to try speaking from your heart?"

"Speaking from my heart?"

"Yeah. I'm not the best trainer, but I keep trying to let my pokémon know how I really feel. I think it helps them understand my decisions sometimes, you know?"

"Well, something's going to need to change," James said with a sigh.

At that moment, there was a loud explosion of sound from the practice arenas. When it finally died down and they could uncover their ears, James and Richard heard Nicola shouting to them. "James!"

"What's up?" James asked, pulling himself to his feet as Nicola appeared.

"Charka and Muro are fighting!" she gasped, panting for breath. "Like, a proper fight! Not training! You need to do something!"

* * *

Muro was angry.

He'd tried to put his trust in the rest of the team. He'd given them the chance to show that they were committed to their promise to make up for giving up the Ornlay ribbon.

And what did he have to show for it?

Kacha was the one who had put Nulin, their best performer, out of action when he was supposed to be training productively together with him. And not only that, but when he'd gone into the appeals round in Nulin's place, he'd messed up and brought the entire bid for the Lilycove ribbon crashing down with him. Every second that Muro had spent training meticulously for this contest had gone to waste without him even having a chance to get on stage.

Yet Charka continued to defend Kacha, insisting that it wasn't his fault and that they'll all just have to try harder next time. If all this playing down of the broken promise hadn't already been enough, being told to cool his temper by a _fire_ type had infuriated Muro even further. He was done playing nice. If this was how Charka was going to be, then it was time for his tenure as team leader to end.

His fierce expression was met by an equally burning expression from the charmeleon. For all his talk of keeping cool heads, Charka was spoiling for a fight. A real one, not just the constrained, repetitive drills James constantly had them doing.

He knew that Muro was angry over the early loss at the Lilycove contest. He knew that it was frustrating when things didn't go their way and especially when it seemed like their chances had been shot by a single accident.

But the exploud was letting himself be blinded by his desire to be angry. He was only seeing what he wanted to see. Sad as it was to recognise, they'd never had a realistic chance of winning the Lilycove contest. Everything that Charka had seen made him feel that this contest was, in many ways, a dress rehearsal for the Grand Festival. Amateurs like themselves were always going to have a tough time gaining ground.

Charka couldn't tolerate the way that Muro was pushing the blame on Kacha. He remembered Muro's many failures, especially from back when he was just a whismur. When he'd needed to be bailed out by his team mates, and when he'd been the one worried about letting the team down. Life was full of failure, and Charka believed it was the ability to cope with it that showed true strength.

He had tanked the full power of Muro's Hyper Voice and responded with a powerful blast of flames. As their anger grew, they'd charged closer and closer before they finally came to blows, slashing and punching. Their attacks became less coherent as they let their emotions take control. A red haze clouded their minds. All they could think about was hurting the other, teaching him a lesson for his perceived slights. They were blind to the startled trainers and pokémon fleeing in all directions behind them, blind to Will and Toya's desperate attempts to intervene.

And, at least to begin with, they were blind to the familiar figure running towards them at full speed.

Then, suddenly, their battle ended. They both felt their bodies growing lighter, as if they were floating, and the next thing they knew they were back inside the smooth, cool interiors of their poké balls.

* * *

 _5:49pm, 22_ _nd_ _August 2006_

James gave everyone about half an hour to cool off before he finally let his pokémon back out of their poké balls in the small courtyard behind the pokémon centre. He'd needed the time too: he really needed to get things right this time.

He'd been worried that Charka and Muro might immediately start fighting again the moment they were let out, but it seemed that they were content to shoot venomous looks at each other for now. Kelaar and Kacha watched the two of them nervously, while Lusk drifted in the air passively between them. All of them were waiting for James to speak.

He took a deep breath and looked at all of them. "Guys, I'm not going to ask you not to be angry, or to stop feeling the way you feel. I don't think we would've won, but we should have got further. I know that. And I know that you're as unhappy as I am. But…" He paused, his throat feeling uncomfortably dry. "…Please don't be angry at each other. Be angry at me instead."

The pokémon remained silent. Some looked at him in confusion, others with suspicion. Charka looked horrified. He was insistently shaking his head.

"No," James said, shaking his own head at Charka. "It's my fault. I'm supposed to be in charge, and I didn't do enough." He glanced sadly at Kacha. "I didn't realise how much pressure I was putting Kacha under when I put him forward to take Nulin's place. I didn't…" He glanced over at Muro. "I didn't get just how strongly you and Nulin felt about what happened in Topacra City, Muro. I thought it was settled just because I'd got Charka, Kacha, and Kelaar on side, but that was wrong. I didn't realise that I made you feel like I didn't care about your concerns."

Muro grunted in response. His anger had subsided a bit, and it was good to finally be hearing this.

James continued. "I guess what's I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. Sorry that I've not been a good trainer lately. Sorry to you, Kacha, for being unfair and putting you under too much pressure. Sorry to you, Muro—and to Nulin—for ignoring you and making you feel like you weren't valued." He paused and let out a sigh. "And, honestly, I'm sorry that we even won that stupid Ornlay ribbon in the first place!" He looked between the five pokémon and grinned at them. "I like travelling with you guys. I love all of you, and I think our friendship is worth much more than badges or ribbons. I don't like seeing you fight each other."

Perhaps the message resonated with the pokémon? Even just a little was fine. They all looked a little more sheepish and embarrassed now. They looked at each other, some smiling, others remaining passive. Muro and Charka stared at each other for a second before turning away again.

Of course, James hadn't thought that the rift would suddenly be fixed just like that, but they needed to start somewhere. Unlike before, he knew that he couldn't just give this speech and have everything work out on its own. He needed to keep pushing and keep guiding his pokémon so that they could move past the damaging last few weeks.

"And guys," he said, pulling out his Hoenn League badge case. "We've still got a lot to fight for. Six badges!" He pulled out his ribbon case. "And three ribbons! Just two more of each, and we're into the Hoenn League and the Grand Festival. We're not out of this yet. Let's show everyone what we're really made of!"

Charka was the only one to cheer, but the other four all smiled. It might take a while for the team to fully heal its divisions and get back to how they once were, but James was right: they still had a lot to look forward to.

* * *

 **So, not truly a contest chapter this time, but one that I feel was needed nonetheless. After having the issues in James's team festering for several chapters now, it was time for everything to finally come to a head. It gave me a good opportunity to explore the themes of mutual respect, the responsibilities of leadership, and the limitations of majority rule.**

 **It took a lot of time to think of the best way to portray the events of this chapter, and I was also intensely busy over the last couple of weeks with the start of the new school year in Japan, so this chapter is later than I would have originally intended. Hopefully, it lives up to expectations.**

 **Next chapter will be slightly more relaxed and focus less on James and his team, and more on the group as a whole.**

 **As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.**

 **Until next time!**

* * *

 **Team Listings:**

 **James Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Charka** (Charmeleon): Male. Naïve. Often scatters things. Likes sweet food. Fire type. Blaze ability. Knows Fire Spin, Swords Dance, Flamethrower, and Slash.

 **Kacha** (Pikachu): Male. Modest. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Electric type. Static ability. Knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break, and Volt Tackle (in progress).

 **Nulin** (Wingull): Male. Impish. Highly persistent. Likes sour food. Water-flying type. Keen Eye ability. Knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic, and Aerial Ace.

 **Muro** (Exploud): Male. Careful. Loves to eat. Likes bitter food. Normal type. Soundproof ability. Knows Howl, Stomp, Screech, and Hyper Voice.

 **Kelaar** (Tropius): Male. Bashful. Likes to run. Eats anything. Grass-flying type. Chlorophyll ability. Knows Gust, Razor Leaf, Synthesis, and Stomp.

 **Lusk** (Duskull): Female. Mild. Likes to fight. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Levitate ability. Knows Curse, Astonish, Will-O-Wisp, and Pursuit.

 **Richard Winter:**

 **Active:**

 **Naro** (Nidoking): Male. Mild. Sturdy body. Likes dry food. Poison-ground type. Poison Point ability. Knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting, and Double Kick.

 **Chena** (Mightyena): Male. Docile. Capable of taking hits. Eats anything. Dark type. Intimidate ability. Knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger, and Crunch.

 **Dish** (Lombre): Female. Gentle. Capable of taking hits. Likes bitter food. Water-grass type. Rain Dish ability. Knows Rain Dance, Growl, Giga Drain, and Nature Power.

 **Arro** (Aggron): Male. Naïve. Loves to eat. Likes sweet food. Steel-rock type. Sturdy ability. Knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence, and Double-Edge.

 **Vortex** (Claydol): Genderless. Lonely. Sturdy body. Likes spicy food. Ground-psychic type. Levitate ability. Knows Hyper Beam, Psybeam, Cosmic Power, and Ancient Power.

 **Pincer** (Anorith): Male. Modest. Good endurance. Likes dry food. Rock-bug type. Battle Armour ability. Knows Ancient Power, Mud Sport, Metal Claw, and Water Gun.

 **Nicola Hewitt:**

 **Active:**

 **Kipa** (Marshtomp): Male. Quiet. Somewhat vain. Likes dry food. Water-ground type. Torrent ability. Knows Take Down, Endeavour, Mud Shot, and Muddy Water.

 **Mushy** (Breloom): Female. Calm. Likes to relax. Likes bitter food. Grass-fighting type. Effect Spore ability. Knows Mega Drain, Mind Reader, Mach Punch, and Leech Seed.

 **Zaggy** (Zigzagoon): Male. Adamant. Quick to flee. Likes spicy food. Normal type. Pick Up ability. Knows Belly Drum, Rest, Body Slam, and Dig.

 **Tricky** (Manectric): Male. Quirky. Somewhat of a clown. Eats anything. Electric type. Lightningrod ability. Knows Bite, Spark, Charge, and Howl.

 **Mule** (Numel): Female. Docile. Often lost in thought. Eats anything. Fire-ground type. Oblivious ability. Knows Flamethrower, Earthquake, Amnesia, and Take Down.

 **Blu** (Altaria): Female. Brave. Strong willed. Likes spicy food. Dragon-flying type. Natural Cure ability. Knows Refresh, Dragon Dance, Peck, and Dragon Breath.

 **Will Burton:**

 **Active:**

 **Toya** (Wartortle): Male. Modest. Very finicky. Likes dry food. Water type. Torrent ability. Knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun, and Ice Beam.

 **Turkey** (Swellow): Male. Mild. Alert to sounds. Likes dry food. Normal-flying type. Guts ability. Knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return, and Fly.

 **Gulpy** (Swalot): Female. Mild. Nods off a lot. Likes dry food. Poison type. Sticky Hold ability. Knows Stockpile, Swallow, Sludge Bomb, and Toxic.

 **Blue** (Shelgon): Female. Adamant. Proud of its power. Likes spicy food. Dragon type. Rock Head ability. Knows Dragon Claw, Crunch, Flamethrower, and Double-Edge.

 **Grum** (Spoink): Female. Naughty. Hates to lose. Likes spicy food. Psychic type. Own Tempo ability. Knows Magic Coat, Psychic, Reflect, and Confuse Ray.

 **Shup** (Shuppet): Male. Quiet. Thoroughly cunning. Likes dry food. Ghost type. Insomnia ability. Knows Night Shade, Spite, Curse, and Will-O-Wisp.


End file.
